The race for the 19th Council District has a set candidate for the Republican Party. Well, it had one up until Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) was arrested on corruption charges in April.

The incumbent has since announced he will not seek re-election, leaving the door open for a fresh-faced Republican to enter a field that is seemingly growing in number by the week.

Preet can’t be beat, unless you think Loretta is better. The U.S. attorneys for the southern and eastern districts of New York, respectively, Preet Bharara and Loretta Lynch, are in the midst of stellar work that should do more to clean up the political corruption that seems endemic to Albany than most so-called reforms have ever managed.

They’re going after corruption in case after case and knocking down one elected domino after another. Any city or state lawmaker who’s on the take and hasn’t been charged yet must be very, very nervous.

Frank Messano, chairman of the board of Italian Charities of America and a prominent figure in the Queens Republican Party and the Maspeth community, passed away Monday after a sudden illness at age 64.

“He was a presence at Republican conventions and had a great depth of knowledge of local and national politics,” former state Sen. Serphin Maltese said. “He was also my good friend.”

Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone), who was arrested last month on accusations that he took part in a scheme to bribe Republican officials in order to get state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Hollis) onto the mayoral ballot as a Republican, announced Wednesday that he will not run for a second term.

Halloran, who was first elected in 2009, was arrested April 2, along with Smith and Vince Tabone, former vice chairman of the Queens Republican Party, for an alleged plot to solicit bribes to acquire a Wilson Pakula for Smith, a Democrat, in order for him to get a place on the GOP primary ballot for mayor. He was indicted late last month.

Dear Editor:

You can judge a person’s character by the company they keep “Defending the chairman”(Serphin R. Maltese, Frank Padavan and Michael J. Abel, Letters, April 18) concerning current Queens County Republican Chairman Phil Ragusa.

The indictments of both GOP Councilmember Dan Halloran and Queens County Republican Party Vice Chairperson Vincent Tabone are just the latest chapter in the spiraling decline over the past three decades of the once-relevant Queens County GOP.

One way of judging the health of any political party is looking at the number of candidates who qualify for ballot status on their line.

Up until the 1980s, the GOP routinely qualified candidates for all Congressional, state Senate, Assembly and City Council seats.

After the 1982 reapportionment, Democrats eliminated the districts of Queens GOP Assembly members Rosemary Gunning, John LoPresto, John Flack, Al DelliBovi and John Esposito. Sen.Padavan voted for this plan as it protected both his and the late Sen. Martin Knorr’sown gerrymandered districts.

In 2012, there wereno GOP candidates on the ballot for one of six Congressional, three of seven state Senate and 13 out of 18 state Assembly races in the general election. Watch how many Democratic City Council members will geta free pass with no GOP opponent this year.

After being elected in 1972, Padavan listed Republican-Conservative affiliations on his headquarters’ storefront. In the 1990s the Padavan and Assemblyman Doug Prescott team proudly campaigned as your local Republican/Conservative team. But Republican and Tea Party activists in 2010 were disappointed by Padavan’s campaign headquarters. There was no literature, bumper stickers, posters or lawn signs for his fellow GOP running mates.

A party’s ticket is only strong when all the candidates, from top to bottom, work as a team. Republicans are in trouble when they are afraid to identify party affiliations and campaign on their own. Other Republicans were confused with Padavan’s standard campaign theme, “Nobody Cares Like Frank,” when he obviously didn’t care about them. Both Padavan andMaltese failed for decades to build a Republican brand name when they ran from it. No wonder Maltese lost in 2008 and Padavan lost in 2010.

Queens Republicans are on the way to political extinction like the dinosaurs of old! How disappointing that voters will have to look elsewhere for any alternatives to the Queens County Democratic Party machine monopoly.

The failure to build a viable Queens GOP is the inheritance the lastunderdog Republican City Council member,Eric Ulrich,has to live with.

