Dan Halloran For New York City Council District 19

A 5th generation Flushing native, Dan Halloran is the 19th Council District’s best bet to preserve the character and quality of life unique to our neighborhood. The lifelong New Yorker is able to explain to the community why the imprudent planning of New York City has negatively affected the College Point area. He offers real solutions to the problems, and identifies the means to reach them. His grasp of the powers of the Council, the law, and the structure of our government.

Vote Halloran on Election Day

Opinion

Dan Halloran, the Independence, Republican, Conservative and Libertarian party candidate for City Council held a party Saturday afternoon to celebrate the opening of his new Campaign offices in Bayside at the Old Chase Bank on Bell Boulevard.

Several hundred of Halloran’s volunteers and supporters turned out at 43-01 Bell Blvd in Bayside and promised to help the candidate in the final push before he faces his opponent in November’s election. “It’s a great location, because it is the heart of the district,” Halloran said, which covers Bayside, Little Neck, Douglaston, College Point, East Flushing, Malba and Whitestone. The Republican Candidate has had a satellite office on Francis Lewis Boulevard for access to the other parts of the district since April.

On hand were State Senator Frank Padavan, former City Councilman Mike Able, GOP Chairman Phil Ragusa and Indpendence Party Representative Mike Niebauer, as well as a host of party officials and supporters. The Campaign raised well over $10,000.00 over the week and recieved heavy press attention. With over 100 volunteers on staff, the race for November is moving along with great success.

Opinion

The GOP’s candidate for City Council in the 19th Councilmanic, Dan Halloran, appeared on Queens Public Television tonight during the primary election. He spoke about the opportunities for the upcoming election cycle and the Republican Party in Queens. Afterward he released the following statement:

“I congratulate each and every candidate in the democratic primary, who fought hard, brought out the issues, and has worked to make our community a better place. I particularly thank my life-long friend Tom Cooke for caring and showing what can be done with dedication, and bringing sensibility to the dialogue. I am grateful for the efforts of Debra Markell in serving our City, and of course, Jerry Iannece who has done a good job as Chair of Community Board 11 – I am sure he will continue to be an important voice on Zoning issues in the District. Steve Behar has motivated a great group of young people and helped renew interest in politics for them, Kudos Steve. Paul Vallone has proven not only to be a tough competitor, but more importantly, a friend who never had an unkind word for anyone, through it all.”

Halloran then went on to address the news that Kevin Kim had won the Democratic line, “I am honored to be running against Kevin. He has proven able to get out the vote; I have no doubt that I face a tough opponent in him. Kevin has stayed with the issues throughout the campaign, and while I disagree with him ideologically on many points, I can not fault his commitment to serve, nor his credentials to do so. I wish him the best of luck as the race progresses and hope he and I will be able to stay on target in addressing the problems facing the community. I look forward to debating the problems and the solutions so that our community will reap the benefits!”

Dan Halloran will be running on the Republican, Conservative, Independence, and Libertarian lines in November and has been endorsed by the district’s State Senator Frank Padavan, and former Councilman Mike Abel among many others.

Opinion

On September 12, 2009, the DWARF GIRAFFE ATHLETIC LEAGUE PICNIC at Harvey Park was held despite overcast skies. Hotdogs, Hamburgers, Refreshments, Family Games & Prizes marked the occasion for the youth atheletic program. State Senator Frank Padavan and City Council Candidate Dan Halloran joined the board of the DG’s at the event. Halloran and his brothers participated in the DG program in theiryouth.

The program, founded in 1955, when some young men who played softball together, called the smaller guys “Dwarfs” and the taller “Giraffes”, decided to form a social club and try to help the youth in the community. They went to a local parish priest, the late Reverend O’Connell of St. Luke’s Church, with the idea of fielding one or two baseball teams for youngsters. The turnout was overwhelming, with over 200 boys signing up. Thus the Dwarf-Giraffe Boy’s League was born. In 1966, the League purchased its present site at 149-50 15th Road. It was formally the Rialto Theater, known by some in the neighborhood as the “Itch”. A Jewish congregation had earlier purchased the building, establishing it as Temple Hillel. The theater floor was gutted and the room converted into the gymnasium and basketball court. The non-profit, non-sectarian organization then began to expand in the late 60’s into football, basketball, bowling and soccer. The youths ranged in age from 8 to 25. A public bingo program was run once a week which enabled the organization to pay off the $50,000 mortgage for its building in less than six years. Grants and sponsorships in addition to other fund raising activities have allowed the league to maintain and improve its facilities over the years.

DG currently offers member participation for boys and girls from age 5 to 18 in five major sports programs – baseball, girls’ softball, basketball, tackle football and roller hockey. Over the years DG has offered programs to thousands of youngsters with an emphasis on instruction, sportsmanship and teamwork. DG would like to enhance its programs and if possible expand and offer additional programs. The operations of DG are community oriented and strive to serve the athletic and social needs of the boys and girls in our community. Business owners are strongly encouraged to become team or corporate sponsors to future this endeavor.

Opinion

Local attorney Dan Halloran, who has worked in several District Attorneys’ offices and a former member of the NYPD, joined the 109th Police Precinct Community Council in Presenting Police Officer of the Month last evening. The award was shared by two officers who, in separate incidents, prevented suicides in two parts of Flushing.

