Saturday, September 13, 2014

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.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bigger corruption issues may come up, but, Golden will beat Kemerererer by a landslide.

Anonymous said...

No connection between Golden and Hynes has ever been established except inside of the heads of nutty bloggers.

Galewyn Massey said...

ANNOYED REPLY: THE "THANK YOU, SO VERY -- VERY MUCH" EDITION

SERIOUSLY ! I MEAN -- SERIOUSLY !
YOU MADE ME NEEDLESSLY RE-READ MY WHOLE POST ABOVE

There is no mention of Hynes in the post above. Get on the stick; and post your oh so "pithy" comments on the proper comments threads for the post or posts to which you are referring.

Anonymous said...

Since Mr. Massey is already annoyed, there is no further harm in my responding to Anonymous who contends that no connection between Mr. Hynes and Senator Golden has been established:

There are indeed many connections between these two public servants on so many levels and going back years. Most recently, it has been found that they shared paid workers who were allegedly renumerated by fraudulent means. The 6000 emails appended to the Department of Investigation report include some from and to Senator Golden. These two facts are enough to give us pause. Republican candidate for governor Rob Astorino has recently requested that the Moreland corruption investigation be speeded up so that voters will know before election day if Governor Cuomo has any nefarious involvement. Perhaps the Attorney General's Office corruption investigation of Mr. Hynes will bear fruit as to Senator Golden's involvement. Because of this, it is hopeful that the grand jury hearing the evidence in Brooklyn will have results before election day. If Senator Golden is involved I am certain Brooklyn voters would want to know that before casting their votes.

Galewyn Massey said...

MORE ANNOYANCE: THE "THIS IS LIKE TRYING TO HERD CATS" EDITION

I know who you are; and you should know better...

Anonymous said...

Maybe Kassar wants to retire and is glad Marty is going to lose so he can bail out.

Kassar's fortune telling in the past predicted many winners which resulted in a slate of losers.

Galewyn Massey said...

BACKFILL: THE “DON’T SAY YOU LOVE ME IF IT AIN’T SO” EDITION

RAY RILEY TALKIN’ SMACK WITH THE OPPOSITION DENIED THAT HIS BOSS, THE STATE SENATOR, HAD THE KOCH BROTHERS’ ENDORSEMENT — WELL, TECHNICALLY RR WAS RIGHT — BUT BY ENGAGING ON THE SUBJECT RILEY ACKNOWLEDGED THAT MARTY GOLDEN IS SUSCEPTIBLE TO A PITCH ABOUT BIG MONEY INFLUENCE

If you watch the whole exchange from yesterday afternoon, two of Marty Golden’s staffers are exchanging banter with a top Bay Ridge Dem, the nature of which indicates how much the Golden team has been jazzed by Kemmerer’s recent release and social media blitz about the NFIB (Koch Brothers’) endorsement.

_____________________


AND THE "MONEY IS LIKE DOUGH" EDITION

"HEY BUDDY CAN YA SPARE ME A DIME..."

Kemmerer’s “Little Engine that Could” Campaign might soon get a boost with a little seed money from a bigger Democratic source of his own, as State Senate Democrats try to spread out the map of contested state senate districts. Also if JK raises some more he might get a little more.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Massey,

Do you think the "Jerry" Kassar to whom your refer is the same "Gerry" Kassar that Mr. Hynes corresponded with back and forth via e-mail and are attached the to DOI report? In the unredacted emails, a Gerry Kassar in clearly very involved in the DA campaign. I do not think there is anything wrong with this on its face, yet they are attached as an appendix in a report the substance of which is now under criminal investigation.

From these emails it is clear that Mr. Kassar is very involved in helping Mr. Hynes' campaign as to strategy, canvassing and fund raising, etc. I wonder if its the same person who works for Senator Golden.

Galewyn Massey said...

REPLY: THE " 'YES, WE HAVE NO BANANAS,' BUT 'I'VE GOT A LOVERLEE BUNCH O' COCONUTS' " EDITION

IT IS NO DOUBT THE SAME GERARD WITH A "G" WHO IS JERRY WITH A "J" KASSAR

Did you see that Jerry Kassar was also mentioned in my 9/14/14 post above, "The Curious Cases of Arthur Aidala, “Joe” Hynes and Marty Golden — Part 3*"

In that post Kassar is alluded to as possibly another 2003-2004-2005 connection between State Senator Golden and the Mark Fisher murder case; all due to Kassar's interactions with a lawyer named Phillip Smallman, who was defending one of the top witnesses and suspects in that case.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Massey,

The Nuns on the Bus are today starting a national tour against the Koch brothers and corporate funding of political candidates. A few Sisters from the Diocese of Brooklyn are very involved in the Nuns on the Bus movement. Perhaps they will call out Seneator Golden for accepting the Koch brothers endorsement. One of the sisters lives in his parish. I alerted her to this development.