Gogarty Seeks Election to East Rockaway Village Board

The East Rockaway Village Pride Party has announced that Village Trustee Richard J. Gogarty, Sr. will be the official Village Pride Party candidate seeking election for the unexpired term that will be contested in the March 20, 2012 village election.  

Trustee Gogarty was unanimously appointed by the Village Board earlier this year to fill a prematurely vacated seat caused by the resignation of former Trustee Irene Villaci.

Trustee Gogarty was a long-serving Chairman of the East Rockaway Board of Zoning Appeals. He and his family also have deep roots in the community, descending from his great-grandfather Cap Abrams, a clam digger and builder in East Rockaway in the 1890s.

Gogarty served as a First Sergeant in the United States Army for more than 20 years. Since his retirement from the Army in 1994, Gogarty has been the Senior Army Instructor of the Francis Lewis High School Junior ROTC in Queens County, as well as the Commanding Officer of Camp Patriot Summer Camp.

Trustee Gogarty is "committed to advancing the many worthwhile programs and policies instituted by Mayor Fran Lenahan and his fellow Village Pride Party supported village board members," according to the Pride Party.

Trustee Gogarty voted for Mayor Lenahan’s 3.5 percent village tax cut, and supported significant cuts in village spending and across the board reductions in salaries for the village’s top administrators, according to the party.

“I look forward to continuing my work with Mayor Lenahan and the Village Board that’s making East Rockaway not only more affordable but also a better place to live,” Gogarty said. "We have a great Village government that’s made good on all its promises from last year’s campaign."

“There’s no better candidate to keep working with Mayor Lenahan and the Village Board than Trustee Rich Gogarty,” said Village Pride Party President, Edward Zangrillo. “Rich is committed to reducing the size and cost of Village government in order to keep village taxes affordable for seniors and working families."

Married to his wife, Donna, for more than 35 years, the Gogartys have three grown sons and a beautiful granddaughter.

The Village Pride Party swept all Village offices in March 2011, electing Mayor Fran Lenahan as well as Trustees Ed Corrado and Stanley Lombardo.