Almost on the eve of the Kings County Republican Party Lincoln Dinner, one of its principal honorees, John Catsimatidis, received the endorsement of the Liberal Party

The Brooklyn Republicans and other wags in attendance tomorrow night should be abuzz with the possibilities of a Catsimatidis run all the way to November 

Will Kings County GOP Chairman Craig Eaton seize the opportunity to remake the Brooklyn GOP as a free-standing and growing political entity, or will he fold under the pressure of maintaining the long-standing tail-wags-the-dog relationship with Brooklyn’s Conservative Party ?

The other day, when I received an email from a Catsimatidis insider giving me the heads-up about the Liberal Party endorsement, I responded with this: “Politically, if John the Catman were to commit to rebuilding the Liberal Party on a modern model, that would be a big deal.... If not, it still keeps him in the game through November... but why would he want to if he doesn't win the GOP primary....”  I do not feel at liberty to give you the response from someone who’s pretty much a fixture on the inside of the JC campaign.

If I were to have gotten an identical email from Craig Eaton, my response would be a little more ironic, cryptic and provocative.  “These are the best of times and the worst of times — they are certainly interesting times  —  how will you turn this to the immediate and long-term advantage of the Kings County Republican Party ?”

A long time ago, I had a conversation with Arthur Bramwell over coffee at what was then a “Roy Rogers” on Court Street. He had recently taken over the leadership of the Brooklyn GOP with the help of many of my friends in the Brooklyn GOP and some of my friends NOT in the Brooklyn GOP (wink — wink). That’s what made what Mr. Bramwell said next most intriguing; Arthur said, “I know who some of your friends are, because in the beginning they sent you to me....  But you are a Republican first.... And if this party is going to do well, it has to be separate and apart from the Conservative Party....”

At the time I completely disagreed  —  now I see that Arthur was correct about all of that. Since 1993, we’ve had  “Republican” mayors in NYC and for several of those years we had George Pataki as a “Republican” Governor of New York State; also since 1993, relative to the GOP the Conservative Party has flourished and the Republican Party has withered on the vine  —  especially in Brooklyn.

Rob Ryan, a key man for Catsimatidis, knows a thing or two about the NYS Conservative Party generally, and he even could tell quite a few stories about its Kings County Conservative Chairman Jerry Kassar.  Mr. Ryan has pointed out that history indicates that an endorsement by the Liberal Party of a Republican running for mayor is a significant predictive factor in determining whether that candidate will be ultimately elected. Once the Republican candidate, John V. Lindsay, was even elected mayor on the Liberal Party line, even though he had lost the GOP line in a primary.

If Eaton wants to do something truly historic, he’ll commit to going all in with Catsimatidis until November, even in the event that John Catsimatidis loses the GOP primary in September.