Obviously bumped by the news of former Governor Pataki’s endorsement of John Catsimatidis last week, Eaton’s formal announcement is a hang-fire round until Catsimatidis & Co. can schedule a proper event
Reports a week ago indicated that Brooklyn Republican boss Craig Eaton was all set to formally withdraw his support from Adolfo Carrion and join the two other county GOP chairmen who already had endorsed billionaire John Catsimatidis’ run for mayor.
Last Tuesday, the Daily News was reporting that Craig Eaton ( corrected from the Daily News’ who used the name “Craig Easton” in its headline) was ready to shift his support from Carrion to Catsimatidis (See “NEW YORK – EXCLUSIVE: Adolfo Carrion may be nixed from Republican mayoral ticket after Brooklyn GOP boss withdraws support” by Celeste Katz, 3/12/13 [http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/adolfo-carrion-dropped-republican-mayoral-ticket-article-1.1286938#ixzz2NlmuVuLx]).
According, to Celeste Katz’ 3/13/13 article, “Until this week, Carrion had the support of two county GOP leaders: Eaton and his Bronx counterpart, Jay Savino. *** Eaton said they struggled for months to get one more borough boss to allow Carrion to the Republican primary. *** With no luck getting that third chairman on board, Eaton said he's now leaning strongly toward Catsimatidis, who ‘has the financial wherewithal to self-fund the race for mayor, and also has crossover appeal with Democrats and independents due to his various political and business relationships’.”
Eaton’s abandonment of Carrion was mentioned by me on this blog almost a day earlier, on Monday, 3/11/13, primarily based on Colin Campbell’s report (See my post “Republicans Cox, Priebus and Bernard have little to say to the Brooklyn GOP or anybody else --- Meanwhile, Craig Eaton talks up a storm about Catsimatidis and Carrion,” 3/11/13). At the time my sub-headline just about said it all, “On another front, Eaton comes out with his hands up.... And he’s probably looking for a Catsimatidis handout, just in time for the Lincoln Dinner.” For the uninitiated that’s exactly what guys like Eaton really mean when they say things like this, “Catsimatidis [ ] has the financial wherewithal to self-fund the race for mayor....” to Celeste Katz, above.
My Baker Street Irregulars have reported to me that Eaton had told several of his Brooklyn GOP insiders that he had “switched” his support from Carrion to Catsimatidis more than a week ago. My sources with Catsimatidis would neither confirm nor deny that Eaton is about to formally endorse “JC.” However, what was acknowledged by “JC’s” guys was that everybody in the “JC” campaign knows that Brooklyn GOP Chairman Eaton will not be bringing a lot of the Brooklyn GOP with him when he does come on board the “JC” bandwagon.
This isn't news.
ReplyDeleteExcept for Mr. Carrion who can stop wasting time on the Republicans and concentrate on his Independence Party race, and Mr. Lhota who could have benefited a little from having Carrion on the Republican Primary ballot, and Mr. Catsimatidis for the opposite reason, who cares that much about what the Brooklyn Republican Chairman says or when he says it.
Mr. Catsimatidis doesn't need somebody like a "Craig Eaton" except as one more name in his list of Republican backers, "Marty Golden" would be much better and if he switched from Lhota, that would be news.
BACKFILL:
ReplyDelete“Catsimatidis doles out cash to Queens GOP [But to Eaton’s Brooklyn GOP it’s ‘NO SOUP FOR YOU’ ! ! ! ]”
Last Thursday in the Crain’s Insider, Chris Bragg indicated that he had spoken to Craig Eaton by phone and that Eaton stated that he had "NO IDEA" about getting any financial support for the Brooklyn GOP from John Catsimatidis, who some people think is a very wealthy mayoral candidate (“Catsimatidis doles out cash to Queens GOP” by Chris Bragg, 3-14-13, Crain’s Insider [http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20130314/BLOGS04/130319918]). However, Eaton’s reported quote in Bragg’s article shouldn't be taken at face value. When Eaton said, “I have no idea about that.... I'm going to support whoever is the best candidate and the candidate that is best for the Republican Party....” he would have been clothing himself with “an admission” that probably contained within it a truth and a falsehood that are both damning. As to the first point, the one that is true, Eaton patently has no idea about what he’ll eventually get out of John Catsimatidis, although one has to assume Eaton certainly expects to get something for his efforts. As to the second, Eaton doesn’t care one wit whether Castimatidis or anybody else is the best candidate or the candidate that is best for the Republican Party, since the Brooklyn GOP Chairman disproved the possibility of caring about such things with his wrong-headed and dogged endorsement of and support for Adolfo Carrion.
No, Eaton’s poorly chosen words probably were his attempt at being sly. He’d have been better served if he just said, “No comment !” or “I can neither confirm nor deny that.” But, inasmuch as Craig Eaton is clearly a character who would be more at home with the ensemble of “Seinfeld” or in an episode of the “Larry David Show,” he is seldom, if ever, “better served” by anything that he chooses to say.
