Political newcomer, Democrat Pamela Harris, hands one of the "Old Hands" of the Brooklyn GOP a humiliating loss
IN A SPECIAL ELECTION THAT HAD BEEN TOUTED TO BE "COMPETITIVE" --- LUCRETIA REGINA-POTTER APPEARS TO BE HEADED TO ONE OF THE WORST DEFEATS EVER BY A REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE IN THE 46TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT Neither repeat mailings targeted at GOP households, repeated robo-calls by the candidate, nor "unofficial" dog whistle letters from un-named "neighbors" made any difference in a "Special Election" with clear racial overtones The Democratic Party's decision to select a "black woman" to represent a majority "white district" in the New York State Assembly had been seen as an excellent "opportunity" for the new Kings County Republican leadership team to have an unexpected "win" in the home area of the newly elected KCRP Chairman, Dr. Arnaldo Ferraro, and the newly selected KCRP Secretary, Lucretia Regina-Potter [ in addition to being part of the new Brooklyn GOP leadership team, Candidate Potter had also been the long-time GOP district leader in the 46th AD and it's predecessor district].
The GOP in Southwest Brooklyn is expected to undergo at least a year of recrimination over this race, back-and-forth, which is likely to continue well into the 2016 election cycle
At midnight on Election Night, the result, as posted on the NYC BOE, is as follows:
".... Member of the Assembly 46th Assembly District
Name
Party
Votes
Percentage
1
PAMELA HARRIS
Democratic
4078
58.45 %
2
LUCRETIA REGINA-POTTER
Republican
1898
27.20 %
3
LUCRETIA REGINA-POTTER
Conservative
530
7.60 %
4
PAMELA HARRIS
Working Families
286
4.10 %
5
LUCRETIA REGINA-POTTER
Independence
111
1.59 %
6
LUCRETIA REGINA-POTTER
People's Choice
34
0.49 %
7
WRITE-IN
40
0.57 %
6977
Totals by Candidate
1
PAMELA HARRIS
4364
62.55 %
2
LUCRETIA REGINA-POTTER
2573
36.88 %
3
WRITE-IN
40
0.57 %
6977
Percentage of Scanners Reported: BOARD OF ELECTIONS IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK -- General 2015 --UNOFFICIAL ELECTION NIGHT RESULTS
Wow! Worse then I thought it would be. Lucretia must have even lost the Bay Ridge/ Dyker parts for her to be beaten by such a large percentage. I think Lilitakis did better last year. How could this be, she worked very hard. She was even at St Bernadette's my Church campaigning.
Only a few years ago, an almost united Brooklyn Republican Party was winning special elections in districts just like the 46th AD.
Back then, the only GOP officials not closely united with the rest of the Brooklyn Republican Party leadership were the LaGuardia Club's leaders, Lucretia Potter and Fred Martorell, along with club Founder and President, Arnaldo Ferraro. They held out against the Eaton-Golden leadership team and eventually took over control of the whole party in Brooklyn, when Golden and Eaton had their break-up.
But what did Ferraro and Potter accomplish? Now that they're in control, they can't unite the Republican Party behind then so they can even get close in a special election in their own backyard.
Just compare these election results in the 46th AD from 2006-2014: 2006 — ALEC BROOK-KRASNY (D), against Patricia B. Laudano (R), DEMOCRAT Won 11,129 votes to 4738 votes (70.1%- 29.9%); 2008 — ALEC BROOK-KRASNY (D), against Robert Capano (R), DEMOCRAT Won 19,293, votes to 8,250 (70.05%-29.95%); 2010 — No Republican Candidate; 2012 — ALEC BROOK-KRASNY (D), against Thomas A. McCarthy (R), DEMOCRAT Won 16,016 votes to 9,680 votes (61.3%- 37% {Green Party Candidate received 440 votes for 1.7%); 2014 — ALEC BROOK-KRASNY (D), against Stamatis Lilikakis (R), DEMOCRAT Won 9,001 votes to 6,420 votes (58.4%- 41.6%).
