Does the Staten Island Republican intra-party turmoil reflect a similar conflict in Brooklyn ? Since the word of Staten Island GOP Chairman Bob Scamardella's saying that he was stepping down reached across the Narrows, Republicans all over Brooklyn wondered what, if anything, it would mean for the Brooklyn GOP
The Staten Island Advance is now reporting that “Scamardella said he had been ‘shut out’ of the BOE selection process, which he said placed him ‘in a position where [he] cannot do the job effectively’.” (See “Staten Island GOP Chair Scamardella Resigns” by Dean Balsamini, 2-27/13, SI Advance/silive.com blog [http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/02/staten_island_gop_chair_scamar_1.html]).
How is that any different than the position in which the Kings County Republican Party Chairman Craig Eaton finds himself ?
Don’t think that I’m the only one that sees it that way. In yesterday’s Daily News, the Queens County GOP Chairman Phil Ragusa was quoted like this: “We all are kind of disappointed at what happened -- what Jimmy [Oddo] did to us and what he did to Craig [Eaton] and what he did to Bob [Scamardella].” (“Staten Island GOP Chair Robert Scamardella Departing... But What Does It Mean?” by Celeste Katz,2/26/13 [http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2013/02/staten-island-gop-chair-robert-scamardella-departing-but-what-does-it-mean] ). The News and Ragusa don’t even mention the most significant part of the story as far as Eaton is concerned, Brooklyn’s only elected GOP official, State Senator Martin Golden was there with Oddo and the others to help pull the rug on Eaton and Eaton’s pick for BOE Commissioner.
It’s been widely reported on Staten Island that a significant rift had arisen between Bob Scamardella and several of Staten Island's elected Republicans, especially Councilman Jim Oddo, over picking the GOP candidate to run for Oddo’s City Council seat (See for example: “Staten Island GOP Chair Scamardella Resigns” by Dean Balsamini mentioned above; and “In stunning announcement, Scamardella resigns as Staten Island GOP chair amid party fight” by Tom Wrobleski, 2/26/13, silive.com [http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/02/in_stunning_announcement_scama.html]).
A similar rift seemed to have developed in Brooklyn over the contested nomination for the 43rd Counc. Dist. in Brooklyn: with County Leader Eaton and Brooklyn members of Congressman Michael Grimm’s staff encouraging Andrew Sullivan to stick with his quest for the nomination, on one side; and with State Senator Golden, and his staff and GOP supporters pushing for John Quaglione, on the other.
In spite of those apparent similarities, the Brooklyn GOP organization is very different than the one from Staten Island. Chairman Scamardella was selected after the rise of Michael Grimm in 2010; thus becoming the Staten Island GOP's sixth chair since 2002. Staten Island's Republican Party has different factions supporting and supported by different elected officials.
Staten Island’s GOP has long been a multilateral organization whereas Brooklyn’s GOP largely has reflected the unilateral hegemony of a single state senator.
Eaton was selected as a consensus candidate after the prior county chair retired in 2007; the last heavily contested fight for the Kings County Republican Leadership was in 1993; and that rift now only means something in a few Southwest Brooklyn ADs. Although in the main there haven't been many factions lined up behind different candidates in Brooklyn GOP primaries, whatever groups there are inside of the Brooklyn GOP also have not fought for control of the party, with the exception of an aborted proxy battle at the 2009 County Convention.
Until recently, Eaton had always been supportive of the interests and initiatives of the lone Republican elected completely within the borders of Brooklyn, State Senator Martin Golden; and Golden has reciprocated. Any current problems inside the Brooklyn GOP organization seem to have arisen since the pre-election period in 2012; and since there is only one, by definition any intramural spat among members of the Brooklyn GOP don’t involve conflicts between elected officials.
4 comments:
Eaton an Fredo both thought they were smart. They had ideas, like Eaton jumping on that Carrion bandwagon. Whatever happened to Fredo?
If it wasn't for the "wisdom of the movie 'The Godfather', " you might have no wisdom at all....
Both of you need a ride in a rowboat so you can say a few prayers in peace.
UPDATE: According to a Sunday report in the Advance, Joe Lhota says that he is sanguine about all the bickering inside the Staten Island Republican party.
“So, the fact that there’s disagreements out here isn’t necessarily a bad thing,” Lhota said. “It’s a dynamic thing, it’s a dynamic situation that should allow the party to grow.” ( “Mayoral candidate Lhota optimistic about Staten Island despite GOP turmoil” by Tom Wrobleski, 3/3/13, Staten Island Advance [http://blog.silive.com/politics/2013/03/lhota_optimistic_about_staten.html]).
But the article also points out that the recent Republican discord on Staten Island could make some big ripples for any of the "Republicans" running citywide. By inference that would include their biggest supporters from the four other counties, as well, wouldn’t it ?
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