For the borough’s congressional races, the union has backed incumbent U.S. Reps. Gary Ackerman (D-Bayside), Anthony Weiner (D-Forest Hills), Carolyn Maloney (D-Astoria) and Joseph Crowley (D-Jackson Heights) for their reelection campaigns. However, the union did not give an endorsement to U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Jamaica) or his Republican opponent Asher Taub.

For state Senate races, DC 37 backed state Senators Shirley Huntley (D-Jamaica), Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose) and Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone) for their reelection bids, but did not issue endorsements in the races of incumbents Jose Peralta (D-Jackson Heights), Malcolm Smith (D-St. Albans) or Joseph Addabbo (D-Howard Beach), or in the race to replace George Onorato (D-Astoria), in which Assemblyman Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) is running unopposed.

The union also gave endorsements to several state Assembly candidates including incumbents Audrey Pheffer (D-Rockaway Beach), David Weprin (D-Little Neck), Margaret Markey (D-Maspeth) and Jeffrion Aubry (D-Corona), as well as candidate Francisco Moya, who is facing Hiram Monserrate in a Democratic primary for the 39th Assembly District seat that was vacated by state Sen. Jose Peralta (D-Jackson Heights). The winner of that primary will face Republican Humberto Suarezmotta.

The union did not make endorsements in several Assembly races, including District 26, where there is a Republican candidate and a crowded Democratic primary field vying to replace departing Assemblywoman Ann-Margaret Carrozza; District 28, currently held by Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi (D-Forest Hills), who is facing Joe Fox in a Democratic primary and a Republican opponent, Alex Powietrzynski; District 34, where incumbent Barbara Clark (D-Queens Village) is being challenged in a Democratic primary by Clyde Vanel; District 37, in which incumbent Cathy Nolan (D-Ridgewood) is facing a Republican challenger, John Malone; and District 38, where incumbent Michael Miller (D-Woodhaven) faces a Democratic primary with Nick Comaianni and Republican opponent Donna Marie Caltabiano.

Representatives for DC 37 were not available to comment Friday on why they declined to endorse candidates in certain Queens races.

When the debate began, moderator Leroy Gadsden (c.) only had three candidates to question: Asher Taub (l. to r.), Shirley Huntley and Barbara Clark. Photo by Ivan Pereira

A political debate in St. Albans last Thursday hosted five candidates running for four offices representing southeast Queens, but incumbents and their challengers never once met face-to-face during the forum.

The debate, hosted by the Jamaica branch of the NAACP at the Majority Baptist Church in St. Albans, was supposed to pit U.S. Rep Gregory Meeks (D-Jamaica) against his Republican opponent, Asher Taub; state Sen. Shirley Huntley (D-Jamaica) against primary challenger Lynn Nunes; state Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose) against Democrat Tony Avella; and Assemblywoman Barbara Clark (D-Queens Village) against her primary opponent, Clyde Vanel.

But at the outset of the forum, only Huntley, Clark and Taub were on the stage. Meeks sent word that he could not attend because of a family emergency, and Vanel said Friday that he skipped the debate because he had other community events to go to. Padavan’s office could not be reached Friday.

Under questioning from moderator Leroy Gadsden, president of the Jamaica NAACP, the candidates who did appear talked about the flooding issues that affect southeast Queens during heavy rains. Two weeks ago, some homes in Springfield Gardens were flooded by torrential rainfall.

Huntley said she has been meeting with representatives from the city Department of Environmental Protection to get more work done on the neighborhood’s sewer system and assured the audience that she would push the city to fix the problem fast.

“I think Queens County gets neglected,” she said.

Taub, a private attorney from Kew Gardens, said the problem was with funding to the state and city and promised that, if elected, he would increase the federal allocation to the district.

“There needs to be more accountability,” he said.

Huntley and Clark were asked about the delayed state budget and what they would do to keep funding for necessary services such as school resources. Huntley said she voted against the governor’s budget this year because there were too many cuts to those services.

“The governor’s budget was bare-bones. Everything was cut,” she said.

Clark said the budget process has become a little more difficult for legislators because of the rising deficit, which this year, fueled by the economic recession, totaled $9.6 billion.

“We never had that deficit before. We had to figure this thing out,” she said.

Lynn Nunes arrived partway through the debate — almost immediately after his opponent, Shirley Huntley, left to attend another event. Photo by Ivan Pereira

After that topic was discussed, Huntley left the forum to attend another event. But the moment she stepped out of the church’s auditorium, Nunes, her Democratic primary rival, arrived and joined the debate without his opponent.

When questioned about how he would improve the economic outlook of the neighborhood, Nunes, who owns a real-estate business, said he would like to increase medical services in the community with new health centers in light of the closing of Mary Immaculate Hospital.

“What we do is create jobs to fill the health-care void,” he said.

Tony Avella, who is running for Padavan’s seat, then showed up for the debate. Avella said that although the 11th Senatorial District covers only a small part of southeast Queens — portions of Queens Village and Hollis — it deserved as much attention as the northern neighborhoods. He said he believed Padavan did not care enough about their needs.

“I’m running to change that seat and make it more responsible,” he said.

When pressed about their positions on the reconstruction plans for the St. Albans VA hospital, all the candidates slammed the current proposal to privately develop 25 acres of the land.

Taub said the problem was with Meeks, who let the developers take control and ignore the community’s need for more hospital space.

“You can use the ballot box to control this,” he said.

But Clark went to bat for Meeks on this issue and told the audience that during her several meetings with the congressman, he has always been in support of a proposal that benefits the veterans.

“I think he has taken a full position that he wants a full-detail hospital,” she said.