MORE BACKFILL:
DeleteEATON SHOWN ON TV BEING QUESTIONED ABOUT HIS SWITCH TO CATSIMATIDIS
On Friday, March 15th, CBS News showed Marcia Kramer interviewing Brooklyn GOP Chairman Craig Eaton. In that interview Eaton is shown in rather professional looking surroundings, but appears to be in his “dress-down Friday” togs. In the accompanying written text, Eaton is quoted, as follows: “We’re leaning very heavily, very heavily towards John Catsimatidis and expect an endorsement within the next week or two....” Eaton was shown making similar remarks during the CBS News broadcast (See “Race For GOP Mayoral Nod Shaping Up As Clash Of Titans — Lhota Vs. Catsimatidis – Giuliani's Guy Ready For Knock-Down, Drag-Out With Pataki's Choice,” 3/15/13, CBS New York [http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/03/15/race-for-gop-mayoral-nod-shaping-up-as-clash-of-titans-lhota-vs-catsimatides/] with video link that includes a brief clip of the GOP Chairman, dressed mufti, intoning in all seriousness that, “We’re leaning heavily, very heavily, towards John Catsimatidis and expect an endorsement within the next week or two....”).
Giuliani was wholly owned and operated entirely by Ray Harding and Fran Rider, not Republicans. Half the debt GIuliani left Bloomberg was from before 9/11. At First Boston, Lhota ran the arm that foisted risky derivatives on naive municipalites.
DeleteThe Catsimatidis' Brooklyn "operation" is all screwed up. VIncent Tabone and Rob Ryan have been jerking the Brooklyn Young Republicans around and not setting a date for their candidate to appear in front of the club, which is completely independent of Eaton's leadership.
ReplyDeleteThe Brooklyn Young Republican President Glen Nocera has said that right now the Catsimatidis campaign seems to be completely uncoordinated in Brooklyn. If Ryan is their Brooklyn coordinator and he isn't up to handling his duties in Brooklyn because of an eye problem, he should be replaced even if it's only temporary.
Glen Nocera thinks that a Catsimatidis-Eaton deal is behind the foot-dragging by Catsimatidis' people.
What Catsimatidis needs to know is that Lhota has already appeared in front of the Brooklyn Young Republicans and was very impressive. Eaton's YRs are just a club on paper; and whoever they are, they have nothing on their own to add to what Eaton's hand full of known supporters might claim to have.
I received a call late last evening from Glenn Nocera, and it appears that progress is being made toward setting up candidate John Catsimatidis with an April appearance at the monthly meeting of the Brooklyn Young Republican Club.
DeleteUPDATE: Two posts by Celeste Katz yesterday in the Daily News’ Daily Politics blog clearly show what a hash the five NYC Republican County Leaders have made out of the process of selecting a GOP mayoral candidate (“Bronx Republicans Back Joe Lhota For Mayor; May End Adolfo Carrion's GOP Primary Hopes” by Celeste Katz, 3/20/13 [http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2013/03/bronx-republicans-back-joe-lhota-for-mayor-may-end-adolfo-carrions-gop-primary]; and “John Catsimatidis And Adolfo Carrion Jr.: GOP Primary For NY Mayor Ain't Over 'Til It's Over” by Celeste Katz, 3/20/13 [http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2013/03/john-catsimatidis-and-adolfo-carrion-jr-say-gop-primary-for-nyc-mayor-aint-ove]). Although the Kings County Republican Chairman Craig Eaton is only mentioned in passing, he has been in the middle of this mess from day one. He and the rest of the “GOP County Chairmen” — only god-knows-who has a clue what they really “chair” — should be made to go around in a tiny clown car with rainbow-colored hair, big red noses, and wearing hobo-style suits and floppy shoes, Eaton can be the seltzer-bottle guy, since he seems to like spraying on the rest of them.
ReplyDeleteUPDATE: (The Chattanooga Choo Choo Edition) First, Brooklyn GOP Chairman Craig Eaton was bumped by the Pataki announcement of support for John Catsimatidis; now Eaton gets bumped by the Dean Skelos endorsement ( See “NY Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos Backs John Catsimatidis For NYC Mayor” by Celeste Katz, 3/21/13, Daily News - Daily Politics Blog [http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2013/03/ny-senate-republican-leader-dean-skelos-backs-john-catsimatidis-for-nyc-mayor]).
ReplyDeleteAfter a long discussion of the possible impact of the GOP NYS Senate Leader Dean Skelos’ endorsement of John Catsimatidis, here’s how Celeste Katz dealt with Craig Eaton’s status in the Catsimatidis Campaign: “Catsimatidis is backed by the heads of the Manhattan and Queens County GOP organizations, with Brooklyn's chairman on track to join them.” — Is that like on “...Track 29! We got to get there on time...” — OR is it more like on “...Track 29! Boy, you can give me a shine...” ?
The nazi heritage of Yaf led to their Praetorian Purge mentality which manifest itself in corporate governanace scandals and republican fractuousness.
ReplyDelete