Traffic along Union Turnpike, which cut Kew Gardens and Kew Gardens Hills into two, virtually indistinguishable neighborhoods buzzed quietly while shop owners and passersby baked in the afternoon sunlight. With less than a week before the November 6th elections, the North and South sides of the turnpike, lined by Chinese restaurants, take-out sushi joints, storefront tax services and liquor stores were as they had always been: colorless; bland; and now, strangely devoid of red, white and blue posters riddled with the stars, stripes, perfectly-coiffed hairdos and capped teeth that have become hallmarks of the American political campaign.
Even hoary political warhorses seemed ambivalent about an election in which Republicans are challenging four Democratic incumbents for judgeships in both the 4th Municipal Court and the 11th Judicial District of the State Supreme Court
“This is an off year,” said Phillip Ragusa, Chairman of the Queens County Republican Party.
Ragusa and the Queens County Republican Party have decided to let the elections ride. Instead of actively campaigning for the judicial candidates, Ragusa threw a party to bring more of the area’s 15,870 Asian Americans into the Republican fold.
The event, which drew over 300 people including Republican Senator Frank Padavan and raised more than $30,000 for the party, introduced Queens’ overwhelmingly democratic Asian-American community to rising stars among the Republican set, among them, District Leader Peter Koo and Carolyn Chen Ming, a prominent organizer in the borough’s GOP.
“We’ve had a strong relationship with all members of the Asian-American community for years,” said Senator Padavan. “They voted for me and I’m a Republican.”
John Wang, executive director of the Asian-American Business Development Center doubted the truth of Senator Padavan’s statements.
“I’m not sure about the number of Asian-Americans participating in the Republican committee,” Wang said. “But in any event, there are still more Asian-American democrats in Queens than Republicans.”
More than 63 percent of registered voters in Queens were listed as Democrats in the last United States Census. Only 14.3 percent self-identified as Republicans.
A party foot soldier, Ragusa said that Asian-Americans in Queens have the same values as Republicans and, when faced with a choice, would support the party’s platform: lower taxes; less government involvement; family values; and good schools. Together with Peter Koo, Carolyn Chen Meng and party stalwart Meilin Tan, formerly vice-president of the Queens County Republican Party, Ragusa planned to organize outreach to Asian-Americans in Queens. Regrettably, Koo has been out of the country for the last few weeks; Chen Meng has been unavailable by phone; and he has not spoken to Tan since he supported Peter Koo against her in the last District Leader election.
Undaunted, Ragusa has arranged to speak at a Republican
Fundraiser in Flushing tomorrow night where he’ll try to
Build financial support for candidates in the 2008 and 2009 elections.
“We’ve got two seats in the Senate and we’re trying to get a third,” he said.
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