On hand, at the Community Council meeting, chaired by Chrissy Voskerichian was the 109th Executive Officer, as Deputy Inspector Matthew Whelan was unavailable.

Opinion

Press Release: September 5, 2009
Committee to Elect Dan Halloran

24-55 Francis Lewis Boulevard
Whitestone, NY 11357
718 690-3803
press@danhalloran.org
www.electdanhalloran.org

Council Candidate Halloran calls for a probe into ACORN & the Working Families Party amid Discovery of Corruption in Not For Profits tied to them

New York, New York: Council Candidate Halloran once again calls for reform of the allocation and member item process in government amid the recent revelations about ACORN and the WFP in New York City. Time and again a public funds scandal plagues the halls of New York City relating to the abuse of taxpayer funds and party politics. Regrettably, many of our elected officials are strangely silent. Perhaps they have turned a blind eye because of where the money trail leads. The New York Agency for Community Affairs (NYACA), a not-for-profit prohibited from political activities whose mission was to be “a vehicle for community organizations to assist low and moderate income families” is the latest organization to be outed as an apparent front for diverting taxpayer money to the political campaigns of local politicians. Why a not-for-profit was ever allowed to operate under a name that makes it sound like an arm of the government is a question for another day.

This week it was uncovered that NYACA, a public charity, shares more than just address with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) the lobbying group that has come under intense scrutiny for election fraud and is currently under fire for breach of federal and state regulation of political activities. During the 2008 election season, ACORN gathered over 1.3 million voter registration forms in 21 states; 400,000 being ultimately rejected as incomplete, duplicated or fraudulent (approximately one-third). The fact that ACORN shared an address with NYACA is something that should have sent up red flags long before the financial irregularity was exposed. Now it seems that millions of public dollars were diverted by NYACA directly to ACORN to engage in political campaign activity for dozens of candidates in New York City. The quid-pro-quo: campaign operations and electioneering for local candidates, more dirty politics as usual.

Estimates place diverted funds in the last three years at no less than $3.5 million dollars. This year alone NYACA funneled to ACORN $175,000.00 from eight State Senators, $240,500.00 from ten State Assembly Members and $85,000.00 from four City Council Members. ACORN went on to provide canvassing and other political work for those politicians -clearly crossing the line between the apolitical not-for-profit world and the political campaigns of these politicians. Not surprisingly, one of those funding NYACA is Senator Hiram Monserrate, already under investigation, Assemblyman, Speaker Sheldon Silver, councilmen Palma, DiBlasio, Mark-Viverito, and Sanders also funded the activities of NYACA and gained benefits from them.

This revelation comes on the heels of the discovery that the Working Families Party (WFP) has secretly been channeling money to avoid conflicts with New York State and City Campaign Finance Laws through the use of Data and Field Services (DFS), which shares its in house counsel with the political director a powerful healthcare workers union and a heavily connected WFP supporter.

These conflicts were so severe that the NYC Campaign Finance Board (CFB) issued a harsh warning statement to candidates that anyone who had the assistance of the WFP or DFS would be scrutinized severely to ensure strict compliance with the law. It also went on to declare DFS an “arm of the WFP” for campaign finance purposes, calling into question the corporate status of the two entities and whether they are operating within the scope of federal and state election law.

This sort of political backstage shenanigans is precisely why more open and transparent government is needed- and line by line explication of budget items is critical to maintaining integrity in our government. Once again Councilman De Blasio finds himself in the middle of this controversy as well as the one with NYACA. The tangled web of abuse and misuse of taxpayer funds continues to ensnare public officials at all levels here in New York.

Due to these unfortunate events I am calling on the City Department of Investigation and New York State Attorney General to investigate both ACORN’s and the WFP’s expenditures of taxpayer funds and the ties they share to DFS and NYACA, and if necessary, prosecute the violators of the firewall between campaigns and civic foundations and public charities. The Attorney General has a Charities Bureau with both the statutory authority and institutional competency to investigate this kind of abuse of the public trusts.

I also call on my Democrat opponents to renounce the Working Families Party and ACORN’s use of taxpayer monies for political purposes and make a public pledge to refuse to take the WFP line or their tainted financial or political support if offered. I call on the Mayor to ensure the Department of Investigation pursues the local officials who have violated the public trust, and ask the State Attorney General to review the conflicts and prosecute the organizations and persons responsible for eroding the integrity of our government.

Dan Halloran
City Council Candidate, 19th CD

Opinion

Dan Halloran talks to the Community and gives real answers to the questions posed from his hometown civic association. Dan tackles tough Zoning issues, campaign matters, and his GOP endorsement, while outlining his community involvement.

Dan also talks about the impact of Scouting in his experience growing up in NYC and Queens.

Opinion

Dan Halloran stood out as the only truly honest and forthright candidate in the debates. He called out his opponents on their support of the NYC Clinic Access bill- which restricts freedom of speech. Public Advocate candidate Norman Siegel, head of the ACLU applauded Halloran for having the courage to stand up against the bill, as he did. Halloran’s no-nonsense and realistic answers proved why he is the ONLY choice for Queens in the City Council.

Opinion