Lucretia is obnoxious and this isn't much of a surprise. She will primary any Republican who tries to run next year. Maybe it is the end of the line for Republicans in the 46th. But we'll never really know while Lucretia is in charge because she is such a polarizing figure in the Party.
The only comparisons that work due to reapportionment are 2012 and 2014. The district became significantly better for Republicans in those years. And of course it was an open seat. Lucretia did very poorly.
WHEN SOMETHING THIS BIG HAPPENS, THERE IS NO POINT IN MAKING ANY "EXCUSES" --- BESIDES, WHO'S IN ANY POSITION TO EXCUSE IT, OR EVEN ANY PART OF IT
I do have a few early but interesting observations --- State Senator Martin Golden and Jerry Kassar favorite, City Councilman David Greenfield, was mentioned as one of the elected officials present at Pamela Harris' victory celebration on Election Night.
Conservative Party Chairman and Golden Chief of Staff Jerry Kassar's fingerprints are all over what happened in the 46th AD in 2015. The first and most important thing was the Conservative Party's premature announcement of its support for Democrat Katy Cucco, which was actually mentioned as one of the Democratic Party's biggest reasons to shift its support from Cucco to Harris (central to that was the about-face by Delia Schack, whose comfortable relations with Mr. Kassar are well known). The second was Kassar's peculiar "endorsement" of the Republican-selected candidate, Potter --- and what flowed or didn't flow from that endorsement(more about this in a later post, coming soon).
No one who is a Republican believes any of the weaker than usual excuses. There were over a dozen elected officials at Harris's party last night and considering she won by close to 30 points I'm surprised there weren't twice as many. As for Kate Cucco this and that, what is the relevance? Are you saying Lucretia who lost Bay Ridge would have had a better chance against Bay Ridge resident Kate Cucco? Recriminations when Lucretia loses are not necessary, it is time for her to mellow out and start helping rebuild the GOP in Brooklyn and part of that rebuilding effort involves her taking a time out from her manic obsessive need to run for any office available.
Agreed, and Bay Ridge Dems will not succeed in ousting Harris in a 2016 primary. Last night Harris got a huge Coney Island turnout and Bay Ridge turnout was low. She can turn those same people out in a primary and outweigh any vote from Bay Ridge.
SUR-RESPONSE: THE "OBSERVING AND POINTING FINGERS ISN'T MAKING ANY EXCUSES FOR ANYBODY" EDITION
THERE ARE NO EXCUSES FOR THE CRASHING, CRUSHING GOP FAILURE IN THE 46th AD IN 2015, BUT THE GOLDEN-KASSAR CROWD ARE TRYING TO GET AWAY QUIETLY AS IF THEY WEREN'T INVOLVED
Everybody at the top of the Brooklyn GOP >>> on all sides <<< were more interested in 2015 organizational matters and who would be running the Brooklyn Republican Party in 2015-2017 than anything going-on in the 46th AD. As a result, NOBODY was doing the necessary work to have a shot to WIN the 46th AD seat after Assemblyman Brook-Krasny had announced that he was stepping down. Remember that since 2010, the Brooklyn GOP and Conservative Party had twice mobilized to win exactly the same kind of "Special" elections in a congressional and a state senate district. -- So, if there was any real interest in doing so, there were many things that could and should have been done to WIN the "Special" for the 46th AD seat.
First and foremost, Eaton and Golden didn't get together early in the process [like right after Brook-Krasny's announcement] to see if there were any GOP candidate that they could agree to support in the eventual special election. [ >>> However, with Kassar's very obvious deal with Democrat Kate Cucco, one wonders about the extent Republican State Senator Golden had a hand in that too.<<< ] Without a united effort behind an appropriate and attractive candidate, the chances of a GOP WIN in the 46th AD immediately sunk to almost nil. As a result, and almost completely by default, the GOP selected a shopworn, threadbare and inappropriate candidate who had almost no chance to WIN in the 46th AD -- if nothing else in her political career, Lucretia Potter has proved that, more than anything else, she can't win any Assembly race anywhere near where she lives, does business or engages in her political activities as GOP district leader.
