Queens Power Brokers To Hold Fundraiser For Comrie

State Sen. Malcolm Smith may have been granted a temporary reprieve from his legal woes, but he now faces an uphill fight to hang on to his seat this summer. 

Leroy Comrie, the former Queens deputy borough president and City Council member, threw himself into the race in April, and has quickly won the support of a handful of local unions as well as the Working Families Party. Comrie's campaign war chest will receive a nice boost as well thanks to Rep. Joe Crowley, the chairman of the Queens County Democratic Party, who is co-hosting a fundraiser for Comrie along with Borough President Melinda Katz and state Sen. Michael Gianaris on July 1 in Long Island City. 

Smith caught a bit of a lucky break this week during his trial for bribery and wire fraud charges, as a judge granted Smith and one of his co-defendants a mistrial after federal prosecutors failed to promptly turn over to the defense more than 70 hours of wiretapped conversations, about a third of them in Yiddish. Smith's new trial will begin January, and he told the Post outside of the courthouse, “I’m still running. It’s full steam ahead.”