City officials thought of Thomas White as a strong advocate for southeast Queens in City Hall.

The city’s top leaders, southeast Queens activists and hundreds of residents who were impacted by Councilman Thomas White’s years of work gathered at the Greater Allen AME Cathedral Thursday for a final goodbye.

The cathedral was packed for the funeral service and many of the mourners spoke highly of his decades of service both in and out of City Hall.

In addition to serving as the Democratic leader for District 28, which includes Jamaica, Rochdale Village, Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park, White, who was 71, worked to help residents who, like himself, fought drug problems for more than 40 years through his drug rehab program J-Cap.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who was joined by most of the Council members, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, the Rev. Al Sharpton and other top political figures, said the councilman never forgot his roots when serving in office.

“For Tom, doing it ‘my way’ meant giving second chances,” he said.

White died of cancer Aug. 27. He is survived by his 89-year-old mother Marie White, ex-wife Marie, children Bryan D. White and Lucile Precious Middleton and two grandsons. Family members did not speak at the service, but Middleton performed a gospel song in honor of her father.

White began his service in the community in 1968 when he established a storefront drop-in center for drug information and prevention across from Queens Hospital Center. He continued to work to provide assistance to substance abuse victims and in 1977 helped to establish J-Cap, for which he served as executive director up until his death.

State Sen. Shirley Huntley (D-Jamaica), who worked at J-Cap, said the organization was at the top of his priorities and the topic of their last conversation days before his death.

“Tom was not really in his heart a politician. He was a person. He cared about people,” she said.

Diane Gonzalez, a director at J-Cap, said White personally helped hundreds of patients, including her. Apart from helping them kick their habits, Gonzalez said White made sure J-Cap’s clients re-entered society as better people, she said.

“That’s all he cared about, everyone coming through that door and changing their lives,” she said.

In 1991, he was elected to the City Council and decided to take his vision to the government level. City Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan), worked with White during his tenure and remembered how he never took no for an answer when it came to getting the resources and services that his constituents needed.

“His focus was always 100 percent on the communities he loved,” she said. “He knew exactly what he needed, block by block.”

State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-St. Albans) said White inspired a new generation of leaders in the area with his determination and ability to inspire others into service.

“When you see the caliber of people in this room … it tells you Tom had impacted many people’s lives,” he said.

State Sen. Shirley Huntley says she wants to continue to help her constituents in southeast Queens. Photo by Christina Santucci

State Sen. Shirley Huntley (D-Jamaica) said she has done a lot during her nearly two terms as the elected official for the 10th Senate District and she promised to use her experience over the last four years to make the community better.

Huntley said the campaign for the Sept. 14 Democratic primary, where she is facing 25-year-old real estate business owner Lynn Nunes, is not detracting from her work up in Albany. In fact, the incumbent said her campaign and Senate duties are complementing each other because her constituents are able to see the results of her performance in the Legislature and make the decision to re-elect her.

“I’m campaigning on my record,” she said. “The campaign is one thing, but I continue to do my government business.”

Huntley, who was elected in 2006, said she would like to continue her focus on improving education in her neighborhoods that include Jamaica, Laurelton, Springfield Gardens, Richmond Hill, Ozone Park and parts of Forest Hills. The senator, who was a member of the Community Education Council in District 28, said the biggest problem in today’s schools is that parents are not taking a hands-on role in their children’s academics.

She said she would work to make sure the school governance package law is enforced and see to it that the parents’ training center at York College is properly set up so they can better understand the city’s education system.

“The problem in education is that there is so much red tape with parents,” she said. “I get so many calls where people ask how do you do this? How do you get into certain schools? How do you get things for their children?”

The incumbent is also focusing on health care since southeast Queens has been left with a medical void following the closing of Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica last year. Huntley said she would like to bring a new first-care clinic to Richmond Hill to help fill that void.

“There is nothing like the Joe Addabbo clinic there,” she said. “There are no walk-ins or anything.”

The senator has been criticized by gay rights groups for her no-vote against gay marriage last year, but Huntley said the vote was taken out of context. She said she has been a supporter of gay rights, but for the marriage vote she took a poll of her constituents and voted on their behalf.

“Sixty-two percent of my district said no for [marriage] equality,” she explained. “It was not personal. It was for my district.”

Huntley said she cannot control what reasons people vote for her, but said that her work on all issues as a whole speaks for itself.

“For the past few years, I have done everything that I said I would do when I went to the Senate,” she said.

State Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi is facing challenges from another Democrat and a Republican for his seat this year. Photo by Christina Santucci

State Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi (D-Forest Hills) said despite the anti-incumbent sentiment that seems pervasive in areas across the country, he believes his platform focusing on education, quality-of-life issues and government reform should usher him to victory in the primary and general election.

Hevesi, who first took office in a special election in 2005, said his constituents seem pleased with the work he has done while in Albany — including fighting against cuts to education funding and the restoration of money for senior centers in the borough.

“It’s an anti-incumbent year, but it’s not as bad as people think,” Hevesi said in an interview at the TimesLedger offices. “I’ve had six to eight people say something about it out of the thousands of people I’ve talked to.”

He faces a primary challenge from Joe Fox, an attorney from Forest Hills, and Republican Alex Powietrzynski in the general election.

It was a difficult year in Albany, Hevesi said, due in part to contentious budget negotiations between the Assembly, state Senate and Gov. David Paterson that ended in August, four months later than lawmakers were supposed to pass the measure.

“This was a horrible year,” Hevesi said. “I like the governor on a personal level, but he’s been terrible. You couldn’t tell which direction he was going because he wasn’t running for election.”

