Conservative Party endorsed Councilman David Greenfield dumps Conservative Party endorsed DA Charles Hynes at the Eleventh Hour

Kassar and Golden’s most important City Counsel Candidate Greenfield makes strategic move of throwing Hynes under the bus

Social conservative Hayon’s and anti-pedophile blogs’ attacks push Greenfield into corner  —  and Greenfield tries to duck and slide out of trap

“After blasting Ken Thompson throughout a fiery Democratic primary for Brooklyn district attorney, Councilman David Greenfield reversed course today and endorsed him over his rival, incumbent Charles Hynes....” ( See “David Greenfield Flips Endorsement to Ken Thompson” by Ross Barkan, 10/30/13, NY Observer/ Politicker [http://politicker.com/2013/10/david-greenfield-flips-endorsement-to-ken-thompson/]).

As has been well reported here and throughout various media outlets, DA Hynes had resumed  his uphill re-election bid on the GOP and Conservative Party lines after his  Democratic Primary loss. This renewed campaign by Mr. Hynes has upset many in the Brooklyn Democratic establishment. Nonetheless, even though Councilman Greenfield is a Democrat, he didn’t endorse the Democratic primary winner for DA for over seven weeks. Instead, he made his switch very late in the game, as he emphasized that it would be a unifying moment for his community. Along with that, he tried to dismiss his own heated rhetoric against Thompson during the primary as not meaning very much.

However, even in endorsing Kenneth Thompson to be the Brooklyn DA, Greenfield tried to minimize his switch to the Democratic DA Candidate. Perhaps to mollify his Conservative Party supporters, Councilman Greenfield indicated that in any case his switched endorsement would not be likely to swing overwhelming numbers of voters.

Don’t buy any of Greenfield’s equivocation. The withdrawal of Greenfield’s support from DA Hynes is a devastating blow to Hynes’ chances of pulling an upset, because it had always been assumed that, campaigning as a Republican-Conservative candidate, Hynes would run strong in Borough Park and the Orthodox Jewish sections of Midwood and Gravesend. Now, Hynes is not supported by either of the Orthodox Jewish candidates running for City Council on the Republican and Conservative Party lines with Hynes in those neighborhoods – Hayon being the candidate on the Republican line and Greenfield on the Conservative.

Democrat Greenfield’s switch from Hynes to Thompson is a partial vindication of the campaigns of Hayon and several Orthodox Jewish anti-pedophile blogs that have pounded both Hynes and Greenfield, in his own rite and for having supported Hynes. An added benefit for Hayon is that it completely fractures the unity of the Conservative ticket that he is directly running against as a social conservative running on the Republican line and supporting fellow social conservative Erick Salgado, who is running for mayor as the School Choice candidate.

Conversely, this is nothing but a humiliation of Greenfield’s strong patrons in the Republican and Conservative Parties, State Senator Golden, together with Golden’s Chief of Staff and Conservative Party Chairman Jerry Kassar.

In the “Pay to Play” world of backroom Albany politics, State Senator Marty Golden’s hits are more and more getting near the top of the charts

If Marty Golden were notorious as a gangland figure, his nickname might be “The Baker”

Timesman Michael Powell tells tale of Albany as a “legislative bakery” serving up all kinds of baked goodies for “favored clients”

According to Michael Powell writing in the New Times, the handiwork of the Albany baker-legislators too often goes under-appreciated. So Powell decided to shine a light on two very skilled dough-turners, who do their baking in the New York State Senate. State Senator Jeffrey D. Klein, is leader of the breakaway faction of Democrats that has aligned with the Republicans, and Senator Martin Golden's a Brooklyn Republican, who seems to have emerged as a GOP Albany insider (See “In Pay-to-Play Albany, Contributors Win Favors” by Michael Powell, 10/28/13, NY Times/ City Metro [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/29/nyregion/in-pay-to-play-albany-contributors-win-favors.html?ref=nyregion&_r=1&]).

The way it was told in the NY Times, Senators Golden and Klein took their baking to the level of "pastry chef" when they “crafted a lovely little strudel of a bill last summer.”

As he often does, State Senator Golden used a law and order pitch to cover his goody-producing sleight-of-the-hand. Ostensibly to discourage cigarette bootlegging and to raise $6 million for the enforcement effort, Golden, “a blue-eyed breeze of a pol,” made his pitch in the chamber during a night session last June. The way Michael Powell described Golden’s remarks, “He spoke darkly of a recently discovered ‘Palestinian cell’ of cigarette bootleggers, and the need for tougher enforcement....” [[[ >>> “By the way, he noted, the bill might put extra cash in the pockets of the wholesalers who stamp the packs....” ( Can you guess to whom this wonderfully delicious piece of legislative pastry was being served all along?  Guess what !  It wasn’t to any “Palestinian Cell” or those enforcing the laws against cigarette bootlegging at all  —  that leaves the “extra cash” for the wholesalers.) <<< ]]]

The way it appeared in the Times, “That last bit of information piqued the interest of State Senator Liz Krueger, a Democrat who has a bloodhound’s nose for the evasions so typical of her chamber. She raised her hand. So the stamping agents get two cents per pack now, she said, ‘but with this law they net five cents per pack; am I correct?’ ***  Senator Golden allowed that she was. ***  Ms. Krueger nodded, although not out of sympathy. ‘Aren’t we handing these stamping agents an awful lot of money without proper debate,’ she asked? ***  Mr. Golden began to mutter of higher costs for wholesalers: Con Ed, health benefits, gasoline, rent, trucks, whatever. ‘That’s all increased much more than the dollars that we are asking for here,’ he said, a touch plaintively.” Of course little of what Golden had to say was true; the Golden and Klein cigarette stamping bill would have been a windfall for the cigarette wholesalers, with a pass-along of that cost to the public.

So why did Marty push the bill ?

Michael Powell says that “A gentleman named Leonard Schwartz is chairman of Global Wholesale Tobacco, which stood to profit handsomely from the legislation. And he wrote many checks to further his cause. He has contributed $29,500 to the coffers of Senator Golden since 2002 and $43,000 to Mr. Klein since 1999....”

As it all turned out, Klein’s and Mr. Golden’s bill died; State Senator Krueger asked enough questions that June night to block the bill’s passage. Such victories are always temporary; or as Mike Powell tells it, “In Albany’s pay-to-play world, legislators simply turn back to donors, toss up their arms and suggest a few more checks might do the trick.”

Senator Krueger puts it a little simpler, “Don’t look for a rationale.... Just follow the money.”

This tune was picked up by a local nightingale, who then made his own sweet tune of it (See “Michael Powell Lights up Marty Golden” by Kip, 10/29/13, Bay Ridge Journal/ The View from My Block [http://bayridgejournal.blogspot.com/2013/10/michael-powell-lights-up-marty-golden_29.html]

As for me, just call me “Johnny One Note”  —   Keep electing Marty Golden and these kinds of hits will just keep on coming.

Former Brooklyn Republican State Senator David Storobin continues to be the Brooklyn GOP’s Candidate most likely to take a City Council seat in 2013

48th Council District Republican-Conservative Candidate garners support of the Citizens Union and continues to pressure his main opponent Democrat Chaim Deutsch

Orthodox Jewish Blogs roll out opposition to Rabbis who endorsed Chaim Deutsch along with with DA Candidate Hynes

Little has changed in a month for David Storobin, who is running on three lines, Republican, Conservative and Independence; and who should have enough funds to carry out his plans in the final days of his campaign for City Council. About a month ago, because he had been endorsed by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who remains popular in the district, and because Storobin had strength in various communities in his district, council candidate Storobin was seen as a favorite to win the vacant City Council spot in the 48th Councilmatic District (See “CD48 – David Storobin Touts Overwhelming Fundraising Strength” by the YWN Newsdesk, 9/23/13, Yeshiva World News [http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=188495]).

Recently, Storobin has continued to campaign with fellow Republican-Conservative Joe Lhota; but he has maintained a hands-off position on the Republican-Conservative candidate for DA Charles “Joe” Hynes, who is a Democrat. However, there may be several pamphlets and palm cards distributed around the district where Storobin’s name would appear along with those of both Lhota and Hynes.

According to the Yeshiva World News, the Citizens Union recently announced its endorsements of David Storobin for City Council in the 48th Council District. In supporting of Mr. Storobin’s  candidacy, Citizen Union continued in its tradition of backing candidates who demonstrated a strong grasp of reform issues that is complimented by their experience and policy knowledge (See “Citizens Union Endorsed David Storobin For City Council” by the YWN NYC Newsdesk, 10/27/13, Yeshiva World News [http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/General+News/195451/Citizens-Union-Endorsed-David-Storobin-For-City-Council.html]). In announcing his organization’s support for Mr. Storobin, the Executive Director of Citizens Union Dick Dadey made the following remarks: “New York City faces a watershed election year and Citizens Union believes our endorsed candidates can best serve the City as we enter a new era of governance....  Our evaluation process sought candidates committed to honest, effective and accountable government and capable of serving their constituents as well as the needs of the city as a whole. We feel these qualities are well represented in each of our endorsed candidates.”

That item in the Yeshiva World News closely followed after this barb at Chaim Deutsch, which was earlier published by that blog: “... ‘David Storobin had accepted the gracious offer by Yeshiva World News to host a debate over a week ago. He accepted the invitation almost immediately upon receiving the invitation. As this has now been a week, and we have not heard back, we can only ask why the Deutsch campaign has not agreed to debate as well? When we accepted the offer, we let it be known that any night was ok to debate. Why would a person asking for the vote of a community not want to go before them and explain their position on the pertinent issues of the community?’ ***  The Deutsch campaign has not yet responded to a request for a comment” ( See “Statement By David Storobin On Deutsch’s Refusal To Debate” by the YWN NYC Newsdesk, 10/24/13, Yeshiva World News [http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/General+News/195274/Statement-By-David-Storobin-On-Deutsch%27s-Refusal-To-Debate.html]).

Even though a majority of the 48th Council District covers neighborhoods with  Russian-American households, that tend to be secular observers of Judaism or voters who are professedly religiously non-observant, a very important factor in the race remains the inability of Democrat Chaim Deutsch to lock up the Orthodox Jewish vote, even though he is known to be a “Frum Yid.”

