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A leadership battle is brewing in the Kings County Republican Party.

Arnaldo Ferraro, a former Bensonhurst Assemblymember, is challenging the leadership of current party chair Craig Eaton, who he claims is bringing the party down.

“Throughout my 40 years of active participation in the political affairs of our borough, I have worked with several County Chairmen. I can safely say that this is the worst our party has ever been,” Ferraro explained as he announced his candidacy. “Under the current chairman over the past three years, we have lost nearly every gain, and squandered every opportunity that the Republican Party has had.”

“Incompetence at the top stifles whatever competitive campaigns our party could organize,” he added. “Republican voters and the good people of Brooklyn no longer have faith that our party can administer our government when we can barely govern ourselves.”

Ferraro, who was elected to represent the 49th Assembly District in Albany in 1984 but only served one term before being bounced out of office by Peter Abbate – who still holds the seat -- announced his candidacy against Eaton during a general meeting of the Fiorello LaGuardia Republican Organization – which he founded -- on September 24.

When contacted, Eaton, an attorney and former chair of Community Board 10 in Bay Ridge, said that Ferraro was spewing “untruths.”

“If he was as experienced a leader that he claims to be, then why did he serve his district for one term?” Eaton asked.

Spewing a few flames of his own, Eaton found it peculiar that although residents of the 49th AD, which includes Dyker Heights and Borough Park, overwhelmingly voted for John McCain in the last election, Ferraro “could only muster 30 percent of the vote for his Republican Assembly candidate.”

He also accused Ferraro of backing Robert DiCarlo in a Bay Ridge State Senate run in 1996, a fatal misstep against a young Vincent Gentile.

“That seat remained in Democratic hands until Marty Golden unseated him,” Eaton said.

“The people of the county committee will have an opportunity to choose a candidate and I’m confident that they will not believe the stories and untruths, recognize the positive changes in the Brooklyn Republican Party during my tenure and vote to give me an additional two years in office so we can continue the progress that we began,” he said.

The voting for County Chair will take place at the County Committee Convention, which as this paper went to press was set to take place on September 30 at Grand Prospect Hall.

©2009 Community Newspaper Group