Dan Halloran speaking. (Photo: YouTube)

Republican Councilman Dan Halloran, a candidate for congress in northeastern Queens, gave a long, 36-minute speech before a conservative group in Suffolk County at the end of last week where he unloaded a multitude of charges against his Democratic opponent, Assemblywoman Grace Meng. Notably, he implied she is somehow involved with the alleged criminal schemes of her father, former Assemblyman Jimmy Meng, who was arrested last month and charged with soliciting an $80,000 bribe to fix a court case. Ms. Meng has declared her independence.

"Grace Meng has spent $1.1 million dollars. She raised $1 million, she spent $1.1 million. Can anyone do the math?" Mr. Halloran rhetorically asked. "She's $100,000 in the hole. Her father was arrested last week for accepting an $80,000 bribe. You can do the math there and figure it out. He was also -- by the way -- kicked out of the Assembly for voter fraud in 2004. His campaign manager was Grace Meng, my opponent."

"Grace Meng bundled $450,000 through her father, who put the arm on somebody for an $80,000 loan in a fruit basket to get somebody off of a criminal case in Manhattan," he continued. "Who would he have gone to do that, since he's not an elected official? I don't know, I guess you're going to have to ask yourself that question. Maybe the press will start asking it at some point too."

It's difficult to know how Mr. Halloran arrived at that "$450,000" number, because, as City & State pointed out, that information is not publicly available. Indeed, Mr. Halloran's campaign has pushed on Ms. Meng to disclose her bundlers. Nevertheless, it's a rather serious charge to insinuate that one's opponent was set to be involved in corrupt, illegal activities.

That wasn't the only attack Mr. Halloran leveled against Ms. Meng in the speech, however. Pointing to his sterling attendance record despite undergoing brain surgery this year, he said his opponent's racial identity might factor into her not taking her legislative duty as seriously. Ms. Meng leveled accusations of "racism" against Mr. Halloran yesterday for previously -- and incorrectly -- referring to her as a "Chinese national."

"My opponent missed 77% of the votes in Albany, last year," Mr. Halloran argued. "I found the time in between my major surgery to get to work. But she's collected a $78,000 paycheck on your dime without bothering to go to work at all. She's entitled to the seat. Why? Because she's the Asian candidate. She represents the Chinese community in Flushing right now."

The overall purpose of Mr. Halloran's speech appeared to be raising money for his own campaign. He strongly encouraged the group, the Conservative Society for Action, to contribute to his electoral efforts, which he said would be decisive in the race.

"I have no delusions that I'm in an uphill battle," he said, citing the Democratic nature of the congressional district. "My opponent raised $1.1 million dollars. I don't need 1.1 to get my message out. You give me half a million dollars, I will destroy her. Destroy her on her own record. I don't have to get negative, I just have to get factual."

We have reached out to Ms. Meng's campaign and will update if they have any response to these broadsides. They have responded critically to Mr. Halloran in the past.

Update (11:19 a.m.): Austin Finan, a spokesman for Grace Meng gave the following response to Politicker:

"Dan Halloran simply makes things up and believes them as fact. Voters are surely disturbed by an elected official who is so blinded by his racism and misguided by his delusions. Throwing a tantrum like a child who hasn't gotten his sweets, Mr. Halloran has yet again shown he doesn't have the temperament necessary to hold federal office."

"We already have a Congress dominated by radical, Tea Party Republicans who are hell-bent on dismantling Medicare at the expense of seniors and crippling working men and women in favor of tax breaks for the wealthiest one percent of Americans. Middle class families in Queens cannot afford representation in Washington that is so terribly misguided and out of touch with their everyday struggles."

Watch the entire animated affair below:

(Photo: DrMittman4Congress.com)

Dr. Robert Mittman, the controversial underdog Queens congressional candidate, released a campaign video on YouTube yesterday. So far, only 13 people have watched the clip, which includes footage of Dr. Mittman reading the statement he made when he first announced his campaign interspersed with photos of him and his family, the good doctor at work treating patients and pictures of New York and Washington landmarks all set to the tune of Billy Joel's 1989 hit "We Didn't Start The Fire."

"As a lifelong Queens resident, a parent, a voter and a medical doctor, I am here to offer a precsription for a healthy economy," Dr. Mittman says in the video.

When Dr. Mittman first announced his candidacy, he faced accusations he was a plant designed to split the Jewish vote, which would favor Assemblywoman Grace Meng, the candidate who has the backing of the Queens County Democratic Party. Dr. Mittman has vigorously denied these allegations. In his video, Dr. Mittman slams his three Democratic opponents in the 6th district race; Ms. Meng, Assemblyman Rory Lancman and Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley as career politicians.

"I am running for Congress to get Washington working for you, the people. Unlike all of my opponents in the Democratic primary, I am not a career politician. I'm a medical doctor," he says. "As a doctor, I have been trained to diagnose an illness and prescribe the proper treatment. I'll apply these same techniques as your representative in Congress."

To drive home the point that his experience as a health professional will be a political asset, Dr. Mittman's clip also features the slogan "the prescription for a healthy economy" and his campaign logo, whish is his name alongside a healthy, nutritious apple. For good measure, there's a real-life apple is also shown sitting on his desk.

Watch Dr. Mittman's YouTube video below.

Grace Meng (photo: assembly.state.ny.us)

Assemblywoman Grace Meng is running in the crowded race for the seat in Queens' 6th congressional district and it doesn't seem like her busy political schedule is leaving her with any room for romance. Today was Ms. Meng's wedding anniversary with her husband and she invited her Facebook friends to decide how they would mark the occasion, going door-to-door or to a subway stop to meet potential voters.

"Happy anniversary to my loving husband," Ms. Meng wrote in a post on her Facebook page. "Door-knocking or subway stop-you get to decide how we celebrate. :)"

Hopefully, Ms. Meng's husband understands her need to stay on the campaign trail. There are just over two weeks to go until the Democratic primary on June 26 and Ms. Meng is in a heated battle with her main opponent, Rory Lancman, who has accused her and the Queens Democratic Party, which gave her its endorsement, of engaging in assorted nefarious misdeeds to bolster her campaign.

See Ms. Meng's Facebook post below.

Rory Lancman

"The County organization is panicked by the strength of my candidacy," Mr. Lancman said in his statemebt about Mr. Gottlieb. "Cynically fleecing Jewish voters with a sham candidacy by a longtime party hack is particularly appalling. Voters will rightfully see through this charade, and the party insiders responsible for this hatchet job should be ashamed of their attempt to deny the Jewish community a fair and legitimate election."

Mr. Gottlieb, who has extensive connections to Queens Democratic Party leadership, must get over 900 signatures in the next week to get on the ballot. According to City & State, Ms. Meng's backers initially attempted to recruit Matthew Silverstein, a Jewish Democratic State Committeeman, to enter the race.

Along with Mr. Lancman's comment on Mr. Gottlieb's candidacy his campaign released a lengthy statement that said, among other things, the fact Mr. Gottlieb has no website, campaign committee, or known endorsements proves "the sham nature" of his candidacy.

"Lancman said the blatant attempt to deceive Jewish voters would backfire not only with the Jewish community, but with all voters in Queens who will reject this effort to exploit racial, ethnic and religious differences for electoral gain," the statement said.

Mr. Lancman and Ms. Meng are running for the Democratic nomination in the sixth district against Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley. Ms. Crowley is the cousin of Queens Democratic Party chairman Joe Crowley, but the party did not back her campaign. Councilman Dan Halloran is, thus far, the lone Repuublican entrant in the race.