In an odd juxtaposition, part of Democrat Chaim Deutch’s  problem arises from the fact that Deutsch has been endorsed by a faction of Rabbis led by Yisroel Belsky that also endorsed the Republican-Conservative Candidate for DA, Charles Hynes. Belsky and the others are viewed as morally compromised in their endorsement of Hynes. This is all tied up in the scandalous prosecution/non-prosecution of certain cases of pedophilia in the Orthodox Community, where the DA and some of his supporting Rabbis are now viewed as not protecting the children, but protecting the alleged pedophiles. The details of these problematic endorsements are laid out in the following posts on blogs aimed at Brooklyn’s Orthodox voters: “Pedophile Protector Belsky Endorses Pedophile Protector Hynes!” by Unorthodox Yidden, 10/24/13 [http://unorthodoxyidden.blogspot.com/2013/10/pedophile-protector-belsky-endorses.html]; “Leading Enabler Of Pedophiles Rabbi Yisroel Belsky Endorses Charles J. Hynes For D.A.” 10/24/13 [http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2013/10/enabler-of-pedophiles-rabbi-yisroel-belsky-endorses-charles-j-hynes-567.html]; “ ‘Malkiel - rerun" in Flatbush –  Something is NOT Kosher here...” by Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg, 10/25/13, Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg’s Hotline [http://nochemrosenberg.blogspot.com/2013/10/malkiel-rerun-in-flatbush.html]).

An Orthodox observer familiar with Rabbi Belsky noted that, just a couple of years ago, Rabbi Belsky could influence many Orthodox voters in his part of Brooklyn, but now his endorsement could have just the opposite effect.

Did the Republican-Conservative Candidate for Mayor Joseph Lhota clear his Atlantic Yards attack against deBlasio with his strongest GOP supporter in Brooklyn, State Senator Martin Golden ?

One of the headlines: “Lhota Says Developers Have ‘Bought’ de Blasio’s Silence on Atlantic Yards”  —   Another: “De Blasio ‘ignoring’ affordable-housing delays because pal is in charge”   —   Still another: “Joe Lhota slams Bill de Blasio over being quiet on affordable housing in Atlantic Yards” 

Isn’t it somewhat hypocritical that one of Lhota’s biggest supporters, Marty Golden, was similarly “Bought” by Forest City Ratner, the developer of the Atlantic Yards ?  —   AND the Bill of Sale for Golden obviously was for more than “Silence” about the whole Atlantic Yards project

Earlier today the New York Post reported that, “Democratic mayoral hopeful Bill de Blasio has been mum on critical delays in affordable housing at Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, because the project is run by a pal who helped fund his campaign, critics charged Monday. ***  The controversial $4.9 billion project — which includes the completed Barclays Center — is run by Forest City Ratner, whose owner, Bruce Ratner, co-chaired a 50th-birthday fund-raiser for de?Blasio in 2011. ***  Republican mayoral nominee Joe Lhota said de Blasio has been MIA on the housing delays overseen by his pal’s firm.... (See “De Blasio ‘ignoring’ affordable-housing delays because pal is in charge” by  Yoav Gonen &  Beth DeFalco, 10/29/13, NY Post [http://nypost.com/2013/10/29/de-blasio-ignoring-affordable-housing-delays-because-his-pal-is-in-charge/]). As you will see below, at least one informed critic pretty much thought that the NY Post was a day late and a pound short.

As far as the day late part, yesterday it had been specifically reported that GOP and Conservative Party mayoral candidate, Joseph Lhota, had gone down to the Barclay Center to lash out at his Democrat opponent Bill de Blasio for not pressing the developer of the Atlantic Yards project for affordable housing (See “Lhota Says Developers Have ‘Bought’ de Blasio’s Silence on Atlantic Yards” by Ross Barkan, 10/28/13, NY Observer/ Politicker [http://politicker.com/2013/10/lhota-says-developers-have-bought-de-blasios-silence-on-atlantic-yards/]). According to the report on the Politicker blog, Lhota said , “The people who built the Barclay’s Center and promised to build all of the affordable housing have given contributions to [de Blasio] over and over again.” That story was picked up yesterday by various other papers, blog sites and news services (See “Lhota rips de Blasio over NYC's Atlantic Yards” by  Jonathan Lemire, 10/28/13, Ct Post/ AP [http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Lhota-rips-de-Blasio-over-NYC-s-Atlantic-Yards-4933056.php]).

It didn’t take long for the very critical watchdog blog, “Atlantic Yards Report” to hammer the coverage of the story that had appeared on the AP feed, in the Daily News and in the NY Post – and there was a weak swipe about the non-coverage of the story by the Times (See “Lhota's charges against de Blasio on Atlantic Yards generate (vague) pledge from Democrat; Republican has own accountability issue regarding MSG” by Norman Oder, 10/29/13, Atlantic Yards Report [http://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2013/10/lhotas-charges-against-de-blasio-on.html]). According to Mr. Oder, “Interestingly enough, the toughest article came from the New York Daily News, which (via other reporters) is generally generous toward Forest City Ratner.”

In his Daily News article, Greg Smith noted the following:  “As a City Council member from Brooklyn and then as the city’s Public Advocate, de Blasio bucked neighborhood opposition and supported the controversial project. ***  Ratner has received tax breaks and loans worth more than $760 million to build the project, which is supposed to include the 2,250 units of affordable housing. But nearly eight years after the project was approved, the first 181 affordable housing units won’t break ground until next year. And there is no concrete timetable for the other units.
Ratner and his associates at Forest City Ratner Companies have raised more than $73,000 for de Blasio’s campaign, records show. ***  Ratner’s support included co-hosting a bash for de Blasio’s 50th birthday at the swanky Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Suggested donations started at $500, and fund-raiser co-chairs — including Ratner — were obligated to raise at least $10,000.”
(See “Joe Lhota slams Bill de Blasio over being quiet on affordable housing in Atlantic Yards” by Greg Smith, 10/28/13, Daily News [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election/lhota-de-blasio-bought-atlantic-yards-developer-article-1.1499706]).

What Oder, Smith, Barkan, Lamire, Gonen and DeFalco, and apparently even Joe Lhota himself, obviously missed was that Lhota’s biggest supporter in Brooklyn, State Senator Martin Golden, is completely locked into Bruce Ratner and the Forest City Ratner project to develop the Atlantic and Vanderbilt Avenue Yards adjacent to the Long Island Railroad Depot near the intersection of Atlantic, Flatbush, 4th and Flatbush Avenues. Several of those reporters, especially Mr. Oder, have reported on the Golden connection several times themselves. Over the last few years both Golden and his adversaries have made a very big deal about Golden’s support of the mammoth project ( Remember Golden shouting, “Jobs, baby, jobs....” at the “Acorn” rally ? )

Several questions immediately suggest themselves –   Did Lhota really not know about the Golden connection to Ratner and the Atlantic Yards project ? If Lhota did know about the Golden connection, why did he think it wasn’t going to come up and boomerang on his own campaign – doesn’t the Golden-Ratner connection make the Lhota Atlantic Yards attack on deBlasio look at least a little hypocritical ?  Did Marty Golden or his staff know that Lhota was going to do his PR stunt at the Barclay Center  –  after all it was a Brooklyn event, and wouldn’t Golden’s Chief of Staff, Jerry Kassar,  know about it in his capacity as Brooklyn Conservative Party Chairman ?

Polls Staying Bad For Republican-Conservative Candidate Lhota

FOR OVER A MONTH POLLS SHOW CONTEST FOR NYC MAYOR NOT COMPETITIVE 

POLLING DATA SHOWS THAT EVEN A LOT OF REPUBLICANS DON’T LIKE LHOTA  AND/OR  WON'T VOTE FOR HIM

A NYT/Siena poll finds de Blasio is poised to win the race by a historically large margin, powered by optimism that he will bring about change and by overwhelming voter disapproval of the Republican Party ( See “De Blasio in Position to Win Mayor’s Race by Historic Margin, Poll Shows” by David W. Chen & Megan Thee-Brenan, 10/28/13, NY Times [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/28/nyregion/de-blasio-in-position-to-win-mayors-race-by-historic-margin-poll-shows.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1&]). According to the Times report, “Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat who is currently the public advocate, leads his Republican opponent, Joseph J. Lhota, a former chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, by 45 points among likely voters....  That lead, which has remained remarkably consistent in multiple polls over the last six weeks, suggests that Mr. de Blasio could win the most sweeping victory in a mayor’s race since 1985, when Edward I. Koch was re-elected to a third term with a crushing 68-point margin of victory over his opponents.”  Especially dispiriting from a Republican perspective is the detailed breakdown and analysis of the polling data that appeared in David W. Chen and Megan Thee-Brenan’s article.

Similar devastating information and analysis appeared in the NY Daily News (See “A Week Before NY Mayor Vote, Bill de Blasio Leads Joe Lhota By 45% Among Likely Voters: Poll” by Celeste Katz, 10/28/13, Daily News/Daily Politics [http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2013/10/a-week-before-ny-mayor-vote-bill-de-blasio-leads-joe-lhota-by-45-among-likely-]). Here it is, as succinctly stated as can be by Ms. Katz: “De Blasio scores the support of 68% of likely voters to Lhota's 23% -- barely changed from the 68%-19% split reported in a Siena survey three weeks ago. ***   The new poll ran from Oct. 21 to 26, accounting for an Oct. 22 TV debate Lhota fans had cited as hope the GOP underdog might dig into the frontrunner's seemingly insurmountable lead.”

The Madness Doesn't Rest

UPDATE of "The Rest is Madness...." Post below

Hynes' Active GOP and Conservative Party Campaign for DA is making the Democrats go crazy 

UPDATE:  THE “DOV HIKIND REALLY DOESN’T LIKE IT” EDITION

The story about the alleged ugly  underside of the Hynes Campaign has risen to a boil and is percolating. The Politicker put up a video link of a protest at Borough Hall of the offensive Yiddish literature attributed to the Hynes Campaign among the elected officials were Democratic Congressman Jerrold Nadler and Borough Park Assemblyman Dov Hikind. The video contained a strong personal condemnation delivered by  Hikind, who spoke at length and appeared to wave a spindled piece of the offending literature like it was a band-leader’s baton (See “Morning Read: ‘The Minimum Number of Plotters’ ” by Colin Campbell, 10/28/13, PolitickerNY [http://politicker.com/2013/10/morning-read-the-minimum-number-of-plotters/]).


