Does Gentleman John Quaglione see a problem with his branding and the TICKET(S) that he is running on ?

Is John Quaglione Now Running Against Vinny Gentile as a More Independent-style Republican ? 

Recent Quaglione mailers from the “...Republican, Independence and Conservative for City Council...” don’t mention State Senator Martin Golden  or show his picture  —  And THAT is probably a good thing for John !

Election campaigns are dynamic; and Gentleman John Quaglione's campaign for City Council is no exception. Proof of that is in the three pieces of Q-mail that I have received over the last ten days to two weeks.

For the entire early campaign, "GJQ" was running as if somebody had thrown a wet blanket over his entire operation. In his very gentlemanly way, he was being very quiet; and when seen, it was in the most self-effacing manner possible. Even if he did any campaigning on his own, that was always in the context some kind of one-on-one encounter or another  —   his now-repeatedly-mentioned door-to-door campaign or Sunday’s in the park with John or walks along Shore Road and down on the bike path. Everything on a larger scale involved appearances with his boss State Senator Martin Golden or his other boss, Golden Chief of Staff Jerry Kassar, or sometimes City- or County-wide candidates like Lhota, Hynes or Burnett. And even in the case of the latter, either Golden, Kassar or Malliotakis were in the background, but always nearby.

His recent mailings appear to be a complete departure from all of that.  They are a series of photographic and verbal presentations of the one-on-one John Quaglione  —   complete with a forceful and meaningful message that there is a doable “... To do: list” and that John Q is the guy to do it all. The visual imagery completely works with John Quaglione, as always a gentlemen, but now as the stand-alone guy, “As our new Council Member [who] will get results for our neighborhoods."

It cannot be missed that this is a change from what had gone before. The question is WHY ?  And equally germane, WHY NOW ?  The answer to the first question follows, below; as to the second, that will be for another day  —  maybe even after the election (that's called a teaser, folks).

It’s obvious that the Republican-Conservative brand has tarred the top candidate on the ticket Joe Lhota. It’s also fair to say at this time that the Republican-Conservative candidate for Brooklyn DA, Charles “Joe” Hynes, will probably lose the general election by a larger percentage than he did the Democratic Primary. Both of those guys came out of the box as strong “moderate-type” contenders; but their biggest failing is that they couldn’t effectively get rid of the Republican-Conservative albatross hanging around their necks.

As a down-ticket candidate, John Quaglione is limited in what he can do, especially given the fact that he was the GOP’s and Conservative Party’s “insiders’ insider” in the race. In the beginning, Hardhat Andy Sullivan was running in the same Council District against JQ saying exactly that, and using those very words. Running out of that kind of formation requires your blockers in front to do a lot of the heavy lifting. So far, it looks like “line” –  either Republican or Conservative, or the other big guys with lead-blocks, Lhota and/or Hynes – ain’t gettin’ it done; and I guess I should add State Senator Golden, who is not a candidate on the ballot this year, to that list, because he has been campaigning as if he were a candidate. So Quags did what he had to do,  it looks like he planted his foot, turned and took it to the outside, away from the stacked-up play in the middle of the field.

To me it looks like City Council Candidate John Quaglione has made a not-so-subtle pivot, away from the tarnished Republican-Conservative brand (where it appeared it was in the smallest type on the large-card mailer), away from his resume item of being a staff-skell for Marty Golden for twelve years and toward the look of an independent candidate running for City Council, on what just happened to be three party lines called whatever they happened to be called.  That would make Gentleman John's campaign just him being himself and pitching  that self to the people  —  especially to the independent and fair-minded Democrat voters in his district. Win, lose or draw, that’s better than plowing into a stacked up line for “No Gain”....

Now, if John Quaglione could be also independent enough to announce in a very gentlemanly way  his support for the only social conservative candidate in the race for mayor, Erick Salgado, who is running on the School Choice line  —  THAT would really shake things up.

>>>  And,  I’d probably write GJQ an even more favorable post than this one  —   sort of like what I've done for Joseph Hayon ! ! !  (btw, it’s not often anymore that you can get both JK and RG in the eye with just one poke)