Queens GOP picks judge nominations
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Scott Dunn (left) and Gary Muraca were endorsed by the Queens GOP this weekend for Queens Supreme Court Judge. Photos via Queens GOP
By Ryan Schwach
Just a few days after the Democrats announced their picks for the five Queens Supreme Court vacancies, the Queens County GOP selected two candidates to run on the party line in the upcoming general election.
Scott Dunn and Gary Muraca were both selected on Saturday night to run with the GOP’s endorsement to fill the vacancies on the bench in the World’s Borough.
Dunn is currently a Queens Criminal Court judge, and was also endorsed by the Democratic Party, the only candidate to be cross endorsed, and Muraca is a long time attorney.
Judges elected to the Supreme Court, which serves as the state’s trial courts, serve 14-year terms, and Supreme Court judges are typically the jurists appointed to higher court positions, including to spots in the Appellate Division and on the Court of Appeals.
“We just want someone to follow the rule of law,” said Anthony Nunziato, the Chair of the Queens GOP. “Really push it to the max to make sure everyone has safety..that's what we're looking for.”
Nunziato says that the GOP’s Supreme Court endorsements of Dunn and Muraca were informed by the party’s views on local crime.
“Things get so far out of control that we can have people walking out on the street without having safety,” he said, adding that he believes current judges aren’t being tough enough.
“I don't think that right now the judges are really going by the law,” he said.
Nunziato also applauded both Dunn and Muraca’s resumes, and how he believes they will serve the Queens Supreme Court bench.
Dunn is a Far Rockaway native, and was first appointed to the bench in 2017 by then-Mayor Bill de Blasio. Eventually making his way to Criminal Court, Dunn oversaw a number of high-profile cases in Queens, including one involving Grammy-winning musician Cardi B.
More recently, he is presiding over the case of Thomas Abreu, the 25-year-old “Scooter Shooter” who shot and killed an 86-year-old man and wounded four others in attacks in Queens and Brooklyn in early July.
On Friday, after being nominated by the Democrats, Dunn called his nomination to the Supreme Court bench a “miracle.”
“Anyone who’s gone through this will probably agree with me, it takes an absolute miracle to get here, but in Queens, we believe in miracles,” Dunn said.
Dunn graduated from Fordham University Law School after getting his undergraduate degree at Cornell.
According to the Jewish publication, Hamodia, the 63-year-old Dunn is a member of the Far Rockaway Orthodox Jewish community and was an Air Force reservist who saw combat during Operation Desert Storm.
Dunn began his legal career in the Ronald Reagan justice system, serving in the U.S Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York in the office of the Chief of Immigration Litigation from 1984 to 2017 before he was appointed to the bench by de Blasio.
Nunziato says that Dunn was the only one of the five Democrat-backed judge candidates who reached out for cross-endorsement.
“Scott is basically the only one of them that reached out to us to say that they want to be endorsed by the Republican Party,” Nunziato said. “His credentials are amazing.”
“Judge Dunn has been cross-endorsed by the Republican party because of his common sense approach to law,” added Queens Republican Councilmember Joann Ariola.
Gary Muraca is an attorney who has been practicing law in both the five boroughs as well as Long Beach since 1983.
Muraca told the Eagle that he is very proud and honored to receive the endorsement.
“I want to thank the people of Queens County for giving me the opportunity to serve them,” he said.
Muraca attended St. John’s University and CUNY Law School, and his brother, Felice Muraca, is a judge in Long Island.
“He is a longtime attorney, and his credentials are pristine,” said Nunziato. “We are just looking for someone to do the right thing.”
Muraca will be the only non-cross endorsed judicial candidate, and the only one who is not already a judge, but he is hoping he is given a fair shake next to the other five candidates.
“I feel like the voters would be given the opportunity to choose candidates from both parties and not just a one party election,” he said. “I will be the kind of judge that will give everyone a fair opportunity and will abide by the U.S Constitution and the New York State Constitution.”
Although historically Republican judges have been left off the bench in the heavily Democratic Queens, the GOP is seeing more potential after Judge Joseph Kasper was elected over Paul Vallone in 2021.
“I believe that the party is doing a great deal of outreach, and that outreach is paying off,” said Ariola. “This is evidenced by the election of Joseph Kasper in the 3rd municipal district in 2021. Judge Kasper’s election ended the decades-long stronghold that the Democratic party has had in Queens judicial elections.”
“I believe that we can continue to build on that success, and place judges on the bench who will work to end the system of turnstile justice that currently prevails in this city,” she added.
Nunziato agrees, and hopes that voters take the judicial race seriously.
“I think people are paying more attention,” he said. “I think normal people’s eyes are opening and they realize how important it really is.”
As for why the GOP didn’t make more endorsements to try and challenge more of the Democratic candidates, Nunziato said “No one else is stepping up right now. One step at a time.”