UPDATE:  HYNES REBUTS THE RECENT ATTACKS  –  SAYS HIS E-MAIL WAS HACKED

Against the backdrop of a large coach-style van all-tricked-out with Hynes’ recognizable face and logo on its sides, referred to as a “Campaign Bus” –  Mr. Hynes specifically took time to defend himself in the face of several controversies that have emerged during the last several days along the campaign trail (See “Charles Hynes Says Rival’s Campaign ‘Like a Seinfeld Episode’ ” by Ross Barkan, 10-28-13, PolitickerNY [http://politicker.com/2013/10/charles-hynes-says-rivals-campaign-like-a-seinfeld-episode/]).

Among those controversial matters was an allegation from Mr. Thompson’s supporters that a recent ad that appeared in some Yiddish-language newspapers amounted to racist fear-mongering. The ad, which was in Yiddish and not English, claimed that a lawless “minority” element had elected Mr. Thompson, who is vying to become the borough’s first black district attorney. As mentioned above in this post, several Thompson backers, including Democratic members of Congress and Assemblyman Dov Hikind, held a press conference yesterday slamming Mr. Hynes for the ads — and earlier today Hynes insisted  that he had nothing to do with those ads.  Said Hynes, “It’s not my advertisement. I didn’t put it in. I had no control over the content.... What I was told was that the minority word refers to turnout and not African-Americans. I had nothing to do with the ad.”  Mr. Hynes also reminded folks about Mr. Hikind’s Purim costume controversy that happened earlier this year: ”This is the guy who has blackface? Nobody pays any attention to Dov Hikind. Dov Hikind’s a relatively mature man wearing blackface.”

In a simlar manner, Mr. Hynes dismissed the BuzzFeed report (reported in a comment to an earlier post on this blog), which had accused one of his allies, Republican and New York State’s former top Judge – Sol Wachtler, of using an anti-black Yiddish slur in his emails to Mr. Hynes.  The DA said, “That I would seriously allow anyone to use that derogatory term in my presence without condemning them–it’s an outrage.” Mr. Hynes  then said that a hacker had obtained and altered the emails. “There’s no question that the hacker who hacked into my account substituted those words to embarrass Judge Wachtler and me.”

GOP City Council Candidate Joseph Hayon and Third Party Social Conservative Mayoral Hopeful Erick Salgado do Grand Tour of Borough Park for most of Sunday afternoon

Enthusiastic bunches of Orthodox Jewish residents greeted Hayon and Salgado at major stops arranged by Hayon

Brief competition with sound car for Lhota failed to interfere with Hayon's and Salgado's five hour event in heart of 44th Council District

Joseph Hayon, the Republican social conservative activist running against Democrat-Conservative Party incumbent David Greenfield to be the City Council representative in the 44th Council District, invaded the center of Greenfield’s stronghold in Borough Park, supported by Hayon’s chosen candidate to be Mayor of New York City, the School Choice line nominee Reverend Erick Salgado, like Hayon a strong social conservative. For almost five hours, Hayon and Salgado road on a towed float up and down the major commercial avenues and thoroughfares of the almost exclusively Orthodox Jewish neighborhood during its busiest social and commercial hours for families, the target group of their joint campaigning on this October Sunday.

They made many stops along the ad hoc route and were joined by small knots of young people and their parents, many of whom were taking pictures of the candidates and the children around the float. The principal stops were at the Vaccarro Playground in the park at Eighteenth Avenue and 56th Street where the candidates met a wide variety of those enjoying the park; and at the Masbia food operation on 14th Avenue and 41st Street where Hayon and Salgado greeted and spoke to some Borough Park residents in need and those who generously were there helping to provide for them.

One of the special “spontaneous” stops was made near a small crowd that Hayon had chosen as the place to meet and introduce Rabbi David Cohen to Mr. Salgado. After a short conversation with Rabbi Cohen, the Rabbi’s son joined Hayon and Salgado on the float as it moved around that part of the Borough Park Community.

The trailer carrying the candidates was escorted by a sound truck that in addition to proclaiming their names around the area, repeatedly mentioned three positions espoused by both of the candidates. The speakers blasted out messages in Yiddish, and occasionally English, that urged voting for Hayon and Salgado, and also explained how Republican Hayon and School Choice Party Candidate Salgado were the only candidates running together in 2013 that fully supported: 1) the right to practice religious circumcision rituals without government interference; 2) school vouchers for parents of students in religious schools; and 3) Torah values – in particular that lawful marriage should only refer to traditional marriage following biblical teaching.

The tour of the traditional Orthodox Jewish neighborhood was not without incident. For a short time, a sound car, which apparently was connected to the Lhota campaign, followed the motorcade of the Hayon and Salgado vehicles and would intermittently play it’s “Vote for Lhota” message. However, the Hayon and Salgado sound operation only needed to compete with the unwanted addition to their motorcade for about fifteen to twenty minutes. Interestingly, one of the participants actually thought that the competing messages seemed to excite the bystanders, who seemed to be more interested and receptive where the Hayon and Salgado parade appeared to be bigger and somewhat noisier.

Kathleen Sebelius Spoke the Truth when she said "I don''t work for [ Anybody Who Opposes Obamacare]” — It revealed a deeper truth about the Obama Regime

Only the right-leaning press, TV and blogs really covered the story of the Secretary Sebelius' “I don’t work for....” gaff  

Sebelius’ glib and dismissive line is symptomatic of an ominous outlook in the “Transformative” Obama Presidency and Administration

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius delivered some remarks defending the Affordable Care Act about four days ago at a health care call center. At that time, she dismissed all the calls for her to resign from her position as Obama’s Secretary of Health and Human Services and point person on Obamacare, because they came from people who had no say in the matter ( See “Kathleen Sebelius: ‘I Don’t Work for’ the People Calling for Me to Resign” by Josh Feldman, 10-24-13, Mediaite [http://www.mediaite.com/tv/sebelius-i-dont-work-for-the-people-calling-for-me-to-resign/]). Her exact quote was this:  “The majority of people calling for me to resign, I would say, are people I don’t work for and who do not want this program to work in the first place.”

The Sebelius' remark about not working for anybody who wanted her fired was largely not reported or commented upon in the main stream media ( See “Democrats Call to Delay Obamacare”   10/24/13, ABC News
[http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/kathleen-sebelius-obamacare-website-glitches-work-people-calling-20680345]  [one of the few MSM outlets to cover it]). Even “Saturday Night Live” that did a Sebelius send-up as part of its opening last night did not use the “I don’t work for quote...” as part of the bit (See “‘Saturday Night Live’ Sends Up Healthcare.gov and Obamacare” by Christopher John Farley, 10/27/13, Wall Street Journal/ Speakeasy [http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2013/10/27/saturday-night-live-sends-up-healthcare-gov/] with video link to SNL Sebelius opening segment).

Some people say that a real Washington gaff is speaking the truth that nobody is supposed to hear or know about – in that context what Sebelius said is a gaff of profound significance. I put it to you that, in many ways the Sebelius gaff pairs up nicely with Romney’s 47% inconvenient truism, which many cite as the biggest candidate gaff of the 2012 Presidential Campaign.

It should be obvious that, if there is any good at all in Obamacare, it largely goes to certain people in the 47% that Romney identified as certain Obama voters, who “are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it” and non-payers of Federal Income Tax ( two separate groups, coincidently both being 47%, but mistakenly conflated in Romney’s speech – furthermore, some of the 47% of the income tax  non-payers and even some of the government benefits recipients eventually did vote for Romney).

One of the “Big Lies” of Obamacare is that it is not a government provided medical care program, but is instead a governmental program of mandates and regulations for mostly private medical insurance. The Medicaid changes that are a major component of Obamacare ( a part of which was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court) are a government provided medical care program – usually described as a “Single Payer System.” During the first ten years of Obamacare, over a trillion dollars will go into the Medicaid component just to meet the Obamacare requirements –  three quarters of a trillion dollars of that amount will come out of Medicare. In its own way this is a redistribution among Romney’s 47 percenters – largely from one government provided medical program to another – largely from the old to the young. There is also an ethnic and racial benefit shift as a result of that redistribution (you figure it out – but if you say anything about it you’ll be accused of something that most people think isn’t very nice).

The Sebelius remark about who she is or is not working-for not only helps clarify some of what Romney was referring to in his inconvenient 47% remark; it is also an admission by a key true-believing Obama operative about what the entire transformative Obama  presidency is all about. It is all about only working for a certain percentage of the American people, a readily identifiable hard core of Obama supporters – and putting various subsidiary programs and policies into place to make that percentage an invincible majority of “Americans,” by whatever description or definition  is necessary to make that majority permanent.

Kathleen Sebelius “I don’t work for...” gaff  is also one of the early tolls in the death knell of our constitutional republican-democracy.

“The Rest is Madness....” *

The 2013 County-wide Republican Campaign is about to come crashing down

For the GOP going forward, we might ALL have been better off if three or four weeks ago, the rest were silence

What should have been a rallying point for Republicans is about to be mired in charges that will seem to some as an outlandish overreach by unscrupulous Democrat opponents  —  And by others, as proof that the faction of the Brooklyn GOP influenced by State Senator Martin Golden, and Conservatives like Mike Long and Jerry Kassar, are simply unfit to lead anything in Brooklyn that is conservative or Republican. It remains to be seen if the GOP Mayoral Candidate Joe Lhota can move quickly enough to avoid being sucked under in the effluence.

