18 THE QUEENS COURIER • JULY 4, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
NOTHING CHANGING FOR GOP
Republican chair sticks by candidate amid rumors of shakeup
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
AND MARK HALLUM
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Moderate and conservative Democrats
across Queens face a daunting question
should Tiff any Cabán’s win in the district
attorney primary become offi cial: Do
they vote for the far left progressive come
November, or hold their noses and elect
the Republican candidate?
At the moment, the latter choice is
Ozone Park attorney Daniel Kogan. Th e
Republican doesn’t have a campaign website
or social media presence — and,
according to published reports, the willingness
to run a competitive race against
the likely Democratic nominee.
In post-primary interviews with Th e
City and the New York Post, Kogan said
that he doesn’t anticipate running a vigorous
campaign, knowing that he would be
an overwhelming underdog in this overwhelmingly
Democratic borough.
Th at sent GOP leaders in Queens scrambling
for answers and even alternatives.
Th e Post reported that they’ve reached
such a desperate point that they’re willing
to approach two Democrats — Borough
President Melinda Katz, who fi nished
second in the primary and is waiting for
all the votes to be counted before making
any confession, and retired Judge Gregory
Lasak — about running for DA on their
party line in November.
So far, according to the Post report, Lasak
declined to comment, and Katz’s representatives
said they were more focused on the
vote count in the still-unoffi cial DA primary
race. Yet, in that same Post report,
Councilman Eric Ulrich — the Ozone
Park-based lawmaker who is currently
Queens’ only Republican elected offi cial
— claimed that both candidates had a path
toward gaining the Republican line.
But Joann Ariola, chair of the Queens
County Republican Party, told QNS on
Th ursday that there have been no discussions
over whether they would consider
giving Katz or Lasak their line in the general
election. Further, Ariola said there
have been no discussions with Meeks
and that they would stick by their man,
Kogan.
“We are committed to running a candidate
that we have on the ballot,” Ariola
said. “I know there’s been back-and-forth
The New York Post reported that the Queens County Republican Party is considering reaching out to Democrats Gregory Lasak and Queens Borough President
Melinda Katz about running for DA on their ballot line — but the party's chair told QNS that they're sticking with their current candidate, Daniel Kogan.
that his campaign hasn’t been started yet,
but it hasn’t been our campaign yet. It’s
been all about the Democratic primary,
but we’re committed to putting together
a rigorous campaign for him and give
Queens a choice for district attorney.”
Ariola asserted that the county GOP
has not considered any other candidate
other than Kogan, and stressed the
importance of beating Cabán in the interest
of thwarting her controversial goals.
“My conversations with him – and I’ve
only had conversations with him, not
with the Democratic Party, not with the
candidates who were unsuccessful in the
primary election – it’s been only about
what we will do to strategize and raise
money and make sure that we will be successful
in November,” Ariola said. “We
really have to have a candidate and I
believe he is that candidate. But we need
a candidate who can beat Tiff any Cabán
because to sum her up, she is a get-out-ofjail
free card and that’s not something we
can put up with here in Queens County
or in this state.”
But if it wanted to, could the Queens
County GOP actually recruit a Democrat
and defeat a progressive juggernaut in
November? It’s diffi cult, but not impossible
— and in Queens, they’ve done it
before.
Under state election law, the party can
not replace a candidate for offi ce aft er
the primary unless that candidate dies or
accepts and off ered nomination to run for
a judgeship. Once the ballot line is vacated
under such a scenario, the party committee
can nominate the candidate of its
choice.
Back in 2017, the Queens County
Republican Party had such a situation
develop in the 30th City Council District
race. Th en-incumbent Elizabeth Crowley
defeated then-civic leader Robert
Holden in the Democratic Primary, but
Holden opted to continue his campaign
on third-Party lines. Meanwhile, the
Republican candidate for City Council, a
local attorney named Joseph Kasper, was
set to face Crowley in the general election
— but, like Kogan today, Kasper ran an
almost nonexistent campaign.
In September 2017, the Queens
County GOP shook up its leadership,
ousting its chair, former Congressman
Robert Turner, and replacing him with
Ariola. Th e new leadership then nominated
Kasper to run for a judgeship in
November, and Kasper accepted.
Th at cleared the ballot line in the 30th
Council District race. Ariola and company
approached Holden and off ered him
the GOP nomination. He happily accepted,
and received enough Republican votes
to pull off a narrow upset over Crowley in
Illustration via QNS from fi le and Twitter photos, @GregLasak
November.
Th is time around, the stars must completely
align for the Republicans to pull
off a potential November upset over
Cabán.
Any Republican nominee for DA faces
a tremendous challenge in November.
Against Cabán, they would be facing a
juggernaut with a passionate base and an
aggressive get-out-the-vote operation that
took six Assembly Districts in northwest
Queens by storm.
Still, even though she’s the apparent
winner of the primary at this point,
Cabán did not win a majority of votes.
Th e unoffi cial Board of Elections numbers
from the primary give Cabán 33,814
votes, or 39.57 percent of the total ballots.
Katz and Lasak combined for 45,101
votes, or 52.8 percent — or, a majority of
all votes cast.
Th e Republican nominee would get
Republican and conservative voters who
could not participate in the Democratic
primary, but the candidate would have
to work even harder than Cabán to motivate
Democratic voters to the polls in
their favor.
Th ey would need to convince dyed-inthe
wool Democrats across Queens to do
something that, for many progressives,
goes against their instincts in the age of
Trump: voting for a Republican.
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