With so many enrolled "REPUBLICANS" actively sniffing around for the GOP Line for Mayor in 2013, why has Brooklyn GOP "Head" Craig Eaton already come out for "Democrat turned Independent" Alfonso Carrion?

As Eaton's old hate blog "The Jig is Up Atlas" loved to posit, "THE QUESTION BEGS":  Is Craig Eaton's embrace of Alfonso Carrion real or just another lame attempt at relevance?

The headline to a Celeste Katz article in yesterday's Daily News, "Billionaire grocer John Catsimatidis considering mayoral run as Republican candidate" was followed by this terse teaser, "Bid by Gristides founder would complicate matters for possible mayor wanna-be and MTA chairman Joe Lhota"  Katz continued on her Lohta-Catsimatidis  trope a little further with this, "IF MTA Chairman Joe Lhota wants to be mayor, he may have to take on a billionaire first."  

However,  even a superficial analysis of  Celeste Katz' recent reports  and those of Liz Benjamin about the prospective GOP mayoral field would indicate that any race for the GOP mayoral nomination has  already gotten more crowded and complicated than that. There are plenty of registered Republicans who would be more credible as GOP mayoral candidates than Alfonso Carrion. In addition to Catsimatidis and Lhota, George McDonald  and Thomas Allon  have already having expressed an interest in running; and of course there is the outside possibility  that Police Commissioner Ray Kelly may yet throw his hat in the ring.

But, let's get back to my question.  What's up with Eaton and the recently re-registered "Independent" from "Democrat" Alfonso Carrion?

On Wednesday, November 14, 2012,  I posted  on this blog that,  "The "Big News" here is that Michael Allegretti has re-surfaced in Brooklyn as an Adolfo Carrion flack  ---  THE SIDEBAR STORY IS THAT BROOKLYN REPUBLICAN CHAIRMAN CRAIG EATON IS AGAIN PREMATURELY "SUPPORTING" A CANDIDATE TO RUN ON THE REPUBLICAN LINE..."   At that time  I didn't indicate how completely caught up Craig Eaton seemed to be with Alfonso Carrion as his candidate for mayor. 

To be clear, Eaton seems to have a full-on, full-squeeze man-crush on Carrion to be  his GOP candidate for NYC Mayor in 2013.  According to Brooklyn GOP Chairman Eaton, Alfonso Carrion is “uniquely qualified to run for mayor and be successful in the race .... In a lot of ways, his candidacy is a game changer in the City of New York....  He’s Hispanic, but I don’t think it’s the sole reason why he’s an interesting and an intriguing candidate.... He’s a proven commodity. He served on the City Council, in the White House, at HUD, as borough president. He has a proven track record raising money. He’s well spoken and has a great personality. He has a lot of attributes we need in the city of to win the mayoral election in 2013. Quite frankly, I’m excited about his candidacy.” 

To all of  that we can now add the material that follows below. Buried in  yesterday's Daily Politics blog by Celeste Katz ( which she described as a "remix" of the Castimatidis-Lohta print story in the News) was this item of interest vis a vis  the Republican mayoral nomination and the  guy on whom Eaton has put down all  his chips  --  at least  FOR NOW.    "Brooklyn GOP Chairman Craig Eaton said [Republican John] Catsimatidis is an admired figure whose candidacy would have to be taken seriously if he throws his hat in the ring."   Katz went on to quote Eaton, as follows:  "That being said, at the present time, I am firmly behind Adolfo Carrion, since out of all the declared candidates, I believe he is the only one that can be successful in 2013." The Daily Politics report also noted that Brooklyn GOP Chairman Eaton has been personally squiring Carrion around the borough for meet-and-greets.

There aren't a lot of good reasons for Eaton to be backing this liberal Obama-Administration Democrat.  Some might be quick to say it's an insider's deal with one of Eaton's earlier man-crush candidates, Michael Allegretti, with some Bayside cash involved.  Others would say it's part of a pattern of selling out the GOP line to Democrats and assorted other non-Republicans,  like in 2009.  Personally, I think it's Eaton's penchant for striking out on his own without a lot of thought, trying desperately to be relevant.  Eaton did it early in the past  presidential election cycle when he publicly  backed Rick Perry, who quickly went nowhere, causing Eaton to switch late to Romney even though Perry was still a candidate. He did the same during  Bob Turner's run for US Senate and Allegretti's run for Congress.  That's the reason that I had added "FOR NOW" to my mention of Eaton's putting all his chips on Alf Carrion at this early juncture of the 2013 campaign.    Like the others mentioned above who had Eaton's support for a while, this early gesture of support for Carrion has the stink of failure on it from the start; and it would be very reasonable to expect that  Eaton will pull a switcheroo on Carrion if  his continued support would make Eaton look bad.

On the other hand, if nothing else, the entry of John Catsimatidis into the race would guarantee a full scale political  primary along with any GOP organizational fights that might develop in 2013.  if any candidate other than Catsimatidis got onto the GOP ballot.  Celeste Katz noted that the recently filed "mayoral candidate" is ready to take on all comers  except for Ray Kelly   "As for anyone else who would run run as a Republican, 'I’ll primary anyone who’ll primary me'...."

Not long after the 2012 Elections  Craig Eaton said,  “…The Republican Party reached a new low in the 2012 elections.... And it’s incumbent on [Eaton as a GOP County Chairman] to not only select a candidate that we like, but a candidate who has the best chance of winning. If we do not put a Republican in City Hall in 2013, there will be Democrat control of the White House, the governor’s mansion and City Hall. That’s a recipe for disaster.”

For once I agree with Craig Eaton about something; letting a Democrat get into control of City Hall at this time would be a recipe for disaster for the GOP and its supporters.  However, make no mistake about it, Alfonso Carrion is no "Republican"; he's still  a liberal Democrat, through and through.  Following Eaton's lead and giving "Alf "Carrion the Republican nomination is what would be a recipe for disaster for the Brooklyn GOP.