Arguing whether this, that or the other is or is not a racist appeal, or anything like it, is nothing that the Brooklyn GOP or its leadership needs right now.
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*The title above is from an often-quoted phrase that largely mimics Shakespeare’s “The rest is silence...” from Hamlet.  I have arbitrarily chosen to attribute it thus: (See “The Story of Redemption” from the “Theater of the Mind” [http://guam.net/home/wresch/stories/R_Wresch/RedemptStory.htm]). “What happened in the mind of Lucifer will always remain a mystery. But he somehow made the decision to rebel against his Creator, to try to usurp the place of God Himself. How could he hope to succeed? But sin is destructive, destructive of the mind. The rest is madness....”

Andy Sullivan Hasn’t Abandoned Campaign in 47th Council District

Sullivan’ successes in debates with Democrat Mark Treyger are having little impact without followup in the day-to-day campaign; Sullivan has seen no resources expended in that district from the GOP or most of its key operators

Slogans like: “It’s a blue-collar district, and I’m a blue-collar guy” just aren’t making any impact with a large majority of Democratic leaning voters in a district that is overwhelmingly Democratic 

What looked like a pretty good showing in an early October debate against his Democrat opponent Mark Treyger almost looks like ancient history as the candidates head into a ten day homestretch to Election Day. Even though Sullivan, a multiple marshal arts practitioner, was able to force Treyger back onto his heels over the police policies surrounding "stop and frisk" ( See “Treyger pushed to call for Community Safety Act repeal” by Will Bredderman, 10/7/13, Courier Life/ Brooklyn Daily [http://www.brooklyndaily.com/stories/2013/41/bn_sullivantreygerdebate _2013_10_11_bk.html]), that victory could not be leveraged into a visible knockdown, or even significant public recognition of  Andy Sullivan's candidacy.

Ever since Republican Andrew Sullivan confirmed that he had decided to run for the council seat in the 47th Councilmatic District, most of which was represented by term-limited Democrat Domenic Recchia Jr., Sullivan has been struggling to gain traction in a district that stretches from Sea Gate and Coney Island, through most of Graves End and into the edges of Bensonhurst and Bath Beach. In spite of  Sullivan’s belief that he could  rally a coalition of older “Reagan Democrats,” as well as socially  conservative Latinos and Asians behind him in what he described as a working-class district, there is no indication that he has made much of an impression among any of those groups. One of the problems confronting Hardhat Andy Sullivan is a general lack of press coverage of Sullivan’s race against Democrat Mark Treyger. In addition, many of Sullivan’s appearances with GOP city-wide candidates were at events that occurred outside the district.

When, as a move toward party unity, Andy Sullivan switched his campaigning from the adjoining 43rd City Council District to the 47th, Sullivan had been led to believe that his race in the 47th Counc. Dist. would receive the full support and attention of both the Republican and Conservative Parties. To Andy and those who are interested in his candidacy, it doesn't look like it's worked out that way, at all.

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)

MAKING MORE NEWS — City Council Campaign of Republican Joseph Hayon Announces Endorsement by Democrat State Senator Ruben Diaz

In a Press Release entitled  “What You Should Know”  —   The Reverend Ruben Diaz directly attacked incumbent Democrat-Conservative City Council Candidate David Greenfield for his support of late-term abortion on demand

Diaz says he is willing to endorse Republican Hayon, because: 1) Hayon is a staunch advocate of family values  —   2) at various times, Hayon broke ranks with his own party to support the unborn children  —   3) Hayon   personally convinced several groups to support Erick Salgado for mayor

State Senator Ruben Diaz’ whole endorsement announcement for Joseph Hayon is as follows:

“What You Should Know

You should know that today, I, State Senator Rubén Diaz, endorsed Joseph Hayon for City Council in Brooklyn. You Should know that Joseph Hayon is challenging Councilman David Greenfield for the New York City Council. The district covers the Borough Park, Kensington, and Flatbush neighborhoods.

You should know that I am a Democrat, and I am a good Democrat. I fight hard for women’s rights and the poor people. But Democrat Greenfield voted for a resolution that would support late-term abortion on demand. Greenfield voted to murder eight-month-old unborn children

You should know that Hayon is a staunch advocate of family values. Hayon broke ranks many times with his own party to support the unborn children. Hayon successfully convinced hundreds of voters to support Erick Salgado for mayor.

You should know that Hayon will work effectively with my Democratic brothers in the NYC Council, finding common ground in addressing the concerns of his district. Hayon has a fine history, from his days in college, as a defender and fighter for religious freedom and constitutional rights. He will very effectively represent his constituents and defend their ideals and principals in the halls of the city government.

This is Senator Reverend Rubén Díaz, and this is what you should know.”

The slogan for the Anthony Testaverde Campaign for City Council must be “Better Late Than Never” — Equally valid would be the old adage that Testaverde's Campaign is “A day late and a pound short !”

Under-scheduled and relatively underfunded, things have gone so far down a wrong path with Testaverde’s Campaign that only a large dose of heavy lifting by State Senator Martin Golden and Golden's  A-list of campaigners and supporters can help make Testaverde’s candidacy look respectable 

One of the early surprises of the 2013 election cycle was that a motivated Anthony Testaverde was going to go all out in a campaign for City Council in the 46th Council District  —   A campaign by one of State Senator Martin Golden’s key operatives running in a district that contained much of Golden’s bedrock stronghold looked like something that could be possible or even formidable  —   That just hasn’t panned out so far.

Between a hopeful roll-out at the end of May and the third week of October was a completely enervating summer primary campaign that still has Republicans in the southern tier at each others’ throats; and the Anthony Testaverde Campaign down on the canvas wondering what has hit it. Even if Anthony Testaverde isn’t himself completely debilitated as a candidate, his City Council campaign apparatus certainly does appear to be so.

The fundraising appears to have been just okay with a little over $10,500 in donations reported to the New York City Campaign Finance Board.  However, even with 6:1 matching funds this level of financing would seem inadequate against an established Democrat like Assemblyman Alan Maisel, who won his primary with sixty percent (60%) of the vote, and who has raised over $80,000 to date, with cash still available for a full-scale run against Testaverde.

At this very late date, the latest news from the Testaverde Campaign is that a handful of  “volunteers” showed up at his storefront yesterday evening “for a planning meeting!”  It was only last week that Testaverde even opened his  “new store front at 2702 Gerritsen Avenue” where he asks that people come by “...to volunteer, pick up lawn signs or just say hello.” Meanwhile, it looks like the biggest thing planned by the Anthony Testaverde team is an October 27th Halloween Party.

With under two weeks until election day, there should be a raft of events planned along with the Lhota and Hynes campaigns, both of whom should running strong races inside the 46th Council District; and Testaverde’s boss State Senator Golden needs to do the heavy lifting for all of them, especially for his own staff member. The only thing that stands between Anthony Testaverde and complete humiliation is an all out blitz for Testaverde by his boss Marty Golden, together with a full-fledged unified campaign along with Joe Lhota for Mayor and Charles “Joe” Hynes for DA.

Just an unfortunate confluence or concatenation of otherwise unrelated matters for Hynes, Scotto and Messineo in the 2009 and 2013 campaigns ?

Brownstone Republicans, as unlikely a bunch of Republicans as exist in Brooklyn, invite DA Hynes to speak   —   Some see “Republican” chickens coming home to roost   —   2009 petitioning blunders seem to have been forgotten  —   possibly  repeated in 2013

Ironic twists of fate for Hynes, Scotto and Messineo ?

This small and atypical sampling of Republicans in the Brooklyn GOP is often in the middle of controversy, sometimes with petitioning problems; sometimes it’s other things. This is nothing new and these kinds of problems go back to the days when the Republican leaders in the area  included the likes of the venerable and long-deceased Margaret Divine. As Tevye might sing out in “Fiddler...”:  “ TRADITION ! - - - TRADITION !”

Little has changed when the names are morphed into Joseph Messineo and Sandra Chase....

That’s what makes the recent appearance of DA Charles “Joe” Hynes at the Brownstone Club so problematic for his campaign for re-election as Brooklyn’s DA as the Republican and Conservative Parties’ candidate. It highlights an unfortunate confluence or concatenation of otherwise unrelated matters in the 2009 and 2013 campaigns   —   or maybe, it’s just BAD  KARMA or  BAD JOSS.

You see that it looks like many petitions were collected  by the Brownstone Republicans on behalf of many City- and/or County-wide candidates this year, like they have done for many years in the past.  In 2013, that would mean candidates like Joseph Lhota for Mayor and Charles “Joe” Hynes for Kings County DA; in 2009, it would have been Mayor Bloomberg and DA Hynes.  And so on, back through the years.

Not that long ago, in 2009 to be exact, many, if not all, petitions very similar to this year’s petitions contained some obvious and near obvious problems.  Remember, fully executed and filed election petitions are verified legal documents filed to influence the actions of a governmental agency, in this instance, the NYC Board of Elections.  Among the less-than-subtle problems with the Brownstone Club’s 2009 petitions involved those witnessed by one or two  key club officials who are still listed on the club’s website as leading members of the Brownstone Republicans. It seems that a very large number of their petitions in 2009 contained a very high percentage of signatures that looked very much alike and did not resemble the signatures on record at the Board of Elections. In short, based on the look of many of the sheets submitted by the Brownstone Republicans in 2009, a significant part of the petitions looked like it was  permeated with possible, even probable, forgeries. As I said, those problems were less than subtle.

There was another problem that permeated almost each and every sheet of the petitions submitted by the Brownstone Republicans in 2009.  That problem went far beyond less-than-subtle  —  it was patent. Virtually all the sheets listed as a proposed Member to the Republican State Committee — Joseph Messineo; and here’s the problem, it gave Mr. Messineo’s address as being in the same building as the Scotto Funeral Home on 1st Place and Court Street in Carroll Gardens. You see almost everybody knew then, and knows now, that Mr. Messineo lives in Sunset Park, not Carroll Gardens, where he has been registered to vote for some time.  One of the people, who especially knew then, and knows this now, is Salvatore “Buddy” Scotto, who has a very close connection to the building listed as Mr. Messineo’s address both in 2009 and now, as well as being a person with an historic familial connection to the Scotto Funeral Home. [Because of the way that the Brownstone Club petitions were handled in 2013, the bulk did not contain the names for Chase and Messineo as members of the GOP State Committee. Nonetheless, some sheets were filed  without proper cover sheets that did include Chase and Messineo’s  names and addresses to be Members of the Republican State Committee, it has been impossible for my source to track all of the candidates listed on  those sheets or to determine whether they had been filed “by the Brownstone Club” as had the others for Lhota and Hynes.]