Hevesi said he has been spending hours every day for the past several months campaigning door-to-door, during which time he said he has talked a great deal about education.

District 28 covers Forest Hills, Rego Park, Middle Village and Glendale.

“There was a $1.4 billion cut (to education) that came down this year that I voted against,” Hevesi said. “The governor pushed it through to our chagrin.”

The assemblyman said he has worked hard for schools in his district, pushing to make the new Metropolitan High School in Forest Hills locally zoned and allocating funds for PS 144 in Forest Hills.

Hevesi is also working to address residents’ concerns about railroad cars that often carry foul-smelling garbage in Middle Village. He is sponsoring legislation that would force the national transportation company, CSX, to place a hard cover over any of its cars carrying bad-smelling items as well as cover the cars carrying construction debris.

He was recently endorsed by Citizens Union, in part he said because he signed a pledge by New York Uprising, a non-partisan group formed by former Mayor Ed Koch that aims to “end corruption in Albany.”

“I’m the lead sponsor on a non-partisan redistricting reform bill,” Hevesi said. “I voted for ethics reform this year and I voted twice for campaign finance reform.”

Hevesi is now working on what he called “the most expansive proposal for renewable energy in the state.” The Renewable Energy Development and Jobs Act of 2010 would mandate all companies responsible for the transmission and delivery of energy in New York — such as utilities, public authorities and energy service companies — to incrementally increase the percentage of renewable energy they use every year.

Jeffrion Aubry, holder of the East Elmhurst Assembly seat, is running for re-election this year and faces an opponent in the democratic party in community activist Anthony Miranda. Photo by Rebecca Henely

As state Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry (D-Corona) meets with residents throughout East Elmhurst and Corona in preparation for the Sept. 14 Democratic primary, he is trying to educate the public on not only what he has done in his 18 years in office, but why.

As the new fiscal year approached, New York state faced a $9.2 billion deficit, which required cuts to costs as well as increases in revenues, Aubry said. His work in the Assembly on the budget compelled him to make many difficult decisions and stay in Albany for much longer this year.

“You couldn’t rush a budget that had so many impacts on our state,” Aubry said.

Aubry, whose district covers Elmhurst, East Elmhurst, Corona and LeFrak City, faces an opponent for the first time in years in Democratic community activist Anthony Miranda. He said he has been making up for that time away from his constituents by going door-to-door, delivering the message of what the Assembly has accomplished.

He said large portions of the budget go to education, health and welfare, and reducing the state’s budget meant city officials would be forced to make major cuts to services like senior centers and libraries to make up the difference. Aubry said the Assembly has been able to forestall any “doomsday budgets” and come to a place where the budget is not imbalanced but money is spent where it needs to be.

“Even in these difficult financial times, you have an obligation to protect and preserve what can be protected and preserved,” he said.

Aubry, 62, was born in New Orleans, but his family moved to the East Elmhurst area six months after he was born. He attended college at the College of Santa Fe in New Mexico and afterward taught at the New Mexico State Penitentiary. In 1970, Aubry returned to East Elmhurst, where he lives with his wife.

“[I] came right here to this community: home,” Aubry said.

He started working at Elmcor Youth and Adult Activities Inc., a nonprofit community service agency, where he stayed for 16 years, eventually becoming the organization’s second executive director.

U.S. Rep. Joe Crowley (D-Jackson Heights), endorsed Aubry Tuesday in a speech at Elmcor’s senior center.

The same year Aubry left Elmcor, he became the office director of economic development for then Borough President Claire Shulman from 1986to 1992. He left to run for the Assembly seat he now holds after Helen Marshall vacated it to run for City Council, winning 92 percent of the vote.

“There are very few things I’m not involved with where I haven’t served the people in some capacity,” Aubry said of his history.

Aubry said he believes he is the best candidate because of his significant experience in Albany and the major legislation he has passed in that time, such as the reform of the Rockefeller drug laws and sponsoring the United States Tennis Association’s National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

If re-elected, Aubry hopes to continue his work as the chairman of the Assembly Corrections Committee, particularly in the area of prisoners who move to treatment facilities. Other issues he wants to work on are job training, affordable housing and maintaining services such as libraries and senior centers.

He said he also supports assisted living for the elderly and trying to keep them in more personal settings and not in nursing homes as well as youth programs that help give young people guidance and give resources and assistance to their families.

“I love the community I live in and have served for the last 18 years,” Aubry said. “I’m committed to improving and enhancing the community, even in these difficult times.”

John Messer (clockwise from top l.), Isaac Sasson, state Sen. Toby Stavisky and Robert Schwartz are running for the seat current held by Stavisky.

Incumbent state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone) has solidified a strong fund-raising lead over her two Democratic primary challengers, but her lone Conservative opponent has not filed the most recent required financial disclosure form with the state Board of Elections.

Stavisky also has spent far less than her opponents on her campaign so far.

Democratic challenger John Messer has surged in recent weeks, pulling in more than $100,000 in the period between his July and August campaign filings.

Stavisky is running against Democrat Isaac Sasson, a New York Lottery-winning millionaire from Flushing who ran and lost in last year’s race for former City Councilman John Liu’s seat, which eventually went to Peter Koo (R-Flushing); Messer, an Oakland Gardens lawyer and first-time candidate for elected office; and Conservative Robert Schwartz, who has kept a low profile in the race.

Stavisky had a total of $268,167 in her campaign coffers in mid-August, when she filed a campaign finance report.

Sasson has reported no contributions in his self-financed bid, so his campaign had $235,324, while Messer had $84,182 in his campaign chest as of mid-August.

