Saturday, March 16, 2013

The uncommon sense of Jerry Kassar ! — OR — Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

This blog almost writes itself.  I just wait for people, like the Brooklyn “Republican-Conservative” State Senator Martin Golden, and/or the Kings County Republican and Conservative Chairmen Eaton and Kassar, to do or say almost anything; and then I just write what they did or said and give my opinion about it....


Sometimes, the hard part is the waiting, especially with Eaton; that’s why so many of my posts about him are in the nature of  “... the dog that didn’t bark when...” or like why the second empty seat and/or the second cup of wine next to Elijah’s at any Brooklyn Republican Jew’s Seder Table is always for Craig Eaton. But, this post isn’t about Republican State Senator Golden or Republican County Leader Eaton, it’s about the 800 pound gorilla in any room full of Brooklyn Republicans, Jerry Kassar; and   Kassar makes things easy, because he does his own political column almost every week in a local newspaper.

Since some time late in 2009, I and about ten of my closest friends have been posting and  commenting on blogs, and writing on the walls in the jakes in gin joints all around Bay Ridge that Mike Long is the most important person to the GOP in Brooklyn. [NEWSFLASH  —  he still is.]  Now, I can say without a doubt, Jerry Kassar is the second most important. That might or might not come as a shock or even a surprise to anybody whose name is “Michael”; “Marty”; “Nicole”; “Craig”; “David”: “Russell”; “Gene”; “Jacob”; “Joseph”; and “Diana” —  But, as we say in Brooklyn, “Irregardless, doze are duh facts.”

A case in point is this week’s “Common Sense” column by Jerry Kassar in the Home Reporter-Spectator News (See “Hugo Chavez – Common Sense” by Jerry Kassar, 3/11/13, The Home Reporter & Sunset News - The Brooklyn Spectator
[http://www.homereporternews.com/opinion/common-sense-hugo-chavez/article_52fbe6dc-8a98-11e2-951c-0019bb2963f4.html]). Right in the middle of Kassar’s column set off by asterisks is the following: "The Brooklyn Conservative Party has issued its first set of endorsements for the 2013 election cycle. The party has endorsed Charles Hynes for re-election as district attorney, David Storobin for City Council in the 48th Council District and David Greenfield for re-election to the City Council. [ ]  The votes, made by the party’s Brooklyn executive committee comprising elected party leaders from throughout the borough, were unanimous.  In June, party members will be on the streets collecting the required number of signatures form [sic] party members to place the names on the ballot. [ ]  The Conservative Party will be conducting interviews regularly over the next few weeks.  If you or someone you know is interested in seeking the Conservative Party endorsement, contact the party at 718-921-2158."

I had reported on two of those three endorsements in comments to earlier posts on this blog below. The third –  “... David Storobin for City Council in the 48th Council District” is being mentioned on this blog for the first time in this post.

By making these endorsements, Kassar and his band of Brooklyn Conservatives have effectively taken the whip out of the hand of the “leadership” of the Brooklyn Republican Party, and in particular its County Chairman Craig Eaton. No other Republican in Brooklyn wields this degree of control over the Republican Party, not even Kassar’s nominal boss in his day job, State Senator Martin Golden.

For purists in the art/craft of journalism, I must confess that I have buried my lead.  In addition to being an effective exercise of muscle flexing at the expense of his “junior partner” the Brooklyn Republican Party, Kassar’s and his Brooklyn Conservative’s three picks are all three right on the money for the Brooklyn Conservative Party.  Two of the three, Hynes and Storobin are also the right choices for Brooklyn’s Republicans. (I’ll explain why I think so in future topical posts about the DA’s race and for City Council in the 48th Counc. Dist.)  So for all that, Jerry Kassar gets front-runner status for this  year’s “Stopped Clock and Blind Squirrel Award.”

Now, tell the truth; is there anybody out there who knows me or about me ( including ykw who rates a gate with an eight) who would have expected anything like this column at this time ?  And gw probably isn’t as shocked as ykw might think ?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

A clock is not right twice a day if its digital

Anonymous said...

Your right Hynes is the right choice for Republican and Conservative party picks. For the few years New York had the death penalty Hynes got more death penalty cpnvictions than any DA in NY history.

Anonymous said...

Echo that about Joe Hynes !!
Brooklyn will never have another district attorney true to republican values than Joe Hynes.

Galewyn Massey said...

Which Republican values are you talking about ? Marty Golden values ?

If you mean blocking a full and proper investigation into the systematic cover-up of certain sex scandals in large religious organizations, I might have to agree. Otherwise, not so much... more old-style Irish Democrat ...

Nonetheless, Hynes is the right pick for the Republicans for a few very important reasons:
1) he has already been picked as the Conservative Party Candidate, and if the GOP picks someone else, lots of GOP votes will go over to Hynes on the Conservative line and the Conservatives probably would out-poll the Republicans for DA --- not a very pretty sight for the GOP in Brooklyn;
2) the Republicans don't have a candidate of their own for DA who can win and/or pull votes to the one or two other down-ticket candidates who are in competitive races in November --- Hynes will win big in the areas where those candidates are running;
3) Hynes is the lesser of three evils, compared to Kenneth Thompson and Abe George --- and Hynes generally has a record that the GOP can support; and
4) If Hynes loses the Democratic primary, he can still win re-election if he has the GOP, Conservative and another strong line --- that would be a very big deal for everybody involved; and it might make the Brooklyn DA race the biggest race in the City this November.