City Hall News: Several Challengers Eyeing Race Against Embattled Queens Assemblywoman

Queens Democrats stick with Carrozza, despite residency, tax problems

By Chris Bragg

In July, the Daily News published a series of damaging articles about Assembly Member Ann-Margaret Carrozza, revealing that she was living in a Long Island mansion 15 miles outside her district, had double dipped on tax rebates and had accumulated the worst attendance record in the Assembly.

Following these reports, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo launched an investigation into Carrozza’s residency issues, while the Daily News called for her resignation. At the time, Carrozza herself said that she was considering retirement, in order to focus on her family and thriving law practice.

Five months later, there are indications that Carrozza, who represents a district in northeastern Queens, will in fact run for a seventh term, and will do so with the backing of the Queens Democratic Party.

“I know she bought a place on Long Island, but she’s also now renting a place in the district [in northeastern Queens]. That sounds to me like someone who is running for re-election,” said Michael Reich, the local party chairman. “We certainly wouldn’t look to undercut her.”

Carrozza did not return numerous requests for comment.

At the same time, rumors are swirling that some within the party would prefer to see Carrozza take a pass on a re-election bid. Already, a number of potential challengers are lining up to take on the scandal-scarred incumbent.

Democrat Steve Behar, who recently finished a distant fourth in a six-person Democratic primary to replace Council Member Tony Avella, said he is strongly considering running for the Assembly seat whether Carrozza stays in the race or not.

Behar, an attorney, is not closely associated with the Queens Democratic Party and would have few qualms about running a primary against an establishment-backed incumbent.

“I’ve been approached by many residents and community leaders about running and I’ll decide one way or the other early next year,” Behar said.

Meanwhile, political insiders on both sides of the aisle believe that if Carrozza does not run, Michael Sais, the chief of staff for Assembly Member Michael Gianaris, is lined up as the county party’s pick to the replace her. Sais has also worked as a lobbyist for the Parkside Group, the consulting firm typically used by Queens Democratic Party candidates.

Reached by phone, Sais declined to comment on his plans, or whether he would consider running a primary against Carrozza.

Also, Matthew Silverstein, president of the New York State Young Democrats, said that if Carrozza chooses not to run for re-election, he will definitely run for the seat.

“I would never primary Ann, but if it’s vacant, I’m in,” he said.

Queens Republicans, meanwhile, are coalescing behind Vincent Tabone, executive vice-president of the Queens Republican Party.

Tabone, an attorney who has worked in both the Giuliani and Bloomberg administrations, said he would also decide whether to run sometime early next year.

“There is a feeling that if Ann-Margaret Carrozza wants to move to Long Island to send her kids to elite private schools, and has the worst attendance record in the Assembly, that it may very well be time for a change,” Tabone said.

Already, Tabone has been asked to run by Sen. Frank Padavan and has privately gotten the support of Michael Neibauer, the Queens executive committee member for the State Independence Party, which could provide Tabone a crucial ballot line in the race.

Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb has also been in talks with Tabone about running, though Kolb said the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee has not yet picked a candidate, in part because Tabone has not made a final decision about whether he will enter the race.

“We’d love for him to run,” Kolb said. “We really think a lot of Vince and think he’s a really quality person.”

Before Carrozza’s election in 1996, the northeast Queens Assembly seat had been in Republican hands for the better part of two decades. Padavan’s district overlaps with the Assembly district, as do the recently GOP-won Council districts held by Peter Koo and Dan Halloran.

But Reich, the Queens Democratic Party executive director, argued that many of the more conservative areas of the Assembly district were removed during the last round of redistricting, and maintained that the district is more liberal than it might appear.

Despite some of Carrozza’s problems, such as a 36 percent attendance record in the Assembly last year, Reich said he believes Carrozza would stand a good shot of re-election if she again chooses to run.

“Personal issues kept her from giving 100 percent,” said Reich, “but I would say she’s still been in the high 90s.”