Schwartz failed to submit the pre-primary report earlier this month, but his campaign had just $10 as of July, according to a finance report he filed that month.

Messer had $57,612 as of his July filing and he has since received $109,995, according to his mid-August filing.

Sasson did not report any contributions in that time period and Schwartz did not file this month.

Stavisky’s largest contributors were the Service Employees International Union and the New York Podiatry PAC, which each gave $10,000 to the candidate.

The Lawpac political action committee and Henry Van Amerigen each gave her $9,500, according to her campaign finance disclosures. A major contributor to liberal groups and Democratic campaigns throughout the country, Van Amerigen is president and treasurer of the Van Amerigen Foundation Inc. and an heir to Arnold Louis van Amerigen, founder of the International Flavors and Fragrances Co.

Friends of Mike Gianaris contributed $6,000 to her campaign, and the New York State Optometric Association and New York State Laborers’ PAC having given $5,000 each.

The largest contributor to the Messer campaign thus far has been the candidate himself, who has injected $197,350 of his own money into his campaign since May 24, according to campaign finance disclosures.

Nearly all of Messer’s other contributions have come from individuals. He has received a total of $17,650 from people with the last name Hui, as well as $6,000 from his wife, Wendy Hui-Messer.

Sasson is self-financing his entire campaign.

Stavisky’s campaign has spent about $14,947 since April. Her largest expenditure was a $3,336 payment to the Parkside Group for literature. The Parkside Group is a New York lobbying group of which her son is a partner.

Her campaign’s second-largest expenditure was $975 to Parkside Printing for petitions. Her other largest expenses have been payments for Verizon service, advertising and a number of relatively inexpensive fund-raisers.

Messer’s campaign has spent $198,720 since April, $96,750 of which went to consulting fees. The vast majority of consulting spending went to Promotional Strategies, a political firm which Messer recently stopped using, sources close to the candidate say.

Messer’s campaign has paid Promotional Strategies $109,864 since April for a variety of services, including consulting, printing and more. During that period the campaign spent $45,136 on printing and $33,393 on petitioning.

Sasson’s largest expenditure was a $27,580 payment to a New York-based entity labeled only as Yakov Sene Aug. 7 for “other.”

Sasson also paid $39,175 to GSP Consulting Group Inc. for consulting, petitioning and wages.

Sasson also paid $5,400 for petitioning to F&T Management and Parking Corp. and $1,800 for rental services to F&T Management. F&T Group, of which the two entities are subsidiaries, recently gained approval from the Council for an $850 million mixed-development project slated to be built in downtown Flushing.

Michael Miller

In the year since he replaced former state Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio in a special election, Assemblyman Michael Miller (D-Woodhaven) said he has restored the trust people have in the office following his predecessor’s guilty plea on corruption charges.

“I’m responsive to the people and people see that,” Miller said during an interview at his campaign headquarters on Myrtle Avenue in Glendale. “When people come in my office, they say Miller gets results.”

“It’s a trust thing?,” he said. “You have to gain the trust of the people and I’ve worked hard for that.”

Miller pointed to a number of bills he has sponsored that would improve the quality of life of his district’s residents and the guarantee he secured from Genting NY, the presumptive winner of the Aqueduct video lottery terminal contract, to hire local residents in his district as steps he has taken that make him worthy of re-election.

Miller, who has the backing of the Democratic and Conservative parties, faces Community Board 9 member and Community Education Council 24 President Nick Comaianni in the Democratic primary. He also has a primary with Forest Park Senior Center Donna Caltabiano, who is a write-in candidate on the Conservative line and also running as a Republican.

The district includes Glendale, Ridgewood, Woodhaven, Richmond Hill and Ozone Park.

Miller said creating jobs and reducing costs incurred by small businesses are two of his top priorities.

“Things are tough in every community and jobs are a big issue,” he said, noting he teamed up with state Sen. Joseph Addabbo (D-Howard Beach), Con Edison and National Grid to inform small businesses of steps they can take to reduce energy costs.

He said the Aqueduct VLT project, when it is approved, will become a source of jobs for district residents.

“That should help our community with jobs in the immediate future,” he said.

Miller said quality-of-life issues, ranging from difficulties in crossing Woodhaven Boulevard in Woodhaven to noisy trains in Glendale to graffiti throughout the district, are among the major problems facing the 38th Assembly District.

“Graffiti is still an issue,” he said. “It’s important to get the graffiti off as quickly as it comes up.”

Miller has sponsored a bill in the Assembly requiring businesses that hire workers dealing with children to do sex offender background checks, which was inspired by a karate school in his district that unwittingly hired a sex offender.

The assemblyman was also the co-sponsor of a bill preventing the city from implementing mid-year cuts to education and was instrumental in bringing a senior center back to Jamaica Avenue in Woodhaven.

On education, Miller noted School District 24 is the most overcrowded in the city and applauded his colleagues for opening a new school on Metropolitan Avenue and said he would ensure that John Adams High School, which was taken off the cutting block by the city Department of Education, never closes.

The assemblyman also co-sponsored the complete streets bill with Addabbo, which led the city Department of Transportation to announce plans to install countdown clocks on Woodhaven Boulevard, which is difficult for seniors and the disabled to cross.

Before his election to the Assembly, Miller was a member of CB 5 and has been an adult leader with Boy Scout Troop No. 439 in Ridgewood. He was also involved with the Greater Ridgewood Youth Council, which saw its budget grow from $200,000 to $5 million while he was there.

“There were many nights when people were sleeping, I was driving in the snow to help them,” Miller said.

The assemblyman said he expects to draw support from a wide variety of voters come election time.

