The power of the local press was on full display in the tight 2009 City Council race between Democratic nominee Kevin Kim and Republican Dan Halloran.

Halloran did not allow Multi-Media’s role in the race to go unnoticed. In September 2009, the Tribune ran a story originally headlined “Democratic Victor vs. Pagan Lord” that detailed Halloran’s unconventional religious practices.

Call it the story of a local boy trying to do well for his hometown.

A familiar face to the corridors of power, Bayside native Austin Shafran kicked off his run for the City Council’s 19th District on Feb. 19, touting years spent working within the bounds of the political system, at the local, state and federal levels.

The Queens Jewish Community Council on Sunday welcomed former Assemblywoman Grace Meng (D-Queens) as a Congresswoman, and veteran Representative Steve Israel (D-Queens, LI) to the neighborhood.

The group hosted its annual legislative breakfast at Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, an event that has become a popular stop with those in Queens either holding or seeking public office.

The borough’s congressional delegation added three new faces to its roster on Jan. 3 with the swearing in of Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn), Grace Meng (D-Flushing) and Steve Israel (D-Long Island)

Queens’ new legislators entered the 113th Congress at a time of deep partisan division and mounting fiscal headaches. All three promised to ignore the Democrat-Republican divide in the House of Representatives so as to put their constituents first.

The country did go off the fiscal cliff this week, but it was more like a bungee jump than a fall.

Less than 24 hours after billions of dollars in tax hikes and spending cuts went into effect, the House of Representatives agreed to a deal struck by the White House and Senate leaders and passed by the upper body of Congress on New Year’s Eve, before the year-end deadline that had been termed the “fiscal cliff.”

For many Queens residents, 2012 will be forever married to Superstorm Sandy and the havoc she wrought. For good or ill, North Queens was spared the brunt of the storm.

A sizeable number of downed trees and power outages hit the area, but most counted their luck. Compared to the borough’s southern edge, Sandy was forgiving to Flushing and its satellite neighborhoods.

Take your big-ticket 2012 headlines about superstorms and elections and throw them out the window for a moment. Sure, the year was filled with its fair share of natural and political change. But scratch a little deeper and you’ll find 2012 was the year residents felt divorced from their government, when city agencies were called out for dubious practices.

The year was pockmarked with calls for transparency and fair representation. In short, there was often a gulf between government’s practices and voters’ desires.

Queens politics in 2012 brought new districts, a historic election in the 6th Congressional District and enough cloak-and-dagger intrigue to fill a Robert Ludlum novel.

But when Hurricane Sandy struck in October, killing 12 people in Queens and more than 40 in the city, devastating the Rockaways, Howard Beach, lower Manhattan and Staten Island, the people of central Queens, who were largely spared the storm’s wrath, rallied to the cause of those worst hit.

Politics in middle and southwestern Queens was the favorite sport outside of Citi Field in 2012, and the worst storm to hit the region in 74 years devastated some while causing others just a few flickers of their lights.

JANUARY

As the year began, the city filed an appeal of a ruling by federal Judge Nicholas Garaufus that found discrimination on the part of the FDNY against African-American firefighters in the testing and hiring process.

Six years after Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D-Glendale) first launched his political career in Albany’s corridors, the 43-year-old has set his eyes on City Hall.

“I think I can make a very significant difference,” he said in an interview, pointing to the prospect of fresh blood flooding the council, as nearly half of the legislature’s members will be term-limited out of office.

Democrats appeared to retake control of the state Senate Tuesday, as Republicans failed to win a Queens race they had poured resources into and may have lost several other tight contests around New York.

The likely changeover from GOP control would be one more victory for the party that saw President Obama re-elected and solidified its control of the U.S. Senate even as it lost a few more seats in the House of Representatives.

Community leaders gathered Friday in front of a weedy, neglected entrance to the Bayside Post Office on 42nd Avenue to protest the proposed relocation of the branch.

“This is one of the longest-established businesses in Bayside,” said state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside), who organized the event. “Moving it to the annex with no parking is absurd.”

Both sides in the race for the 6th Congressional District say they are eager for a series of televised debates called for on Monday by City Councilman and GOP candidate (Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone).

The campaign of Assemblywoman Grace Meng (D-Flushing) said she is ready to go.

Congressman Gary Ackerman is questioning the U.S. Postal Service, which is claiming that consolidating the Bayside branch does not require public input.

Last week, Ackerman (D-Queens, Nassau) confirmed that he learned the USPS plans to close the post office next year at 212-35 42 Ave. and move it into the remote annex located at 41-29 216 St. Residents say they like the current site because it is centrally located near Bell Boulevard and has parking.

After seven years of city delays, state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) announced last week that the Department of Parks has begun the bidding process to build a comfort station at Little Bay Park.

Avella indicated that construction is expected to begin by the end of the year. He provided more than $1 million as a member of the City Council, but the project has faced what he calls “never-ending bureaucratic delays.”

Bayside residents appear solid in their opposition to the U.S. Postal Service’s plan to move the main post office on 42nd Avenue to a remote annex on 216th Street that has no parking.

Congressman Gary Ackerman (D-Queens, Nassau) announced last week that he had learned that the postal service is seeking to relocate the branch sometime next year, but that no jobs would be lost. Both Bayside properties are leased and Ackerman was told the move would save the agency money.

The decision by the Supreme Court last Thursday to uphold most of the controversial Affordable Care Act of 2010 — also known as Obamacare — was received pretty much along party lines by Queens elected officials.

The 5-4 ruling by the country’s highest court was a major victory for President Obama, but Republican opponents are continuing to call for the law’s repeal.

Assemblywoman Grace Meng of Flushing handily defeated three Democratic opponents Tuesday in the 6th Congressional District primary.

The unofficial count was 51 percent for Meng, 28 percent for Assemblyman Rory Lancman of Fresh Meadows, 16 percent for City Councilwoman Liz Crowley of Middle Village and 5 percent for Dr. Robert Mittman of Bayside.

In a four-person Democratic race, Assemblywoman Grace Meng had no trouble winning her party’s nomination Tuesday for the newly created 6th Congressional District seat.