Dear Editor:

It is hard to believe that our normally cognizant President Obama would think that appeasing today’s warped incarnation of the Republican Party would have them reciprocate in kind. By caving to their demands that Social Security be on the chopping block he not only angers his base but further encourages the Repubstructionist Party to continue being the Party of “No” since it eventually gets them what they want ... especially if they can, as a bonus, manage to severely damage our country during his time in office.

President Lincoln, where are you now when your Party so sorely needs you?

A City Council candidate’s long-rumored run was made official this week, as John Duane formally kicked off his campaign after months of fundraising and behind-the-scenes legwork.

The Little Neck resident spent one term in the state Assembly nearly three decades ago and is making a second push for public office since that initial stint in Albany. (Duane lost to Ed Braunstein for the 26th Assembly District seat in 2010.)

Former Rep. Anthony Weiner, the Forest Hills Democrat, may or may not have launched a campaign for mayor this week when he released a plan called “Keys to the City: 64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class” — and started a new Twitter account.

Weiner was forced from office a little less than two years ago when it was revealed that he had been sending lewd photos of himself to young women around the country, many via Twitter, and then lied about it for weeks. Until the scandal hit, he was a darling of the Democratic Party for his take-no-prisoners approach to political discourse, advocacy for the needs of his Central and Southwestern Queens district and staunch support of Israel, among other things. He was, for example, a foremost cheerleader of President Obama’s healthcare bill, without which, Weiner said, the economy couldn’t recover from the recession.

State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Hollis), City Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) and four others were formally indicted last Thursday in the alleged bribery and extortion scheme for which they were arrested April 2.

They all pleaded not guilty in federal court in upstate White Plains on Tuesday.

Middle Village native Craig Caruana wants the Republican Party to take back the 30th District City Council seat and said he’s the man for the job when he announced his candidacy in front of the Little League clubhouse in Glendale on Monday.

“We are lacking leadership in this district,” Caruana said in front of family, friends and supporters. “What we need is someone who will take responsibility for what happens in Queens.”

State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Hollis), City Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) and four others were formally indicted Thursday in the alleged bribery and extortion scheme for which they were arrested April 2.

Dear Editor:

As former elected officials from Queens County, we have had the opportunity to work very closely with Republican Party Chairman Phil Ragusa. We have known Phil for over 30 years and in our experience, he is one of the most honest, diligent, decent and forthright people we have had the pleasure to be associated with in our many years in public service.

Phil has led this Queens County organization for the last seven years and has been an exceptional leader. We admire how he has shown great vision in growing the Queens Republican Party, recruiting a new group of active and dedicated members to lead our party into the future, and attracting talented and qualified candidates to run for office.

It is always shocking when someone in the political arena betrays the public trust and is accused of corrupt activities. It is even more disturbing when those accused are individuals we’ve known for years. What is even more unfortunate and disappointing is when political opportunists use such circumstances to advance their own narrow agendas and personal aspirations for power.

The recent scandal involving two Queens Republicans is allegedly of their own making and now, they must face the consequences. No one should be so cynical as to make baseless charges as to the integrity and forthrightness of Phil Ragusa, or to attempt to use this scandal to tarnish his good name and reputation. No one should be accused of guilt by association.

We realize that there are some who have been trying to replace Chairman Ragusa almost from the minute he was elected chairman. We are appalled at their crass attempt to twist these unfortunate events into a tool to use to undermine Chairman Ragusa’s authority and to serve their own purposes and longstanding agenda.

If these people had more experience, maturity and a basic sense of decency they might instead use this as an opportunity to bring people together and to rally the Queens Republican Party behind their leader and their fellow Republican candidates instead of heading down a path that can only result in damaging the party and further eroding the public’s trust in their Republican elected officials, party leaders and candidates.

We continue to give our full and unqualified support to Phil Ragusa as chairman of the Queens Republican Party and stand ready to defend him against these transparent attacks from longstanding and predictable foes.

Dear Editor:

All polls show that Americans approve of stronger gun control regulations. Folks, that’s not enough!