“I want them to come and vote for me because I’ve done a great job,” he said. “I’m a hero of reform. I’m different. We should be upfront with people and it’s about representing people in the Assembly.”

Nick Comaianni. Photo by Howard Koplowitz

State Assembly candidate Nick Comaianni is running on a platform of reforming education, boosting small businesses, cutting wasteful spending and taxes and addressing quality-of-life issues in his primary election battle against Assemblyman Michael Miller (D-Woodhaven).

Comaianni, a member of Community Board 9 and chairman of the board’s youth and education committee who has also been the president of Community Educational Council 24 for seven years, intended to run in a Democratic primary against Miller for former Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio’s seat last year, but gave up his bid when Gov. David Paterson called a special election for the seat.

“This year is an actual election for the Democratic primary,” Comaianni said, referring to the uphill battle he would have been faced with if he had run in the special election. This would have required him to carry independent nominating petitions in a short amount of time after Miller got the backing of the Democratic Party.

“Last year, three people in a backroom decided who was going to be the Assembly person, giving the incumbent a big edge,” Comaianni said, referring to the district leaders who chose Miller for the Democratic line.

As the president of CEC 24, Comaianni said he understands the educational needs of the district, which includes Glendale, Ridgewood, Woodhaven, Richmond Hill and Ozone Park.

“Education is a big issue,” he said during an interview at his campaign headquarters on Myrtle Avenue in Glendale. “There’s a lot of fixing of the education system that we need to do for New York City.”

Comaianni said the state funding formula for education is unfair, saying the city pays more in taxes than it receives in funding.

He noted that District 24 has more overcrowded schools than anywhere in the city and credited CEC 24 with opening either 14 new schools or extension to schools in the last seven years.

Comaianni said CEC 24 is pushing for another seven schools to open in the district.

He said the idea that schools with higher percentage of students who receive free or reduced lunch get more funding is unfair and said all students should receive free lunches.

“We pay enough in taxes in this state and in this city that that’s something we deserve,” he said. “How much can we tax the people? You’re going to tax their kids as well?”

He slammed the state budget for including $800 million in taxes and suggested $800 million worth of wasteful programs be eliminated instead.

Helping small businesses and creating jobs are other important issues in the district, Comaianni said, pointing out he is a small business owner himself.

“I look all around the neighborhood … and I see businesses closing everywhere,” he said.

Comaianni said inspectors from city agencies have been showing up to small businesses five times a year to see if they can hand out any fines, saying it is “coming to the point of harassment.”

“We have to be business-friendly,” he said.

Comaianni said more needs to be done to insure that contractors for state projects, which are usually large, multimillion-dollar corporations, hire subcontractors from within the state instead of New Jersey, Pennsylvania or Connecticut.

“The bottom line is keep the business in New York,” he said, noting that most small business owners employ locally. “If you want to stimulate the economy, it’s not done by raising taxes — it’s done by creating jobs.”

Comaianni said the district is also suffering from quality-of-life issues, such as fewer sanitation pickups on the district’s main thoroughfares.

“As we cut services, it affects the quality of life,” he said.

If elected, Comaianni said he would be an independent-thinking Democrat in the Assembly.

“I will work with everyone because I’m a team player, but I won’t stay silent when it comes to items of my district,” he said.

State Assembly candidate John Duane’s campaign sent out a mailer last week that addressed issues pertaining to Vietnam veterans.

John Duane, a candidate for the seat now held by Assemblywoman Ann-Margaret Carrozza, has come under fire from one of his fellow opponents as well as a Bayside community activist for a mailer sent out by his campaign on Vietnam veterans. But Duane insisted the flier’s message was being distorted.

Duane, a former assemblyman in the district and the brother of state Sen. Tom Duane (D-Manhattan), sponsored a tuition assistance bill for Vietnam veterans during his tenure in Albany in the 1980s.

A mailer sent out last week by his campaign shows a photo of three veterans with their backs to the camera and includes the quote, “We didn’t return home to parades. It seemed like America just wanted to forget Vietnam, even the veterans like me who served there.”

The inside of the flier attributes the quote to a Vietnam veteran named John C., with whom Duane is pictured. The veteran goes on to praise Duane’s tuition assistance bill.

But Elio Forcina, a Whitestone attorney who will face off against Duane as well as Edward Braunstein and Steve Behar in the Sept. 14 Democratic primary said he found the mailer misleading.

“I thank my opponent John Duane for his work for veterans when he was in the Assembly over 20 years ago, but I served in the Marines and his most recent mail piece is beyond the pale,” Forcina said. “I put my life on the line for my country. John Duane didn’t, but his mail wrongly suggests otherwise. He was a conscientious objector during Vietnam and now he has the gall to imply he served.”

But Duane defended the mailer and said he “helped thousands of Vietnam veterans better their lives at a time when they were being persecuted in the United States.”

“I believe when you run for public office, you should be able to read,” he said. “If he’d read this piece, he would see it does not say that I was a veteran. It doesn’t imply anything of the sort.”

Duane said that if elected, he would introduce a tuition assistance bill for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

But Frank Skala, president of the East Bayside Homeowners Association and a member of Community Board 11, said he also took issue with the flier.

“Not one of the guys in that picture is John Duane,” Skala said. “The flier is apparently intended to deceive.”

The winner of September’s primary will go up against Republican Vince Tabone in November’s general election.

Bob Friedrich stands beside posters advocating green vehicles and easier ways to refill water bottles. Photo by Howard Koplowitz

Glen Oaks resident Bob Friedrich said he is banking on an anti-incumbent wave and a platform of reforming Albany in his Democratic primary election battle with state Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Little Neck).