Then, there was next to no meaningful fund-raising by either the GOP candidate herself, her local GOP club, the Brooklyn GOP, local benefactors, City-wide benefactors, the GOP Assembly caucus or the NYS GOP. As a result, just on campaign expenditures, Harris is sure to have outspent Potter by a significant amount, possibly by more than 2 to 1. To put it simply, the GOP 2015 Special Election Campaign in the 46th AD was grossly underfunded.
Lastly, GOP 2015 Special Election Campaign in the 46th AD. The eventual GOP-Conservative candidate, Lucretia Regina-Potter and her mentor, Arnaldo Ferraro --- did next to NOTHING to try to WIN the 2015 special election --- the campaign that they ran was a lesser than average, going-through-the-motions, also-ran campaign, almost the same as any other they'd done before many times. Also, arguably, their biggest move in 2015, turning on State Senator Golden's faction at the 2015 GOP County Convention, was the single biggest factor in Lucretia's abysmal showing last night. -- But that was part of their calculation in September; and the almost certain sacrifice of their 46th AD special election campaign was knowingly made when they switched to Eaton right before the convention.
Does all of that sound like any kind of "excuse" to you? If so, to whom is that excuse being made? And more important, for whom is that "excuse" being made?
I don't know Gale. Lucretia wants/wanted to be the Assemblywoman more than anything. I doubt she knowingly threw away that opportunity as part of some "calculation".
RESPONSE: THE "OH, I DIDN'T KNOW THAT -- I MUST HAVE GOT THAT PART WRONG >>> NOT ! ! !" EDITION
Are you kidding me ??? The night before the GOP County Convention, ykw, and her chief adviser Dr. Ferraro were "AGAIN" (as in it had been discussed at least once before) talking about what "Marty" might do vis a vis the 46th AD special election race if Ferraro agreed to become the next Chairman after Craig Eaton. Dr. Ferraro slyly said, "Who could complain if all I did was accept the party chairmanship after it was offered to me?"
So don't try to go all Hillary Clinton on me --- "Calculation ??? Do you mean like with a calculator (gesturing like doing key strokes on a calculator)?"
BACKFILL & A LITTLE UPDATE: THE “NOT SO LONG AGO – NOT SO FAR AWAY” EDITION
INSTEAD OF A BIG WIN, THE S.I . GOP SUFFERS A BIG LOSS — AND FORMER DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN MICHAEL MC MAHON MAKES A BIG COME BACK
PEOPLE ON THE ISLE OF STATEN, ESPECIALLY THE REPUBLICAN KIND, ARE GOING AROUND ASKING – “WHAT HAPPENED ?”
AND THEN I HEARD ABOUT >>> WAIT FOR IT..... <<< MARC ALVAREZ, GRIMM’S OLD “BODY MAN”
According to an article by Jillian Jorgensen in the Observer — “Democrat Michael McMahon will be Staten Island’s next district attorney, after defeating first-time candidate but longtime prosecutor Joan Illuzzi to flip what had been a Republican seat for 11 years.... Mr. McMahon, a former congressman and city councilman, garnered 55 percent of the vote to Ms. Illuzzi’s 45 percent, according to preliminary Board of Election results with 97 percent of votes tallied.... The race had boiled down to a battle between a career politician and a career prosecutor—with Mr. McMahon charging that Ms. Illuzzi had no civic or community experience and Ms. Illuzzi charging that Mr. McMahon had no law enforcement experience, and each candidate offering differing visions of what the district attorney ought to do. Mr. McMahon argued the role was to lead the office and fight for funding, while Ms. Illuzzi argued the DA should be more hands-on. Both candidates spoke about the need to stem the tide of Staten Island’s heroin epidemic, which has resulted in many overdose deaths and fueled other crimes; both had little positive to say about Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is unpopular on Staten Island....” ( See “Democrat Michael McMahon Wins Staten Island District Attorney Race” by Jillian Jorgensen, 11/3/15, Observer News/ observer.com [http://observer.com/2015/11/democrat-michael-mcmahon-wins-staten-island-district-attorney-race/]).
