Kassar is leaning way forward on his skis — His local column “Common Sense: End Game” is a premature victory lap — Going so far as to predict “what could be, in several cases, landslide Republican-Conservative victories....”

Not so fast, Jerry ! ! !  —   Flap happens after Golden is endorsed by Koch Brothers’ backed by NFIB and his opponent Jay Kemmerer slammed it  —   confusion on Golden’s  “staff” shown by Ray Riley’s bungled response to announcement of NFIB endorsement

NFIB endorses some Bay Ridge Republican Conservatives but not Stamatis “Steve” Lilikakis  —    Does political endorsement by any group that has “FIB” in its name mean it will always lead to trouble ? 

Is the emergence of the Koch brothers in the Golden-Grimm-Grimm-Golden joint campaign(s) a signal of new level of closed-circle systematic corruption crossing the boundaries of state and federal campaign laws

Jerry Kassar is the Chairman of the Brooklyn Conservative Party and is State Senator Martin Golden’s Chief of Staff. He also writes a weekly column for a local paper. In his latest published material, Mr. Kassar betrayed a degree of hubris that is almost heroic or even titanic by classical standards. In short he seems to be declaring a GOP-Conservative Party victory in the November elections “on a local level and national level ” before any votes have been cast, much less counted ( See “Common Sense: End Game” by Jerry Kassar, 9/8/14, Home Reporter / Spectator [http://www.homereporternews.com/news/government/common-sense-end-game/article_7130a31e-376b-11e4-bc48-001a4bcf887a.html]).

Here is exactly what Kassar said about it: “[Local Republican-Conservative candidates] are running very active campaign efforts in our community which I think is evidenced by the many lawn signs and posters throughout Southwest Brooklyn. In contrast, the local Democrats seem almost asleep, not being able to guess the winners as well as they did last year. ***   I doubt anyone in Bay Ridge or Dyker Heights could tell you who comprises most of  the local Democratic slate. And it remains to be seen if the few local elected Democrats are willing to put their name on the line by actively campaigning in print for what could be, in several cases, landslide Republican-Conservative victories. ***   It does take money and the most recent candidate financial reports filed with the New York State Board of Elections show that people are not contributing to the local Democratic candidates. It must be why so many Democrats want taxpayer-funded elections. And I guess, when you really come down to it, President Obama and Mayor de Blasio have not really helped out the local Democratic brand much these past few months. ***  In football, it’s the two minute warning to remind all sides that the game is near the end.  In politics, it is the two-month warning that comes with the passing of the primaries. The 2014 political contests are coming to an end, and it seems that on a local level and national level the Republicans are holding the ball with a definite advantage....”

WHILE KASSAR FIDDLES, GOLDEN’S LOCAL CAMPAIGN STUMBLES AND MUMBLES

The Albany headquarters of a trade group calling itself the “National Federation of  Independent Business” today released a letter from its NFIB/NY State Director Mike Durant entitled “Small Business Endorses Full Slate of State Legislative Candidates” (See “NFIB Issues Its Endorsements” by Nick Reisman, 9/12/14, State of Politics/ NY
[http://www.nystateofpolitics.com/2014/09/nfib-issues-its-endorsements/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter] [ with a pdf Documents/Downloads link: 239443835-2014-NFIB-Full-Slate-Endorsement-Release.pdf]). Nick Reisman led off his article about these endorsements with this: “The National Federation of Independent Business on Thursday released its slate of candidate endorsements, backing Republicans in key Senate swing districts....”

Reisman’s report included this quote from Durant, NFIB/NY's State Director: “This election is critical to the economic present and future of New York.... Broadly addressing the complicated issues that small businesses face is essential and each of these candidates has shown a commitment to advocating strongly on behalf of small business.”  State Senator Martin Golden’s name did appear on the accompanying list of NFIB endorsees; and the release also went on to say this: “And NFIB is supporting Republican incumbents in danger of losing their seats....”

Interestingly, NFIB endorsed Republican-Conservative Nicole Malliotakis in the 64th AD, but it did not endorse Stamatis Lilikakis in the 46th. (Maybe, if their AD numbers were reversed... ?)

It seems that the NFIB endorsement and Democrat Jay Kemmerer’s rapid response to it (See “Marty Golden Endorsed by the Koch Brothers” by James Kemmerer for State Senate 2014, 9/12/14 [https://jameskemmerer.com/index.php?flow=emr&tray=content&tid=12jktop4&cid=147jk14&ebid=147jkmin75&ebp=13brdper839]) caused some consternation among those involved in Marty Golden’s re-election campaign and/or State Senator Golden’s State Senate Staff headed by Jerry Kassar. At the top of the list is Ray Riley, who earlier in the day in his social media postings disputed that the Koch-related NFIB endorsement had occurred.

BIGGER CORRUPTION AHEAD ?

An even more important issue has been raised by the Democratic nominee, given the joint entry of State Senator Marty Golden and Congressman Mike Grimm as co-campaigners in the 2014 race. Is there a possibility that another level of corruption can easily be reached ?  With the appearance of the Koch brothers and their mammoth national PAC money, isn’t there a real possibility that a closed-circle funding scheme, like the illegal one used by Tom DeLay in Texas several years ago, crop up in the Golden-Grimm-Grimm-Golden campaign(s). Don't overlook the fact that there has already been a guilty plea in a case involving Congressman Grimm's prior campaign financing in a recent race involving almost all of Grimm's current supporters.