After Phyllis “Tiz” Nastasio and Grace Marrero were knocked off the ballot, three candidates — Kristy Marmorato, Hasime “Samantha” Zherka and Havranek — are left fighting in the June primary in hopes of challenging incumbent Democrat Marjorie Velázquez in the November general election.
After all five candidates presented to the Bronx GOP committee earlier this year to earn the establishment’s endorsement, the group overwhelmingly chose Marmorato, who also happens to be the sister of the Bronx GOP Chair Michael Rendino and the wife of the NYC Board of Elections (BOE) GOP Commissioner Gino Marmorato.
Though Rendino told the Bronx Times his sister was simply the best candidate, Marmorato’s opponents have criticized the move as an act of nepotism and cronyism. But Marmorato said those accusations undermine her own achievements and criticized the other candidates for “mud-slinging.”
A mailer put out by Havranek’s campaign, for example, checks off various boxes under his name such as “community board experience,” “civic leader” and “youth leader,” and only checks off one box for Marmorato: “cronyism.”
And while Marmorato told the Bronx Times she had no involvement with the Tuesday night protest, her brother had enough, and led protestors outside Havranek’s fundraising event at Patricia’s Pizza of Tremont in Throggs Neck.
Rendino led chants calling Havranek a “fraud,” accusing him of having a campaign staffer fraudulently sign as a witness for a petition, and saying four voters’ signatures on his petition weren’t valid. Protestors held signs with pictures of the petition page in question, as well as a check depicting donations from Havranek to Velázquez during her 2021 Democratic City Council campaign, and three emails from The Waterbury LaSalle Community and Homeowners Association that advertised fundraising events for Havranek.
Rendino said that since the community group is a tax-exempt 501(c)3 organization — meaning political campaigning is prohibited — Havranek should return all donations garnered from those three events. Leaders of the organization did not respond to emails from the Bronx Times, but the IRS website shows that the group’s 501(c)3 status was revoked in February 2022 for not submitting the required tax forms.
In a March email obtained by the Bronx Times, Andrew Chirico, one of the leaders of the organization, appears to tell Rendino the organization is a 501(c)3 in response to the GOP chair asking about donating to the group.
Havranek said he has “no knowledge” of the situation with the community association.
“I have no idea what they’re talking about,” he said.
Havranek doesn’t deny he donated to Velázquez in the past. He has a paper trail of donating to candidates of both major political parties, and has roots as a Democrat himself. But he scoffed at the other allegations, calling them “unfounded” and “childish.” He acknowledged that petitioning can be tricky, but said that even if those signatures were invalid, he had close to 2,000 signatures — more than four times the required amount.
Plus, his petitions were already challenged through the city BOE and in the courts, and he won.
“To my knowledge, everything is above board, we didn’t do anything wrong,” Havranek told the Bronx Times. “I mean that’s very silly stuff. They’re just mad because we’ve done very well and we proved them wrong. Bottom line is, they picked the wrong candidate.”
At his fundraiser, Havranek said the Bronx GOP showed up because his campaign is beating their candidate, and that they “crossed the line” with the protest.
Rendino denied that the protest was an act of desperation.
“I proved my point by saying the fraud,” he told the Bronx Times. “That was it. I just wanted him to feel uncomfortable, I wanted John Cerini to feel uncomfortable, and that’s it.”
Cerini, the one Bronx GOP committee member who voted for Havranek, criticized Marmorato Tuesday night for not being as involved in the community as Havranek.
But Rendino said that Marmorato’s critics just say she isn’t qualified because she isn’t in “their little volunteer clique.”
Havranek has had the support of 2021 Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, the founder and CEO of the Guardian Angels. In an interview with the Bronx Times Tuesday night, Sliwa echoed the nepotism critique and questioned why Rendino would protest “a fellow Republican.”
“This is indicative of Mike Rendino deciding if my candidate doesn’t win, then no Republican wins,” Sliwa said. “Typical!”
Sliwa also echoed that Rendino already had a chance to challenge Havranek’s petitions.
Rendino told the Bronx Times he noticed the alleged fraudulent signatures after the fact, when he started noticing names of people who either already signed Marmorato’s petitions or people he knew and asked them about it.
According to Rendino, three of the individuals who said their names were fraudulently signed are District 13 Republicans: Tom Frawley, Keith Trainer and Johnny Bombace, and one of them, Vinny Ritchie, is a former Bronx resident who is now registered to vote in South Carolina.
The Bronx Times was able to confirm that Frawley co-owns property with Rendino and donated to Marmorato’s campaign.
Nastasio and Marrero, the candidates who were thrown off the ballot, have both stood behind Havranek, with Nastasio joining his team as its campaign manager. Zherka said at the Schneps Media debate Wednesday night that if she doesn’t win the primary, she would throw her support behind Havranek, but not Marmorato. Marmorato and Havranek said they would support whoever the Republican candidate is.
Rendino told the Bronx Times that a group of individuals that are part of the Bronx GOP filed initial objections against all the other candidates’ petitions.
Nastasio, a Republican district leader, was challenged by Ermalinda Pagano, a BOE elections assistant who has donated to Marmorato’s campaign and participated in the protest Tuesday night.
She told the Bronx Times she didn’t fight her challenge because of her work as a teacher and because of the financial cost of doing so. Havranek, for example, told the Bronx Times his legal fight to stay on the ballot cost him “more than $20,000.” His campaign expenditures show that he has spent a total of $43,755 on his election lawyer Aaron Foldenauer.
A source familiar with campaign challenges told the Bronx Times that the legal fees can range from $6,000 to $50,000, depending on how many appearances are involved.
Havranek’s petitions were challenged by Elizabeth English, who is a Bronx GOP district leader and city BOE administrator who has contributed to Marmorato’s campaign.
Havranek told the Bronx Times last week the challenges made it look like the party wanted “to pick off the competition” and “leave someone standing.”
“When a party endorses someone they’re going to do everything they can to clear a path for them. They don’t want obstructions, and they’re going to do what they have to do to smooth the pavement for them … and clear the road,” Havranek said.
Marmorato’s husband has recused himself on “all matters relating to the race” as a commissioner in the district, city BOE spokesperson Vincent Ignizio said, and Rendino told the Bronx Times that he abstained from the Bronx GOP’s nominating vote and debate, though he took part in interviewing all the candidates.
Reach Aliya Schneider at aschneider@schnepsmedia.com or (718) 260-4597. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