“I’m trying to change the culture of corruption in Albany,” Friedrich said during an interview at his campaign headquarters on Union Turnpike in Glen Oaks. “It’s about ethics and it’s about integrity. It’s not about raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars in outside income.”

Friedrich is proposing that income legislators receive from outside employment be limited and that being a state elected official become a full-time job.

“If you don’t think your legislative pay is enough, don’t run for office,” he said. “I’m the only candidate in Queens who is not a lawyer, not a politician and doesn’t work for one. I’m an accountant and I have a record of decades-long civic involvement.”

Friedrich, the president of Glen Oaks Village, is also running on the Conservative line. Bayside resident Timothy Furey is running as a Republican.

Friedrich argued that incumbents have “destroyed the state economy” and said they are not worthy of re-election.

“Sending the same people to Albany will get you the same results. Why not give someone else a chance?” he said. “I come with a two-year warranty. If not completely satisfied after two years, put me back in the private sector.”

Friedrich said the state budget, which included the suspension of the sales tax on clothing under $110, will hurt families and “kills small businesses.”

“We can’t afford to have government in our pocket,” he said.

If elected, Friedrich said his first order of business would be to call for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s (D-Manhattan) resignation.

“Certainly, he is part of the problem. I don’t need Shelly Silver’s pat on the back,” said Friedrich, noting he was not worried about any ramifications for calling for Silver’s ouster.

“I drive a small car. I live in a small apartment. I can work perfectly well out of a small broom closet in Albany,” he said.

While Friedrich has no legislative experience, he said his tenure as president of Glen Oaks Village is evidence that he can get results.

He credited himself with working with banks to get the Glen Oaks co-op into a healthier financial situation after being on the brink of bankruptcy and helped co-op residents expand on their homes by allowing them to reclaim attic space as an extension to their dwellings.

Friedrich said jobs were the most important issue in the district, which covers Bellerose, Bayside, Douglaston, Floral Park, Fresh Meadows, Glen Oaks, Hollis, Holliswood, Little Neck, New Hyde Park, Oakland Gardens and Queens Village.

Friedrich said the state should not impose a sales tax on any clothing and said the mobility tax that needs to be paid by the many livery or cab drivers who live in the district hurts their livelihood.

As a way to boost the small business community in the district, Friedrich proposes making the first hour at parking meters free with a six-minute grace period when meters run out.

“The state is really killing the small businesses in this state,” he said.

Friedrich is also calling for reforming the state pension system, saying pensions should be based on regular pay, not overtime.

If elected, Friedrich said he would think about opening a mobile office, which he would park in a different community in the district each week.

“This can create the access that people need,” he said. “I want the office to be about solving constituent problems.”

Friedrich is no stranger to running for office.

He ran against then-Assemblyman Mark Weprin for the City Council seat vacated by David Weprin last year.

David Weprin, who was against the change to the term limits law, mounted an unsuccessful campaign for city comptroller that year and then entered a February special election against Friedrich to replace his brother in the Assembly.

When asked if he would run again should he be unsuccessful this time around, Friedrich was coy.

“If we really can’t harness the electorate to come out and vote for change, then we have nobody else to blame but ourselves,” he said.

Joseph Crowley

U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley (D–Jackson Heights) is one of three congressman recommended by an independent ethics committee on Aug. 31 for a probe into his fund-raising, a spokeswoman from his office confirmed. The New York Post reported the investigation concerns money raised prior to the passage of a bill to reform Wall Street.

The Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent organization within Congress that wrote the recommendation, began a preliminary review in May of Crowley’s and seven other congressmen’s fund-raising activities, but recommended Crowley for further review by the House’s Ethics Committee. Reps. John Campbell (R–Calif.) and Tom Price (R–Ga.) were also recommended for a probe and made statements regarding the recommendation and denying wrongdoing to media outlets, including The Hill. The other five congressmen were not recommended for further review, according to the Hill.

Crowley’s office denied any financial chicanery.

“Congressman Crowley has always complied with the letter and spirit of all rules regarding fund-raising and standards of conduct,” said a spokesperson from Crowley’s office.

The review allegedly centers on funds raised from Wall Street executives prior to the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which was aimed at streamlining the financial regulation system, created the Consumer Financial Protection Agency and developed a process to prevent large bailouts of corporations, the Post reported.

Crowley voted for the House version of the bill, although Campbell and Price did not. All congressmen up for investigation were either part of the House Financial Services Committee or the House Ways and Means Committee. Crowley is a member of the Ways and Means Committee, while Campbell and Price are members of the Financial Services Committee.

The New York Post reported Crowley raised $23,500 before voting on the bill, and Price raised $23,000 at a “financial services lunch” before the vote.

Price also said in a statement he had not done anything wrong and spoke against the recommended investigation.

“How the OCE arrived at their recommendation is truly a mystery,” Price said. “There being no evidence of any wrongdoing or any inconsistency in my policy position, one can only guess as to the motive behind their decision or even why they chose to initiate a review in the first place.”

Reach reporter Rebecca Henely by e-mail at rhenely@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4564.

State Sen. Toby Stavisky (l. to r.) joins her campaign opponents, John Messer and Isaac Sasson, in a candidates forum at a meeting of the Queensboro Hill Civic Association. Photo by Connor Adams Sheets

The Democratic candidates in the race for state Sen. Toby Stavisky’s (D-Whitestone) seat appeared together twice in Flushing last week to air their views, answer questions and take jabs at one another as the Sept. 14 primary draws near.