As to DA Hynes and Mr Scotto’s recent appearance at the Brownstone Republican Club, here is some background. Mr. Scotto was once a key Republican in the Carroll Gardens area, when he, Pat Kenny, Margaret Divine and others were active in the local GOP club. However, Scotto long since had become an active Democrat; and he was only visiting the Brownstone Republican Club the other night because DA Hynes was there. However, little did Scotto or Hynes or any of the Brownstone Republicans know how precarious and embarrassing this gathering, and any Scotto introductions there, might be for DA Hynes. That is because in 2009 Hynes’ name had been listed on each and every petition sheet gathered by the Brownstone Republican Club and filed in 2009 along with State Committee Member Messineo’s name and Carroll Gardens address. [Also in 2013, immediately before petitioning, all of the same names and addresses were printed and proofread on a full set of petitions that had been delivered to the Brownstone Republican Club].

Why would any of this be embarrassing to Hynes, Scotto and Messeneo ?  Well,  one of DA Hynes’ more questionable and heavily criticized cases as Brooklyn DA involved the long and tortured political prosecution of John Kennedy O’Hara, which went through three trials and countless appeals to make stick. In fact, Hynes’ Democratic challenger Kenneth Thompson specifically mentioned the O’Hara thrice-repeated prosecutions during at least one of their pre-primary debates.

You see, O’Hara like Massineo lives in Sunset Park. O’Hara like Messineo put his name and address on and filed many election petitions. Both O’Hara and  Messineo were registered to vote at their addresses for a long time. What is different is that O’Hara’s alleged landlord, a former girlfriend,  never introduced DA Hynes at the Brownstone Republican Club or any other club, the way that Buddy Scotto did at Brownstone. What is different is that O’Hara didn’t file petitions containing the name of Charles Hynes on them for Brooklyn DA like the Brownstone Club did, in both 2009 and 2013. What is different is that O'Hara is not a key member of the Brownstone Republican Club, whose name and address are on all of the Hynes’ petition sheets gathered by the members of that club in 2009 and on a complete set of petitions delivered to the club at the beginning of petitioning in 2013.  What is different is that Hynes prosecuted O’Hara for being registered and voting out of a so-called “sham address”; and it doesn’t look like Hynes has or intends to do the same in the case of Joseph Messineo, who has and continues to be registered to vote at the Scotto Funeral Home on 1st Place and Court Street in Carroll Gardens.

Now, is all of this an unfortunate confluence or concatenation of otherwise unrelated matters for Hynes, Scotto and Messineo in the 2009 and 2013 campaigns ?   Or is it an ironic twist of fate ?

Announcement and Message From The Brooklyn Young Republican Club

The Brooklyn Young Republican Club President Glenn Nocera and that Club's Board of Directors met with with Mayoral candidate Joe Lhota on Sunday, October 20th.  Among other things, they discussed various issues likely to arise during the upcoming debates  ---  And, the impending deadline for matching fund donations

As part of their PR in the aftermath of that meeting,  The Brooklyn Young Republican Club requested that the following announcement be posted here on The Brooklyn Independent GOP Fountainhead:

"A  Special Message on Behalf of Joe Lhota

The campaign is in high gear as we enter the final two-week stretch of the Mayoral Election. We need your help now more than ever. Joe’s campaign needs to raise an additional $50,000 to keep this ad running.

We cannot allow our city to move backwards. Joe Lhota is the only candidate for Mayor that will keep New York City safe.

Every dollar you contribute does make a difference! The first $175 contributed by a New York City resident will be matched 6:1.

[* Not available on this site]  Click here to make a contribution and keep the momentum for Joe growing in the lead up to Election Day on November 5th. [

To help the campaign achieve its goal, please forward this email to your friends, family, and colleagues.

The last chance for your contribution to be matched requires that the contribution be in hand a Headquarters by this Monday, October 21st at midnight, so please be sure to contribute right away (click here to donate)  – online contributions are received right away.

By supporting Joe, we will give our city the leadership it deserves!

Glenn P. Nocera President
Brooklyn Young Republican Club
Going Strong Since 1880.

P.S.  – If you are a resident of New York City, your contribution of up to $175 ( [* Not available on this site] click here to donate) will be matched 6:1! The deadline for matching funds to count towards the general election is October 21st."
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* Those wishing to donate to the Lhota Campaign please go to the Brooklyn Young Republican Club website: http://www.brooklynyr.com/2013/10/21/a-special-message-on-behalf-of-joe-lhota/

John Quaglione Campaign starts showing some life

Quaglione lawn signs were the early signs of a campaign   —   some Quaglione mail has hit, some phones are doing some live outreach talking about John Quaglione   —   and a even a  Democrat “front group” endorsed the Republican-Conservative Quaglione for City Council over the incumbent Democrat 

Over the last week to ten days, the Quaglione campaign seems to have turned up the heat. The “Q” posters and lawn signs are finally appearing at more and more locations. There is some live phone bank phone activity; and at least two pieces of Q-mail have hit. There has even been a tiny bit of  “earned  media” generated as a result of the endorsement of John Quaglione by the New Era Democrats (See “New Era Democrats Endorse John Quaglione for City Council (D-43)” 10/16/13, Brooklyn News Corp. [[http://www.brooklynews.com/20131016/new-ear-democrats-endorse-john-quaglione-for-city-council/]).

For the longest time it had looked that Quaglione, as a campaigner, was AWOL in everything but remora-like appearances with local elected Republican officials, certain operatives associated with “Republicans for Change,” Conservative Party leaders and a very small band of readily recognizable Republican and Conservative activists. Some even asked if John Quaglione was on a leash of some sort, as a condition of being allowed to run for City Council by his bosses State Senator Martin Golden and  Golden's Chief of Staff, Jerry Kassar, who is also the Conservative Party leader who arranged Quaglione's Conservative Party endorsement.

To be fair, for several months, the Quaglione campaign was made to take a back seat to the ill-fated Marty Golden led effort to get Timothy Cochrane elected to the Brooklyn Republican leadership. When I specifically asked one Republican observer, who has not been directly involved with the candidate or his campaign, about this; that long-time activist said this: “The whole Bay Ridge Republican and Conservative Party establishment needed to be involved 100% behind Quaglione and working on his campaign since the spring. And, Quaglione himself should have reached out to any Republicans that weren’t with the Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights groups associated with his boss Golden. Instead, Quaglione’s campaign has looked like it’s been part of a Golden show that was either pushing Lhota or attacking Eaton. Whatever all of that was, only now has it gotten around to an operation that looks like a Quaglione Campaign.”

Another quarter that I questioned was the other side -- certain Democrats that have been active in recent campaigns in the Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, and the lower end of Bensonhurst and Bath Beach. Their comments were more derisive than truly critical. "We just haven't seen very much more than a flyer about a DA candidate, who is a fine professional who defeated the incumbent in a primary, and an inappropriate picture of fried chicken. If that's the kind of campaign he wants to run...."  As for the New Era Democrats,  "Everybody knows that they are little more than a front group for Golden's crowd."  All in all, this is typical of their general outlook on the entire GOP ticket for 2013.

With Republicans desperate for any good news in 2013, it is now hoped that the Quaglione campaign keeps percolating and really builds into something that might gain some steam, as well as traction, against the incumbent Councilman, Vincent Gentile.

Chairman Eaton and Former Congressman Bob Turner Endorse Republican Candidate Joseph Hayon for 44th City Council District Seat

Endorsements are part of a string of endorsements and other support from key Brooklyn Republicans or Republicans with a keen interest in the Brooklyn GOP and its candidates

Republicans continue to embrace and support Hayon, even though he is the Liaison to the Orthodox Jewish Community for the social conservative Democrat Erick Salgado, who is running against Republican mayoral candidate Joseph Lhota

According to Brooklyn GOP Chairman Eaton, “I’ve known Joseph for a number of years and find him to be a sincere, honest, and loyal individual, dedicated to the needs of the community. Electing Hayon to the New York City Council will improve the quality of services to the constituents of the 44th Council District and will give them a voice in City government....”

Mr. Eaton also indicated that Hayon has been a long-time community activist and a well-known member of the Sephardic Community: and that thanks to Hayon the Brooklyn Republican Party is no stranger in that community and among various other communities of non-Sephardic Frum Jews throughout Brooklyn.

Eaton thought it worthy of special mention that Joseph Hayon was actively involved in the successful races to elect former Congressman Bob Turner and former Senator David Storobin, two of the hallmark accomplishments of Eaton’s term as Kings County Republican Chairman.

Bob Turner was equally effusive on behalf of Joseph Hayon, saying in part, ““I got to know Joseph a number of years ago in my race for the seat in the US House of Representatives.... I won as the Republican challenger against the favorite [ ] Democrat [ ] in a heavily Democrat [ ] district, and Joseph Hayon was there to help me....  [ ] I’m here to endorse his candidacy in acknowledgment of my debt of gratitude....” Furthermore, the former Congressman assured the Hayon Team that the he will make available any political resources available to him to get Joseph elected to the New York City Council.

The extreme political significance of Bob Turner’s  endorsement cannot be overstated, because of Turner’s close personal attachment to the Conservative Party Chairmen Mike Long and Jerry Kassar. Both have endorsed Mr. Hayon’s Democratic Party opponent, and they have given that opponent  the Conservative Party endorsement.

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IT’S OFFICIAL: Lhota Campaign is Road-Kill

When Republican media gurus, pollsters and consultants swoop down like scavenger birds to pick over the guts of a candidate, his campaign and his consultants isn’t the term “road-kill” apropos ?

