2014 Brooklyn GOP Election Roundup — The NYS Assembly Races Edition

For most of us Brooklyn GOPers, this isn’t our first election rodeo   —   But, for many of us, it might be our last roundup  —   Here’s one of the reasons why  —   The quantity and quality of the 2014 GOP County-wide Assembly slate...

Things aren’t yet as bad as they seem to be in Queens, where the GOP is running their Assembly slate boiler as stone cold iron with not even a warm cinder in the pit  —  But don't be smug, Brooklyn is getting close to that too...

Other than the Assembly Member shared with Staten Island, Nicole Malliotakis, the Brooklyn GOP doesn’t seem to have a single Assembly Candidate running in 2014 with any real shot at winning a seat in the Assembly

It was very difficult for me to even get the simplest information on some of these Assembly races. Most of the candidates had no websites, and the local press gave them little or no coverage whatsoever.

2014 Brooklyn Republican Assembly Candidates and some of their Democrat Opponents

In the 42nd Assembly District, Republican Matthew G. Williams is running against Democrat Rodneyse Bichotte.  This Republican candidate stands no chance, because the chances of any real campaign were undermined by the Brooklyn Conservative Party’s running its own candidate in this district.

In the 44th Assembly District, long time liberal Democrat James Brennan is being challenged by a Republican-Conservative candidate Mikhail [Mike] Yusupov. Maybe Mr. MY can get some votes in a part of the 44th where he might have some ethnic or religious appeal, against a long-term incumbent Jim Brennan, who is strong in most of the areas surrounding Prospect Park.

The 45th Assembly District features Steven Cymbrowitz, the incumbent Democrat, again being challenged in the general election by Ben Akselrod, a Democrat that ran against Cymbrowitz in the Primary. This time Mr. Akselrod is running as the GOP candidate because he won an OTB write-in primary for the REpublican line, being designated by the GOP voters to be their candidate. Although Akselrod is not receiving much support from the Brooklyn GOP Organization and is being hurt by a nominal Conservative on the ballot, he obviously has some Republican activists like social conservative Joseph Hayon working for him. His total Republican effort now includes the endorsement from former GOP Congressman Ted Turner, who represented a large part of the current 45th AD.

In the 46th AD, the Republican-Conservative candidate Stamatis Lilikakis came out of the GOP primary with much fanfare. That was heightened to some extent when Lilikakis picked up the endorsement of the LaGuardia Republican Club and its leadership. Nonetheless, it looks like another long-time Democrat incumbent, Alec Brook-Krasny, will cruise to another easy victory, since his power base in Coney Island and Brighton Beach outvotes any of the Republicans in Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights. Lilakakis  has received the endorsement of former State Senator David Storobin – who claims to have received a majority of the vote in the portion of a City Council District that overlaps with the 46th AD, let’s see how Lilikakis does in those EDs.

The 47th AD pits Republican-Conservative Joseph Baranello against the venerable William Colton.  There might be some GOP action in this race, because the 47th AD is one of the few districts with an active GOP organization in place.

The 48th AD is  vverrr-dy-indtherreztigg.  It’s not easy to tell who is wearing what hat(s) in this district, they all look so much alike. Nachman Caller is the nominal Republican and Dov Hikind is the Democrat-Conservative. Even though Caller is the GOP State Committeeman in the 48th AD, one would have to look long and hard to find anything “Republican” about his leadership. Nachman Caller was recently called out for trying to push some swag endorsements from Rabbis that later said they didn’t endorse him ( See “Caller Campaign Desperately Resorting to Lies” by Josh Fallik, 10/29/14, Community Voice NY [http://communityvoiceny.com/caller-campaign-desperately-resorting-to-lies/]).  Like I said, “Vverrr-dy-indtherreztigg !”

The new 49th AD looks like this: two round-eyes, Peter J. Abbate Jr. is running against Henry Lallave, in this Brooklyn Assembly District designed to be a Dim Sum for a certain growing community.  End this Open-Door Colonialism ASAP  —   Evan a Chi-Com could win in this district if he or she ran; the GOP should run a “Boxer Rebel” for crying out loud !  Henry Lallave... is that the future of the GOP in this district ?

There’s something new going on in the 50th AD.  A relatively young and new to Brooklyn GOP candidate, like Bill Davidson, is taking on an old warhorse Democrat, like Joe Lentol. Davidson’s small but feisty campaign might make a few waves on Election Day, let’s wait and see.

In the 52nd AD, John A. Jasilli, a lawyer, who has run as a GOP candidate for Brooklyn DA and Borough President in bygone days, is trying his hand at taking on Jo Anne Simon in a locked-in progressive Democrat Assembly District with an open seat. The wild card in this race could be Pete Sikora, who lost to Simon in the Democrat Primary but is still in the race on the Working Families line.

In the 54th AD,  Khorshed A. Chowdhury is on the GOP line against Democrat Eric Martin Dilan, the son of State Senator Martin Malave Dilan.   According to a report in DNAinfo.com,  Board of Elections campaign finance disclosures showed that Chowdhury has an “inactive” campaign ( See “Williamsburg State Senator Defeats Progressive Challenger in Primary” by Serena Dai 9/10/14, DNAinfo.com [http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20140910/williamsburg/williamsburg-state-senator-defeats-progressive-challenger-primary]). We all know how that works.

To Berneda Jackson and  Gamsey Lee Alston, running in the 55th and 56th ADs respectively:  good luck, hold out as long as you can  —   help is very likely NOT on the way.

Jeff Ferretti is running his own little campaign in the 59th AD against Democrat Roxanne Persaud.  —   Jeffrey Ferretti is in his first run for public office –  Assemblyman – on both the Republican and Conservative lines in the 59th AD in Brooklyn.  Mr Ferretti has been a small businessman and entrepreneur, as the principal of National Brokerage for past 35 years. Some say that Ferretti is a natural for the position of Member of the Assembly from Brooklyn – 59.   —   Thanks for the effort, Jeff.  There still should be a decent GOP vote in this district; let's see if it comes out for Mr. Ferretti.

And, then there is Leroy Bates, the GOP candidate in the 60th AD against Charles Barron the Democrat  —  at least the Bates folks filled the GOP line in a district that very much needed a Republican opponent to the incumbent Democrat bomb-thrower Mr. Barron.

In the 64th AD Democrat Mary Beth Melendez is in an uphill fight against the only GOP incumbent Member of the Assembly with any connection to Brooklyn, Nicole Malliotakis. With the trends and winds of the 2014 campaign season, it doesn’t look like Nicole will not have a tough time this time.

No repeat of 2010 results are expected in 2014 Assembly races

All in all, with national trends favoring the GOP, the local disorganization caused by a certain Republican-Conservative State Senator in Brooklyn, along with his supporters and paid staff, has completely paralyzed the Republican Party in Kings County.  Instead of a repeat of the 2010 experience when there were similar national trends, the Brooklyn GOP will be lucky to match the lower numbers obtained by their Assembly candidates in 2012. Nonetheless, several of this year’s Assembly candidates were affiliated with the Golden oriented “Republicans for Change” in 2013  —   it will be interesting to see how they do compared to all the rest on Election Day 2014.