For the first couple months of the campaign, Stavisky, Oakland Gardens attorney John Messer and New York Lottery winner and former chemistry professor Isaac Sasson of Flushing largely avoided appearing at events together, but they verbally sparred Aug. 24 at a MinKwon Center-sponsored event, then again at the Aug. 25 Queensboro Hill Civic Association meeting.

The candidates’ forums, as they were dubbed by the host groups, allowed the three rivals to speak freely on a variety of topics, revealing their personal views and stories as well as their personalities.

Their views mostly dovetailed on many issues such as immigration, which all three said they want to reform in a way that does not infringe on people’s privacy rights and legislative redistricting, which the three said they would address by setting up a nonpartisan commission. The candidates also said they would make education a top priority, that they would work to expand affordable housing in the district, and that campaign finance and ethics reform are essential to addressing the endemic problems plaguing Albany.

As a result of their platform’s similarities, the main differences between the candidates came down to their personalities and the issues their campaigns most emphasized those two nights.

Sasson spoke a lot about his personal history as an immigrant and made the most attacks both nights, accusing Stavisky of being an ineffective Albany insider and an absentee senator.

“I really don’t need a job — I just want to go there to do a job that is not being done up there,” he said at the MinKwon event, adding at the Queensboro Hill meeting that “if we put the same people back in office, who are we going to blame the next time?”

The attacks often left Stavisky on the defensive, but she spent most of her time highlighting her legislative record and accomplishments. Running against what many describe as anti-incumbent tide this year, she fired back at Sasson and repeatedly criticized her Republican colleagues.

“I have been at the forefront of the movement to clean up Albany, whether it be the ethics legislation we passed, whether it be campaign finance reform, whether it be nonpartisan redistricting,” she said at the MinKwon event. “Those legislators who give Albany a bad name deserve to be defeated.”

Messer mostly stayed out of the fray, instead speaking to the audience about problems facing New Yorkers — particularly economic issues — and rattling off a litany of facts and figures. His emphasis, as it has been throughout the campaign, was on budget reform and job creation and retention.

“We’re all just one big community. We all share the same values and we all need to work together,” he said at the MinKwon Center debate. At Queensboro Hill the next night he said that “if you go around these neighborhoods, everyone will tell you the same thing: Everyone’s hurting, everyone’s hurting financially.”

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli plans to conduct a forensic audit into the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli recently audited the MTA and found what he said was “a culture of acceptance” of overtime pay.

Now his office will soon begin what is known as a forensic audit to determine whether fraud or any other illegality was involved in the hundreds of millions of dollars in overtime paid by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority over the past few years.

“Legislation passed last year authorizes a forensic audit and we welcome it along with the comptroller’s assistance as we continue to fulfill our commitment to reduce overtime,” the MTA said in a statement.

MTA Chairman Jay Walder recently called the curbing of overtime abuse “my top priority” in a shake-up he ordered of the agency.

DiNapoli’s office said it had “expanded its oversight of the MTA to unprecedented levels, completing nearly two dozen audits and reports since 2007.”

The most recent previous audit found what DiNapoli said was overtime costs that increased by 26 percent to nearly $600 million between 2005 and 2009, setting in motion his decision to conduct the forensic audit, which will enable his time to investigate suspicious practices involving overtime.

Forensic audits focus on examples of fraud and wrongdoing that may be considered criminal offenses, which are then referred to law enforcement agencies.

“The auditors will look to make sure that the MTA is only paying overtime that is justified, authorized, earned, properly calculated and correctly applied for pension and benefit determinations,” the comptroller’s office said.

The MTA has been the target of frequent criticism from elected officials and the public that its bookkeeping is sloppy.

“My problem with the MTA is they are consistently asking for more money, but constituent services stay the same and slide a little,” state Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi (D-Forest Hills) said after hearing that DiNapoli would conduct the audit.

“Something is wrong with a system that allows more than 140 people to double their salaries through overtime,” DiNapoli said. “It’s hard to justify repeated fare hikes, layoffs and service reductions when New Yorkers believe the MTA isn’t controlling spending and restraining costs.”

Work has wrapped on the second phase of construction of new facilities and renovations at the College Point Fields.

Former City Councilman Tony Avella announced last week the completion of the second phase of construction of a sports facility at the College Point Fields.

The long-awaited completion of the second of three phases, which he announced at a small event there Aug. 24, comes at the end of more than a dozen controversy-ridden years of work by Avella and other community leaders to provide sports fields for area sports organizations and teams.

“It’s gratifying to see the park dream come to fruition and I don’t think any other field in Queens can compare to it now,” said Avella, who is running for the seat currently held by state Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose). “We have a facility everyone can be proud of.”

The second phase included creating a soccer field, new Little League fields and renovations to the existing baseball fields and roller-skating rink.

Between October 1997 and April 2004, the College Point fields were closed due to an illegal dumping scandal that left 1,300 children without a place to play sports. In April 2004, the $7 million first phase of work was completed and children returned to the fields. The second phase cost $6 million to complete.

The ballfields, at Ulmer Street and 25th Avenue, were closed in 1997 during renovations by Enviro-Fill, a Flushing company, after illegal construction debris was found on the 22-acre site. Enviro-Fill officials and demolition company owners were later convicted and sentenced for dumping the waste.

Avella was president of the College Point Sports Association at the time of the dumping, but maintained Tuesday that responsibility for the incident should be placed with Enviro-Fill.

“We hired a contractor to do the right thing and he didn’t. He was convicted,” he said. “Let’s say your washing machine breaks in your house and you hire someone to come into your house and fix it, is that your fault for hiring a contractor with good intentions?”

Tony Cusenza, president of First Sports Club of College Point, seems to have put those issues behind him and is more focused on the benefits the project will bring to area children.