When a paper like the Daily News, and a reporter with a regular political column, like Celeste Katz, decide that the criticisms and negative opinions of GOP mavens has reached a critical mass (or should that be "critical mess")  —  then there’s nothing left to do, but to avoid stepping in that mess and pointing out to others that it is there

Celeste Katz of the New York Daily News has put it right out there like this: “In a city where Democrats outnumber Republicans 6 to 1, Lhota always faced an uphill battle to become mayor. But the first-time candidate has made the challenge far greater by running a poorly conceived, managed and executed campaign, GOP operatives and elected officials say. ***   ‘It's been a painful campaign to watch,’ veteran Republican strategist Ed Rollins told the Daily News.” ( See “GOP doesn't pull punches about Lhota's campaign” by Celeste Katz, 10/19/13, NY Daily News [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election/lhota-campaign-disaster-gop-article-1.1490647]).

If there is a news item in Celeste Katz’ article, it’s not that the Lhota Campaign was a steamy pile of whatever almost from the get-go, even I’ve been saying that for quite some time right here on this blog.  The news item is that Republican insiders, both national and local, feel free enough “to go on the record” with their slings and arrows, and sticks and stones.  They don’t fear that they’ll be accused of killing the Lhota Campaign, because they know that all the GOP insiders and pros know that it’s been dead for some time now.

Make no mistake about it, even though the title of this lengthy and somewhat detailed article about many of the shortcomings of Joseph Lhota’s campaign is  “GOP doesn't pull punches about Lhota's campaign” —  it is fair to say that  “The Daily News and Celeste Katz don’t pull any punches about it either”....

As I said above, “I’ve been saying [these kinds of things about the Lhota campaign] for quite some time right here on this blog....”  That’s because one of my technical advisors about such things was extensively quoted in the Daily News article by Ms. Katz. I thank him for giving me a similar heads-up about all of this several weeks ago. There are also a couple of Baker Street Irregulars who also deserve thanks for their regular sources of links  —  both of them sent me the link for this article shortly after its Saturday night internet posting by the Daily News.

Russian Local Media Mogul Gregory Davidzon Launches Last-Minute Write-In Campaign for Open City Council Seat

Not only does the last minute candidate, Gregory Davidzon, expect to re-write the book on write-ins, his list of big time Republican and Democrat endorsers shows that the regular party nominees have weak support within their normal, or should that be "nominal" party bases

Maverick Republican-Conservative Party candidate David Storobin has already lost a write-in race once

Reporter Ross Barkan posted the following on the Politicker Blog:   “In a bizarre 11th-hour twist, Russian media mogul Gregory Davidzon has leaped into a heated City Council race in southern Brooklyn. ***  Mr. Davidzon, the owner of a local Russian-language radio station and magazine, announced today that he’ll be mounting a write-in campaign for a highly competitive seat with just three weeks to go before the November election....” ( See “ Local Intrigue  –  Russian Media Mogul Launches Last-Minute Write-In Council Campaign” by Ross Barkan, 10/17/13, NY Observer/ Politicker
[http://politicker.com/2013/10/media-mogul-launches-last-minute-write-in-city-council-campaign/]). That article went on to say that Mr. Davidzon told Politicker he had done an  internal poll and the numbers showed that Davidzon had a good chance to win the election. Others have said, “It’s nothing more than [Gregory Davidzon] doing what he can to prevent [David] Storobin from winning.”

A press release from Mr. Davidzon’s newly kicked-off campaign claims that he has already secured the support of Ari Kagan, a Russian-American who lost the Democratic primary to Mr. Deutsch, and Democratic Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny, among others. The following is the text from the release   —   “Davidzon has already been endorsed by Democratic Assembly Member Alec Brook-Krasny, 46th Assembly Democratic District Leader Mark Davidovich, the Reagan and LaGuardia Republican Clubs, 45th Assembly Republican District Leader Boris Pincus, 45th Assembly Republican District Leader Joan Braunstein, 46th Assembly Republican District Leader Marcus A. Nussbaum, 46th Assembly Republican District Leader Lucretia Regina-Potter, 45th Assembly Democratic District Leader and former City Council candidate Ari Kagan and former Republican Assemblyman Arnaldo A. Ferraro.”

The Republicans listed in the release and interviewed by me neither confirmed nor denied whether they actually had endorsed Gregory Davidzon. “There is a good history with Mr. Davidzon and a not so good history with Mr. Storobin, but perhaps Gregory misinterpreted a non-specific  promise of support as an endorsement.” On a closely related point, the same GOP leaders stated that David Storobin neither asked for nor reasonably could expect any endorsement from them.

In another article posted on the Politicker blog, Ross Barkan wrote that “Mr. Storobin–clearly not a fan of Mr. Davidzon, who strongly backed his opponent in a State Senate race last year[ ] argued that Mr. Davidzon is uniquely unpopular in the district’s Russian-speaking community. ***  “Davidzon has almost the highest negatives of any person in the Russian community, by far the highest negatives,” Mr. Storobin insisted. “He had to get off his own radio station for a while because people were cursing him out. He’s flat-out hated by the large majority of people....” (See “Betting Man  –  Storobin Bets Davidzon Will Get Less Than 100 Votes” by Ross Barkan, 10/18/13,  NY Observer/ Politicker NY [http://politicker.com/2013/10/storobin-bets-davidzon-will-get-less-than-100-votes/]).

Democratic Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny and district leader Ari Kagan, who narrowly lost last month’s primary for the seat, both snubbed [their] party’s nominee, Chaim Deutsch, by endorsing Gregory Davidzon.... Mr. Davidzon does not identify with any party....  Also running for the seat ...[is] Working Families Party candidate Igor Oberman.... {Democratic County Leader Frank] Seddio expressed disappointment but said he understood why the Democratic pols would back Mr. Davidzon, a self-professed political kingmaker in the Russian community. Mr. Seddio compared the race to the Brooklyn district attorney contest, in which incumbent Joe Hynes is continuing to campaign despite losing the primary....” (See “Political Partying (ing)  –    Democratic Chair Baffled by Party Disunity in Southern Brooklyn” by Ross Barkan 10/18/13, NY Observer/ Politicker [http://politicker.com/2013/10/democratic-chair-baffled-by-party-disunity-in-southern-brooklyn/ ]).

Republican candidate David Storobin is no neophyte when it comes to write-in campaigns; he has been victimized by a write-in campaign in the past. In 2012, David Storobin was an incumbent state senator with his name on the Conservative Party line and the Conservative Party’s formal endorsement for re-election when, he lost an “Opportunity to Ballot” (OTB) write-in primary, which caused him to lose the Conservative Party line for the November 2012 General Election. He then lost the General Election to Simcha Felder who had won both the write-in primary and the general election to became the State Senator instead of Storobin.

New York Supreme Court Justice David Schmidt Kicks State Senator Martin Golden’s Can — Or Is That Case of Cans — All The Way Into Next Year

[ Edited 10/19/13 @ 5:34PM  EDT]

Major set-back in lawsuit brought by Marty Golden’s handpicked “Republicans for Change” Plaintiff-Petitioners didn’t impress the Court enough to merit “Emergency” or “Expedited” relief against the re-elected GOP County Leader and the rest of the Republican leadership team; Defendants-Respondents told to move for dismissal on proper papers - due in two weeks; and the Court will probably need to see lots more from Plaintiffs-Petitioners, if the case goes forward after the dismissal motion

Earlier today in Brooklyn Supreme Court, Larry Mandelker, Esq., attorney for Craig Eaton and the rest of the named Defendants-Respondents raised enough issues about the procedural adequacy of the Rudiano v. Eaton  case that the Court gave everybody until the afternoon of January 21, 2014 to get their act together, but told the Defendants-Respondents to make any motion to dismiss within two weeks. For various procedural and substantive reasons, the court gave the very long adjournment without giving the Golden faction any immediate relief against Eaton and company.

In a major set-back for Marty Golden’s “Republicans for Change,” the lengthy  —  over three month  —   adjournment in the  “Election Matter” on an “Order to Show Cause” is largely indicative that the selected plaintiff-petitioners have not shown the need for immediate relief; and they will not ultimately prevail because of procedural and substantive shortcomings in their case.

Evangelical Latino Clergy Endorse Erick Salgado's Bid for Mayor on School Choice Party Line

Large Gathering of Clergy Denounce many of Bill de Blasio's Policies as Inconsistent with their Values

REPUBLICAN CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE URGES REPUBLICANS AND CONSERVATIVES TO ABANDON LHOTA AND TO VOTE FOR ERICK SALGADO ON THE SCHOOL CHOICE PARTY LINE

Joseph Hayon wants Republicans and Conservative Party members to know that yesterday’s announcement by clergymen representing about 500 Evangelical Latino congregations is a reminder that there is a candidate running for mayor who does share the FAMILY VALUES of social conservatives in the Republican and Conservative Parties

According to a Press Release passed on to this blog by GOP City Council Candidate Joseph Hayon:  “Evangelical Latino bishops and pastors representing over 500 New York City churches and the spiritual leaders of tens of thousands of New Yorkers rallied to show their support for Erick Salgado's bid for mayor on the School Choice Party line, Thursday morning on the steps of the Bronx Courthouse. ***  “We are here today to not only endorse Erick Salgado for mayor, but to reaffirm our belief in traditional family values and the importance of government not getting involved in religion. Endorsing Erick Salgado confirms our commitment to everything we as religious leaders hold dear because he is the only candidate who not only shares these beliefs, but leads his life guided by them,” Bishop Hector Bonano, President of Conlico, an organization of the bishops of New York City's 17 largest Spanish Evangelical councils, said....”

Joseph Hayon, the Brooklyn Republican Party Candidate for City Council in Borough Park, Kensington and some surrounding areas called up this blog and told me that yesterday’s announcement by the clergymen, who represent about 500 Evangelical Latino congregations, is a reminder that there is a candidate running for mayor who does share the family values of social conservatives throughout Brooklyn and the rest of New York City. That candidate is Erick Salgado, who Mr. Hayon has supported ever since stepping down as President of the Brooklyn Tea Party specifically to help on the Salgado Campaign.

Joseph Hayon is also urging all his fellow Republicans, who care about family values and proper concern for social conservative issues, to abandon Joe Lhota, a liberal Republican, and the Republican and Conservative Parties’ candidate for mayor, and to support Erick Salgado’s run for Mayor of New York City on the School Choice Party line.