The NRA has a strong grip on most Republicans and many Democrats in Congress. It will take 60 votes in the Senate to pass a reform bill (there are 55 Democrats vs. 45 Republicans there). Neither party is in control. However, the tough battle will be in the GOP-majority House.

If we want the poll “approval” to become reality, the following “urgent action” must be taken ... now! All Americans must get off their butts and demand Congress pass a bill so that Obama can sign it into law. This action will require willpower. We must turn up the heat on Congress — letters, emails, phone calls, petitions.

Tell ‘em in the only language they know: Pass a gun reform bill now or we will vote you out of office!

“We were the first team to ever beat the Celtics, who went 68-14 that year, in a seventh game at the Boston Garden,” former Knicks forward Jerry Lucas recalled last Friday night as the Knicks honored members of their 1972-73 squad, the last New York team to win an NBA championship.

Lucas obviously took a pride in that accomplishment, but he was also sending a message to fans of the current Knicks team that even the Miami Heat, led by Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, a team that recently peeled off 27 straight wins, can be beaten by the never-say-die Knicks in the playoffs.

“Preventing public corruption is essential to ensuring that government works and can effectively keep the public’s trust,” a top state official said Tuesday.

Once you’re done laughing, consider this: That official was Gov. Cuomo, and that line was just the first in his statement introducing a new bill, the Public Trust Act, that’s designed to cut down on the kind of corruption Queens lawmakers Malcolm Smith and Dan Halloran, and four other people, were accused of on April 2.

When details first started coming out following the corruption arrest of state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Hollis), Professor Michael Krasner of Queens College just shook his head.

Krasner, a political science professor at the school school since 1970, has long been an observer of Queens politics.

It might be laughable if it weren’t so serious — Republican operative Vince Tabone of Bayside was “less skilled at conducting a patdown than he was at conducting a shakedown.” That’s how the FBI described the GOP apparatchik’s failed attempt to find the wire an undercover agent was wearing when he handed Tabone a wad of cash as part of an alleged bribery scheme.

But it is serious. Deadly serious. The case unveiled Tuesday against Tabone, Democratic state Sen. Malcolm Smith of Hollis, Republican City Councilman Dan Halloran of Whitestone and three other alleged conspirators does indeed, as U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said, “demonstrate, once again, that a show-me-the-money culture seems to pervade every level of New York government.”

State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Hollis) and Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) were both arrested in an alleged plot to bribe GOP officials in an attempt to gain support for a potential Republican primary candidacy by Smith for mayor this year.

Officially the chairman of the Queens Republican Party is Phil Ragusa. But if what U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara says is true, that may come as a surprise to the borough party’s Deputy Chairman Vince Tabone, who was one of six people indicted in the scheme centered on state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Hollis) and Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone).

“The more you’re in politics, the more corrupt you are,” then-Congressional candidate and Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) said during a meeting with the Queens Chronicle’s editorial board last fall. “I don’t care if you’re the best person on the planet. You make deals, the line becomes blurry.”

That was Oct. 19. One day earlier, he allegedly left an unnamed Queens eatery $800 richer in exchange for promising someone a no-show job and other favors, according to a criminal complaint leading to Halloran’s April 2 arrest at his Auburndale home.

State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Hollis) and his close associates, both political and personal, appear to be keeping a low profile since Tuesday morning, when the seven-term senator was arrested on federal charges that include bribery, wire fraud and conspiracy.

Smith, 56, was arrested at his home in Queens by FBI agents as the result of a 28-page federal complaint charging him with attempting to bribe two city Republican officials in an effort to secure the Republican nomination for mayor.

State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Jamaica) and City Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone) were arrested Tuesday morning, charged in an alleged plot to illegally affect the mayoral election.

A bill to allow mixed martial arts events to be held in New York may finally be headed for approval after years in limbo.

The full contact sport that includes elements of boxing, judo, jiu-jitsu and other martial arts is banned in New York, but is legal in nearly every other state in the country and has a growing fan base. The sport’s top promotion company, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, regularly holds sold-out events in arenas across the country and the world, including in Britain, Canada and Brazil.