“This is a dream come true for us. We used to play in the dirt, now we have a standard-sized soccer field to play in,” he said. “Thanks to Tony Avella, who was the champion of the project in seeing this through.”

Some Queens leaders were upset that Avella announced the second phase’s completion without issuing an invitation to the general public.

Avella acknowledged Tuesday that Padavan, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, state Assemblywoman Nettie Mayersohn (D-Flushing) and others helped make the project a reality, but that he had intended for the Aug. 24 announcement to be “just a little celebration between myself and the members of the sports association.”

State Sen. Toby Stavisky (l. to r.), Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz, U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, and West Side Tennis Club member Christine Schott speak outside the club’s stadium about the possibility of landmarking the structure that once housed the U.S. Open.

U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Forest Hills) has asked the United States Tennis Association to again use Forest Hills’ West Side Tennis Stadium to rejuvenate interest in the historic structure that once hosted the US Open and which tennis club members are considering selling.

The congressman announced this week that he sent a letter to the USTA’s chairman Aug. 16 asking that the organization hold one match a year at the iconic but now dilapidated stadium where the US Open was played from 1915 to 1977.

“It is time for the United States Tennis Association to give back to Forest Hills,” Weiner wrote in his letter to the USTA’s chairman. “Holding such a prestigious tennis match in Forest Hills would boost tourism in the area and would also bring a renewed interest in using the stadium for other events.”

The USTA did not return a phone call for comment.

West Side Tennis Club members are expected to meet at the end of September to vote on the sale of the stadium, which members have said they are considering because the club in the prestigious Forest Hills Gardens neighborhood has sunk into debt.

The Forest Hills-based Cord Meyer Development Co. has proposed transforming the 2.5 acres on which the stadium stands into luxury apartments and town homes. Some members of the community, including state Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi (D-Forest Hills) and Forest Hills Community and Civic Association President Barbara Stuchinski, have supported the plan to bring in houses.

“I toured the stadium a week and a half ago and it’s rundown to a horrible degree,” Hevesi said Monday. “One proposal, to keep the aesthetics of the stadium and turn it into residential housing, I’m OK with that.”

Others, including Rego-Forest Preservation Council President Michael Perlman, have railed against plans to develop the stadium.

“The Forest Hills tennis stadium is an American and international icon which is imminently endangered, since the West Side Tennis Club is seriously considering an offer from a developer who will demolish it for condos,” Perlman said.

Hevesi, as well as Weiner and a number of other elected officials, have said they are not pleased the tennis club has excluded the public in its discussions to sell the stadium. The assemblyman also said two-thirds of the club’s voting membership would need to approve a plan to sell the stadium, which he said they currently do not have.

Weiner, along with Hevesi, state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone) and City Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills), sent a letter earlier this month to the city Landmarks Preservation Commission, asking that the group study whether the stadium should be preserved.

Besides hosting tennis matches, the stadium has been the site of a number of concerts, including The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix. Portions of the 2001 film “The Royal Tenenbaums” was filmed there.

The district includes the neighborhoods of Jamaica, Rochdale Village, Richmond Hill, and South Ozone Park. White was less than one year into his second consecutive term.

The winner of the non-partisan election will serve as the Council member until Dec. 31 2011 and a second election next year will choose someone to serve out the rest of White’s four-year term, according to the mayor. The candidates for the election will be chosen by independent nominating petitions and not a party primary, according to the rules stated in the city charter.

Padavan declined Friday to participate in a debate to be co-sponsored by TimesLedger Newspapers and the Queens Chronicle Oct. 4 at Queensborough Community College in Bayside.

“I got a call last week from [managing editor] Liz Rhoades from the Chronicle and she said they were thinking of setting up this debate. I explained to her that there are already five in October, and that there would be ample opportunity for my constituents and the media to be there,” he said Monday morning. “My constituents will be able to ask questions and listen to the candidates’ views.”

Avella’s camp immediately attacked Padavan for declining to participate in the debate. Avella is a former city Councilman.

“Mr. Avella was absolutely shocked that Sen. Padavan would refuse to engage in a fair and non-partisan debate on the issues,” Avella spokeswoman Rebecca Sheehan said in a statement.

A wake will be held at Greater Allen AME Cathedral at 110-31 Merrick Blvd. in Jamaica Wednesday afternoon from 2 to 5 p.m. and from 6 to 9 p.m., according to the office. The next day at 10 a.m., the church will hold a funeral mass for the longtime southeast Queens leader.

A spokesperson from the City Council said that the Council will make a decision on what to do about White’s vacated seat after his funeral. White was less than one year into his second consecutive term representing the 28th Council District, which covers the neighborhoods of Jamaica, Rochdale Village, Richmond Hill, and South Ozone Park, after a previous stint in the 1990s.

It is expected that a special election to fill the seat will be added to general election ballot in November, according to sources.

Avella accepted an invitation Thursday to the proposed debate, which was to be held Oct. 4 at Queensborough Community College in Bayside, co-sponsored by TimesLedger Newspapers and the Queens Chronicle.

“Mr. Avella was absolutely shocked that Sen. Padavan would refuse to engage in a fair and non-partisan debate on the issues,” Avella spokeswoman Rebecca Sheehan said in a statement.

“Debate organizers told us that Sen. Padavan personally refused to accept the invitation, giving the excuse that there were numerous civic groups that were holding candidate night forums.”

Padavan’s campaign could not be reached for comment Friday evening.

A Republican source close to Padavan said he believes the 38-year veteran of the state Senate turned down the invite because he felt that there were already enough debates being held between him and Avella, granting enough opportunities for the candidates’ views to be aired to voters.