Stop-off at the Hynes Bay Ridge Storefront

More that a recon operation for the local GOP  —   More than a research trip for this blog  —  Visit to Hynes' political storefront "operation"  was a trip down Memory Lane 

A  couple of nights back a local Republican District Leader asked me to look in on the Hynes for DA storefront on 3rd Avenue in Bay Ridge to see how it was functioning as a “GOP Headquarters for the GOP candidate for DA”  —   Charles “Joe” Hynes.

I went in there at about 3:30 this afternoon and found some things that I expected to find, but also quite a few things that I didn’t expect. About a week ago I’d read a blog posting about the opening of  Hynes’s headquarters in and for Bay Ridge ( See ““Hynes Campaign Opens 3rd Avenue Storefront” by Kip, 10/12/13,  Bay Ridge Journal
[http://bayridgejournal.blogspot.com/2013/10/hynes-campaign-opens-3rd-avenue.html]). What I pretty much saw earlier today was not very different from what Kip described a little more than a week ago, and the picture that accompanied that article  —   a “Hynes... storefront” near the corner of 84th Street and 3rd Avenue in Bay Ridge.

The large pro-Hynes sign and the poster-covered front window were exactly as depicted, and there were folding tables near the door.  However, whereas Kip said the tables “were covered with neat piles of campaign literature, and the new storefront was staffed by a couple of older blonde women”;  when I walked in this afternoon. the blonde women were gone and in their place were a couple of guys, and the neatly arranged tables were hardly covered by anything. In fact, when I first asked for literature one of the men said they didn’t have any.

After explaining that I was there from the local Republican Party, and that I also planned to do this blog posting about the campaign headquarters, both men loosened up and tried to do whatever they could to help. They let me look around the storefront, which still had some of the wall fixtures of the women’s beauty shop that had been there before it was a political office.

When I observed out loud that there really wasn’t very much there  —  no computers, no phones, and not very much in the way of political material  —  one of them gestured and said, “All we have is this.”  With that he gestured around to bunches of posters on sticks, some other posters without sticks and some very small stacks of palm cards and 8x11 paper handbills. When I asked if there were going to be any events at that location, both men said they didn’t know anything about what was planned or how the storefront fit into Hynes' campaign strategy.

One of the things that one of the men said impressed me as being very strange. “We really don’t want to mention the whole ‘Republican Thing’ very much... because Lhota is killing us... ”  Just as I was pointing out that the handbill specifically mentioned "looking for Hynes on the Republican line," the other man jumped in and asked the first one to try to understand where I was coming from, and why I was interested in the “Republican Thing” regardless of how Lhota was doing.  Then the first guy talked about knowing Eaton, and Phyllis Carbo and Russell Gallo; and the other talked about Ayn Rand and several of her books. After about twenty minutes, we all said, "Best of luck !"  And I left.

What struck me about the whole thing, more than anything else, was how nostalgic it all was. If only there were a few campaign buttons and bumper stickers, it would have looked like something out of the 1960s  —   in  particular, it reminded me of  a Barry Goldwater storefront on the west side of Fifth Avenue, a store or two in from 77th Street.

THE GOP CONGRESSIONAL CAVE-IN IS COMPLETE — PART ONE

A horrible bargain is reached by a craven and venal bunch of Republican “Leaders”  —  who would rather blame the Senator Ted Cruz and the Tea Party,  than to dig-in and fight-off Obama, Reid and the Democrats

In addition to all the things that the GOP maneuvering didn't get like defunding, or other limitations and restrictions on Obamacare, as part of the GOP "Government shut-down" and "Debt ceiling" fiasco  —  The Interim Budget Deal blows up “mandated” sequester spending caps, adding almost Twenty Billion Dollars ( $20,000,000,000 ) of red ink between now and the next C.R.  and/or debt ceiling deal(s)  —  Try getting that back in the rounds of “talks” that are also part of the deal 

According to the Daily Caller, “Announcing the budget deal he reached with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday he was thankful Republicans were at least able to keep in place the automatic spending cuts that went into effect across government agencies earlier this year. ***  “That’s been a top priority for me and my Republican colleagues throughout this debate,” the Senate Minority Leader said on the floor of the Senate, referencing what’s known as the sequester. “And it’s been worth the effort.” ***  But while the deal freezes in place current spending numbers, the budget deal actually blows through the sequester spending caps that were supposed to go into effect on Oct. 1 — by nearly $20 billion....” ( See “Budget deal BLOWS THROUGH the mandated sequester spending caps” by Alex Pappas, 10/16/13, Daily Caller [http://dailycaller.com/2013/10/16/budget-deal-blows-through-the-mandated-sequester-spending-caps/]).

The Budget Control Act of 2011 mandated automatic spending cuts across the government, requiring a discretionary budget in fiscal year 2013 of $986 billion. On October 1, 2013 sequester cuts were supposed to rein-in the discretionary budget to $967 billion for fiscal year 2014. However,  the spending cap in the just passed McConnell-Reid deal for the next three months is frozen temporarily at $986 billion   —   that is more than  $19 billion higher  than the government was  supposed to be able to spend in fiscal year 2014.

People like Senator Mitch McConnell ( R- Ky) don’t even flinch when they lie to us. When they get caught in the lie, McConnell and his defenders quickly point out that this deal stopped Democrats from killing these automatic spending cuts completely. Without the GOP opposition, President Barack Obama and Harry Reid would have ignored the sequester limits and increased the interim budget to $1.058 trillion.

Is Jerry Kassar and the Conservative Party trying to Elect Joe Lhota or Bury him ?

Certainly, the fact that “...conservative activists gathered in Brooklyn gave [Lhota] rave reviews...” is not a message that is likely to win Joseph Lhota very many Democrats’ or Independents’ votes city-wide

“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears....”  —   Brooklyn’s Conservative Party Chairman Jerry Kassar might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but he just might be everybody’s Brutus and Marc Antony rolled into one  —   but do Kassar's orations do anybody any good, other than to see to it that they get buried

Brooklyn Republicans have long known that Kassar has been for a very long time the master of a certain kind of politics   —   The worse things are for the Republicans, so much the better for the Conservative Party 

Is there any kind of explanation for what looked like a “Joe Lhota puff piece” in the Politicker blog, but really was the Kings County Conservative Party in party-hardy mode ? (See “Brooklyn Conservatives Impressed by Lhota’s Debate Performance”
by Ross Barkan, 10/16/13, NY Observer/ Politicker [http://politicker.com/2013/10/brooklyn-conservatives-impressed-by-lhotas-debate-performance/]). Just what are Jerry Kassar, Ross Brady, Fran Vella-Marone so openly celebrating that it was news in a city-wide blog ?  Certainly, the fact that “...conservative activists gathered in Brooklyn gave [Lhota] rave reviews...” is not a message that is likely to win Joseph Lhota very many votes city-wide. So what are these very disciplined and narrowly targeted partisans up to ?

In a passing comparison, the author of the Politicker piece that focused on Lhota’s Conservative Party supporters, Ross Barkan, also mentioned the main stream media’s predominant view of the debate via a link to a NY Times article (See “De Blasio, Attacking Lhota, Dominates in Their First Debate” by Michael Barbaro and Michael M. Grynbaum, 10/15/13, NY Times [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/16/nyregion/de-blasio-and-lhota-trade-barbs-in-first-televised-debate.html?ref=nyregion&_r=2&]).  Contrary to the Conservative Party-centric views expressed by Kings County Conservative Party Executives, Jerry Kassar and Ross Brady, the Times reported that, “Bill de Blasio, not content to rest on a lopsided lead in the race for New York City mayor, relentlessly pounded his rival Joseph J. Lhota in their first televised debate on Tuesday, repeatedly linking him to what he called an obstructionist national Republican Party and the divisive mayoralty of Rudolph W. Giuliani.”

By way of stark contrast, Ross Barkan reported that:  “As Bill de Blasio, the Democratic front-runner in the race, repeatedly pounded away at his wonkier opponent, the Republican and Conservative Party members gathered at Frank’s Pizzeria [in Dyker Heights]  felt... emboldened. ***  In their [own] estimation, Mr. Lhota won the night....”  Barkan’s observations continued along that line — “...Equally upbeat and anxious, they watched... hoping the Republican’s right-leaning platform would bleed through....  When Mr. Lhota vigorously defended charter schools, the crowd broke into cheers....”

The evening’s most benighted moment came when “...the otherwise genial bunch later cheered and clapped when Mr. de Blasio, trying to deal a knock-out blow to Mr. Lhota, accurately stated that Mr. Lhota had sought the endorsement of the Conservative Party–a badge of honor for the party members watching.”  They didn’t seem to care that Candidate deBlasio’s remark not only didn’t get Lhota one single new vote, it was a devastating blow that probably turned thousands of votes away from Lhota   —   possibly with a few moving toward the Conservative line, as against thousands completely lost from the Republican or Conservative line.

The fact that Barkan even was there covering the Conservatives and a hand full of Marty Golden Republicans is proof enough that those activists were only interested in some kind of  self-aggrandizement.  Why else would these Conservative and Republican types be so up front with their “Look at me ! Look at me !” moment ?  It certainly did nothing good for Lhota’s city-wide effort that desperately needs Democrats and Independents as cross-overs.

Is Congressman Michael Grimm embroiled in another scandal ? This one looks something like what sunk Congressman Vito Fossella...

Yes, they say there was quite a time at a bar (this time in Bay Ridge)  —  Yes, they say there was wine involved  —  and yes, there was an unnamed young woman (if you want more than that, read the articles yourself)  —   Oh, and yes, they say it happened the night before the government shutdown

The story was first reported in a local magazine (See “Did a Congressman Have Sex in a Brooklyn Bar Bathroom?” by Henry Stewart, 10/15/13, Brooklyn Magazine                          [http://www.bkmag.com/2013/10/15/did-a-congressman-have-sex-in-a-brooklyn-bar-bathroom/]). However, it has quickly been picked up by another broader media outlet that has done a bit of a rewrite or retelling of the original (See “Michael Grimm Sex Scandal? Republican Congressman From New York Slapped Woman's Butt, Spent 15 Minutes With Her In Brooklyn Bar Bathroom, Witness Claims” by Howard Koplowitz, 10/15/13, International Business Times [http://www.ibtimes.com/michael-grimm-sex-scandal-republican-congressman-new-york-slapped-womans-butt-spent-15-minutes-her]).

