FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM AUGUST 29, 2019 • THE QUEENS COURIER 23
Attorney Murray offi cially gets GOP nod in Queens DA race
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
As expected, the Queens GOP leaders
voted unanimously Sunday to give Joe
Murray their party line in November’s
general election for Queens district attorney.
Murray, a former NYPD police offi -
cer turned Queens Boulevard defense
attorney, is a registered Democrat who
will face Queens Borough President
Melinda Katz.
“He was the only one presented, and yes,
the vote was unanimous as was the vote
for the Wilson-Pakula Law to be authorized,”
Queens Republican Chairwoman
Joan Ariola said. “Th at paperwork has
already been fi led with the Board of
Elections, so yes, Joe is our nominee.”
Murray was a supporter of Judge Greg
Lasak during the Democratic primary
campaign and was disappointed when
Lasak came in third place aft er serving 25
years as a top prosecutor on the Queens
district attorney’s offi ce before leaving to
serve 12 years on the Queens Supreme
Court Bench.
“To see him lose to Melinda Katz was
tough,” Murray said. “She’s a career politician
with no criminal court experience
so I’m hearing from a lot of people who
are relieved that someone with my background
Courtesy of Joe Murray
As the Republican nominees for Queens district
attorney, Joe Murray has 10 weeks to tell his
story to voters before facing Borough President
Melinda Katz in November.
is stepping in to face her. People
are nervous about her stance on closing
Rikers Island and not wanting to prosecute
low level off enders and they’re worried
that the city is slipping back to what it
was back in the ’80s and ’90s. I was a cop,
and I remember what that was like, and
we don’t want to go back there.”
Now 52, Murray spent much of his
15 years with the NYPD with the 115th
Precinct in Jackson Heights as well as the
Queens North Task Force in Flushing.
Murray grew up in Howard Beach and
currently resides in Bellerose.
“I hear from people that Katz has been
a good borough president, she did a lot
of good things in the Rockaways and
Jamaica, and I say good, let her do it for
another couple of years then,” Murray
said with a laugh. “I also hear from people
who have heard my story and they’re
very impressed.”
In 1993, he was arrested while on duty
and in uniform and charged with felony
assault aft er breaking the jaw of another
on duty NYPD offi cer at Manhattan’s
10th Precinct.
“He threw the fi rst punch and I was a
little bit better, I was the heavyweight on
the NYPD boxing team,” Murray recalled.
“I didn’t mean to bust his jaw.”
A grand jury failed to indict Murray but
the NYPD still sought to terminate him.
He retained the services of famed attorney,
Bruce Cutler, who negotiated a plea
which allowed Murray to accept a suspension
for the department charges without
admitting any guilt.
Murray was still being civilly sued by
the injured offi cer.
“By that time I was fl at broke aft er the
attorney’s fees and a divorce,” Murray said.
“So I represented myself in Manhattan
Supreme Court and aft er a two-week trial
I won and the judge, God love her, she
told me I should go to law school.”
Murray had followed in his father’s footsteps
by joining the NYPD at age 20 so he
didn’t have a college degree, so he went to
Queens College and then to CUNY Law
School.
“Th e response I’ve gotten in the last two
weeks has been incredible,” Murray said.
“I was contacted by a woman who was just
so impressed by my story, she didn’t even
ask about my platform. She had worked
on Tiff any Cabán’s campaign and said she
would campaign for me in Forest Hills
saying anyone’s better than Katz and I can
assure you there is a very clear diff erence
between us. I don’t care about endorsements
I just want to get in front of people
and tell my story. I’m a likable guy and
you’re going to get the truth out of me
because I don’t pander.”
Murray has opened a campaign bank
account and is taking offi ce space near his
law fi rm that sits across Queens Boulevard
from the Queens district attorney’s offi ce
in Kew Gardens.
“Look, I know this is going to be a
sprint, but I’ve got ten weeks to get my
story out there,” Murray said. “And most
importantly I have 10 weeks to explain to
people that I know what a district attorney’s
offi ce does.”
Katz to hold town hall on Trump’s ‘public charge’ change
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
In a borough where nearly half of its 2.3
million residents are immigrants, the tension
is palpable as the Trump administration
moves closer to making the proposed
“public charge” rule change offi cial,
Queens Borough President Melinda Katz
announced she will host a town hall meeting
on the issue next month.
Calling it “the federal government’s latest
attack on immigrant families and a
move to restrict legal immigration,” Katz
and the New York Immigration Coalition
the event will take place on Tuesday, Sept.
17, at Borough Hall beginning at 5:30 p.m.
“Th is cruel, anti-immigrant policy will
do little more than push immigrant families
in Queens and across this country
further into poverty and further into
the shadows through the creation of
an income test for the pursuit of the
American Dream,” Katz said. “By forcing
families to choose between legal residency
and food on the table, medical care or
a roof over their head, we are endangering
not only their well-being, but that of
all New Yorkers. Th is town hall will aim
to dispel any myths and misconceptions
about this rule, while counteracting the
chilling eff ects it may have on communities.”
Th e town hall will be held just under
one month before the federal government’s
new immigration policy on who
can be labeled a “public charge” is scheduled
to go into eff ect Oct. 15, pending
a legal challenge by a number of states,
including New York.
Under current law, immigrants applying
for entry into the United States or for
lawful permanent residency can be denied
and labeled a “public charge” for participating
or being seen as likely to participate
in various federal, state or local cash
assistance programs or for receiving longterm
institutional care. Th e federal government’s
new guidance would signifi -
cantly expand the criteria for who can
be labeled a “public charge” to include
immigrants who participate or seen likely
to participate in federal benefi t programs
like the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance program, Medicaid or Section
8 housing assistance.
“While our communities continue
to be under attack from the Trump
administration, we will keep working to
empower our communities with information
and direct them to reliable, free
resources to navigate changes to the public
charge rule,” New York Immigration
Coalition Executive Vice President Murad
Awawdeh said.
In September, the Department of
Homeland Security issued its proposal to
signifi cantly broaden the criteria it could
use to label an immigrant applying for
legal residency as a public charge. During
the ensuing public comments period,
more than 266,000 individuals submitted
comments to the Federal Register, the
overwhelming majority of whom were
opposed to the proposed change, including
Katz.
“Th e proposed change would disproportionately
impact the borough of Queens,”
Katz wrote. “We are the most ethnically
and racially diverse county in the United
States. Almost half (47.8 percent) of our
population is foreign born. According to
the Migration Policy Institute, 68,000 children
in Queens County live in mixed-status
families the highest proportion in
New York state. I am deeply concerned
about the threat of this new rule would
have a chilling eff ect on these families
temporarily in need of assistance, resulting
in them opting not to apply for government
help for their eligible relatives
who are U.S. citizens.”
People will be forced to choose between
their families needs and a Green Card,
and Katz called that a vicious, anti-immigrant
proposal that is un-American.
“Without SAP and housing assistance,
children would fall behind in school,”
Katz said. “In an emergency, constituents
would be afraid to turn to their government
for help. Th e proposed expansion
of the public charge determination
would compromise our ability to build
public trust.”
Th e town hall will be held in the Helen
Marshall Cultural Center in Borough
Hall, located at 120-55 Queens Blvd.
Courtesy of Borough Hall
Like her gun violence town hall in the spring, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz is convening
another one on the Trump administration’s “public charge” rule change.
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