It’s all very gossipy.  As far as it’s been reported so far, except for the date, Friday, September 27th, it seems a little tread-bare on some key details of date, time and place —  like, which bar in Bay Ridge and at what time.

And of course, Congressman Grimm is not a family man, he’s a bachelor  —  so it’s not on it’s face a huge scandal, although the story is a bit down and dirty.  So, even as it stands, this isn’t a little deal; and maybe it is a big deal  —  just like Fossella's.

The Lhota Campaign — New Horizons in Disappointment — Daily News says there is Nobody who would be recognizable as a Democrat for Lhota

Lhota’s Ads and some of his Speeches are Out-of-Sinc with his Campaign on the Ground

Daily News/Daily Politics buries lead that Conservative Party Line is Killing Lhota

A few days ago, according to Celeste Katz, the folks inside the Lhota campaign struck-out trying to line up any Democrats with star or near-star quality to lead a “Democrats for Lhota” effort.  And I quote the Katz article, as follows: “After receiving several promises of support from Democrats when he won the Republican nomination, the Lhota campaign can't find a prominent Democrat willing to lead the outreach effort for a Democrats for Lhota drive....”  (See “Democrats who pledged to back Lhota are no-shows as he trails de Blasio” by Celeste Katz, 10/13/13, Daily News/ Daily Politics [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election/early-promises-support-dems-no-show-lhota-article-1.1483780#commentpostform]); or to put it another way, “...[W]ith polls showing de Blasio up by more than 40 points, no A-list Democrat is willing to be the visible leader of a vigorous pro-Lhota movement....”

Furthermore, according to Ms. Katz, “Lhota has sought to cast himself as a moderate ‘New York Republican’ who splits from the national party on many hot-button social issues, and he has repeatedly castigated Republicans in Washington for their role in shutting down the federal government.”  And while his TV ads proclaim how much he is like deBlasio, and he has avatars of progressive Democrats proclaiming that “He’s one of us...”; Lhota cannot match any of that in his street campaign or even at his campaign headquarters.

Lastly, Celeste Katz finally got around to pointing out what so far has been the unspoken truth about the Lhota campaign. That truth is that Lhota is just like the lead character in the movie "D.O.A."  —  he has obviously taken poison; and he is running around not knowing what happened to him and why. And, at long last, the unspoken has been spoken in the press  —  that Lhota had taken a poison pill  —  right at the beginning by taking the Conservative Party endorsement.

Here’s what Celeste Katz had to say about that. It is on the very last line of her article about Lhota’s vain attempts at getting the support of any key Democrats: “Lhota is also carrying the Conservative Party line — which could turn off some of the very same Democratic voters he needs to attract.”  That line should have been writ large and at the top of the story, because Lhota desperately needs those Democrats to win.

Instead, Katz is guilty of  burying what should have been the lead of an article that could have been about the defining reason why the Lhota campaign has had no traction, not only with all the key Democrats, but with almost all Democrats of any description and most independents, as well.

DA Hynes’ Polling Shows that He’s On Track to Lead Brooklyn GOP-Conservative Ticket

Released Internal Polling Data Indicates Hynes Can Win By Emphasizing that Ken Thompson Has a Connection to Clarence Norman

According to Carl Campanile reporting in the New York Post,  “Veteran Brooklyn DA Charles “Joe” Hynes claims he’s found the magic ingredient to win his uphill battle for re-election: by linking opponent Ken Thompson to corrupt ex-Democratic boss Clarence Norman... [W]hen no party affiliation is mentioned, the survey shows Hynes leading Thompson, 41 percent to 37 percent, with 22 percent undecided. ***  And “when voters are further informed that Thompson’s campaign is supported by Clarence Norman, a corrupt political boss who went to prison, Hynes takes a commanding lead, 44 percent to 29 percent, with 27 percent undecided,” said Paul Swibinski, of Vision Media Political, the Hynes campaign’s pollster...” (See “Hynes’ weapon: opponent’s ‘corruption ties’” by Carl Campanile, 10/13/13, NY Post [http://nypost.com/2013/10/13/hynes-weapon-opponents-corruption-ties/]).

Internal polls are often criticized because of  modeling the poll and sampling the population so as to maximize the percentages of the contracting candidate. Nonetheless, numbers like those produced by the Hynes campaign show that if certain targeted groups turn out on election day up to the expectations of the Hynes’ Campaign’s pollsters and the campaign can effectively communicate on the issue of “corruption” associated with the Ken Thompson campaign, then DA Hynes can win re-election. It’s all encapsulated in the words of a high insider in the Hynes campaign quoted in the Post article, cited above as follows:  “Hynes campaign director Chapin Fay [said], ‘This poll is good news. This is a path to victory. Corruption is a real issue’.”

Another thing that these numbers indicate is that, even if the Hynes campaign does not attain its goals in messaging or delivering its ideal voter population to the polls on Election Day, it is still likely to far outstrip the rest of the GOP-Conservative Party ticket in Brooklyn, both in its base like Bay Ridge and Marine Park, but also in almost all of the neighborhoods in the rest of Brooklyn as well.

Almost a Quarter Century Later, Is a Cuomo & Long Conspiracy To Annihilate The Republican Party Rearing Its Ugly Head, Again In 2014

For a very long time, the relationship between the Republican Party and the New York State Conservative Party, together with its local affiliate the Kings County Conservative Party has been an abusive one

Does Carl Paladino’s remark about “...making a move to upset the apple cart...” show that the love-hate relationship between the Republican Party and the New York State Conservative Party has reached the point of “Life and Death”  —  “It’s Us or Them” ?

There was an interesting item that came through my window wrapped around a brick last night. According to Jimmy Vielkind, this is what Carl Paladino said about the 2014 race for governor after talking to Mike Long at a recent Conservative party event: “At this point, I think everybody's just focused on this current election. Maybe shortly after that there will be some focus put on the type of person we would want [for Governor of New York]. Let's see who's making a move to upset the apple cart after Election Day.” (See  “Paladino on the possibility of a Conservative disruption for governor” by Jimmy Vielkind, 10/11/13, This Is How New York Works Capital  [http://capitalnewyork.com/article/politics/2013/10/8534565/paladino-possibility-conservative-disruption-governor]). In case people don’t have a sense of history about all of this, Jimmy Vielkind pointed out that “Conservatives still cite 1990 as a rallying cry, when Herb London nearly squeaked past anemic Republican nominee Pierre Rinfret.”

Make no mistake about it  --  in 1990 while the GOP and the Conservatives had an enlarged hissy fit over the pecking order on the lines lower than Row "A" --  the direct beneficiary was Mario Cuomo. After that confrontation, the Conservatives have had the upper hand in their attempts to manipulate the NYS GOP. In 1994, Mike Long and the Conservatives tried to force George Marlin on the GOP as its candidate for NYS Comptroller. After a bitter convention fight, Herb London was settled upon as the compromise candidate for Comptroller on both the GOP and Conservative lines. Interestingly, as Republican Candidate for Governor George Pataki closed in on Governor Mario Cuomo, Herb London, Mike Long's former hand-picked candidate in 1990 and his compromise candidate in 1994, switched his endorsement from Pataki to Cuomo. People are still asking what that was all about. Regardless of what else might result form any of this, without a doubt this Mike Long -- Carl Paladino gambit will directly benefit Mario Cuomo's son Andrew in 2014. And people need to ask what this is really all about.

So let's do a quick review, okay !

About a month ago, a couple of guys had started talking about something kinda funky, but not a lot of people paid much attention. I wrote about it then on this blog, and it got little more than a yawn (sure it hurt a little, but a month has passed and I’ve gotten over it), now that Mike Long is also doing some of his 2014 congressional endorsements early to smack around certain Long Island  Republicans and Conservatives, maybe people will start to pay some more attention to some of the other things that he is trying to pull on the GOP.

Back in September around primary day, according to a guy named Ken Hall, Mike Long and the New York State Conservatives might have been up to a little more than shooting off their shared mouth when Long brought up Carl Paladino. You see, there should have been more of a buzz caused by a report that Mike Long, Der Uberfuehrer of the New York State Conservative Party, has mentioned running Carl Paladino on the Conservative Line if the Republicans don’t run somebody acceptable to Long. Well, add to that Mr. Hall’s buying into the notion that  “If Paladino runs as a Conservative while Republicans back another in their long line of nondescript candidates, the second most popular party in New York might no longer be the GOP [ instead it will be Long’s Conservatives]” and you are halfway home to Hall’s conclusion, which is succinctly expressed in the title to his mini-opus (See “Ken Hall: Conservatives could shift NY GOP left” by Ken Hall, [9/12/13]., TimesHerald [http://m.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130912/NEWS/309120335&templat]). Unfortunately, the rest of Hall’s article was about as succinct as one of my longer efforts on this blog. By the time I was done reading it, it felt like had rubbed my eyes with a Hall’s Mentholyptus (don’t do it, you won’t like it) instead of reading a Hall’s opinion item about Mike Long and Carl Paladino. Which probably explains why it didn’t get much of an echo since then.

Hall’s piece in the Times Herald was published in response to an article by Kenneth Lovett in the NY Daily News, which was the earlier iteration of Long’s deadly threat (or was it just blather?) about Paladino and the Republicans choice for governor in 2014 ( See “Conservative Party open to 'Crazy Carl' Paladino running for governor in 2014” by Kenneth Lovett, 9/9/13, NY Daily News [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/conservative-party-open-paladino-running-govenor-article-1.1449465]). Once you’ve read the Hall and Lovett treatments of the material, give a quick glance back at my gem-like nugget sub-titled  “Massive Conservative Party threat to the GOP: ‘THE CONSERVATIVE  PARTY COMEBACK OF “CRAZY CARL PALADINO”'  —   AS THREATENED BY MIKE LONG EDITION’ ” ( See my  9/9/13 post  “Anybody voting in the Brooklyn Republican Party Primary...” below on this blog).