So far, the coverage in the SI Advance was even more bare-bones than that.....
So here’s what I got — An operator inside Republican Joan Illuzzi’s campaign, who is a Brooklyn Democratic Party activist (just don’t ask...), told one of my closest BSIs last week that something was wrong in the Illuzzi campaign, and that a lot of stuff just wasn’t working with the voters. At the time, many inside the GOP were being told things were working just find. Well, with a result that is completely upside down from earlier GOP expectations, something wasn’t working right somewhere.
Today I was told that there might have been some problem with Illuzzi’s mailings. A call to one of my old GOP wags yielded this — mailing for the Joan Illuzzi campaign was handled by Marc Alvarez [HMMMM ! Why does that name sound so familiar to me in such a personal sense ????? I’m sure it will come to me — maybe, a Guinness at the bar in the Ceol Pub on Smith Street in Downtown Brooklyn will jog my memory]. The wag went onto to say that having a guy who’s pretty much only known as a “body man” to former Congressman Mike Grimm do the mail doesn’t make any sense. On the other hand, the victor McMahon had pros running his campaign associated with The Advance Group, including media and mail.
Because of the Alvarez connection, I’m pretty sure there’ll be some follow-up on this one.....
Lucretia was a disastrous candidate. Anyone who thought she was going to change her approach was wrong. She was delusional and overconfident from the beginning of the campaign. The only reason she got the nomination was because of the infighting by Craig and Marty. The only reason she was able to beat Clorinda barely for District Leader was because of the infighting by Craig and Marty. There were hard core Republicans yesterday voting for her with a heavy heart. If she wants to help build the GOP in Brooklyn she can stop spreading her conspiracy theories laughable excuses stop running for any and every elected office stop playing spoiler to candidates like Lilikakis help find recruit and support candidates who can unify the party.
Lucretia only won 18 EDs out of something like 70. And she lost a bunch in Bay Ridge, and even some in Dyker and Bath Beach. She said she was a community activist, but is not actually active in any community groups. She said she is a businesswoman but she has been unemployed for a longtime. She said she had all sorts of support from many people who apparently did not support her. Maybe people just figured it out after eight or nine runs and could not find a reason to vote for her. Harris did not get all that many votes, it's just Lucretia in a district with 122,000 people could find just about no one who wanted to make the effort to vote at all. She probably thought her only hope of winning was from a low turnout. Little did she think she would also be a victim of it.
UPDATE: THE “NOW, YOU TELL ME !!! — WHAT DO THEY MEAN BY THAT ???” EDITION
ACCORDING TO THE BROOKLYN EAGLE, DEMOCRATS SAY THAT PAM HARRIS WON BY >>> MORE THAN THEY EXPECTED
THE ELECTION IS OVER, BUT THE EAGLE JUST KEEPS POUNDING ON REPUBLICAN LUCRETIA REGINA-POTTER --- IS THERE SOME PILING ON HERE --- IS THE PILING-ON BY THE EAGLE PART OF A PRO-MARTY GOLDEN AGENDA BY THE FOLKS AT THAT PAPER ???
According to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle — “Candidate [Pam Harris] showed strength in all parts of district.... On Wednesday, Harris and her supporters were basking in the glow of a bigger than expected victory in the race to succeed former Assemblymember Alec Brook-Krasny, a Democrat who resigned in July to take a high-paying job in the private sector.... It had been expected to be a close race between Harris, a retired correction officer, and Republican businesswoman Lucretia Regina-Potter. But instead, Harris easily defeated Regina-Potter, 63 percent to 37 percent....” ( See “Harris victory bigger than Democrats expected” by Paula Katinas, 11/4/15, Brooklyn Daily Eagle [http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/2015/11/4/harris-victory-bigger-democrats-expected]).
The Katinas-Eagle report also repeated almost every point that I had raised in my earlier post above that was critical of one of the pre-election Brooklyn Eagle articles about the Potter-Harris race (See my post “Does a recent Brooklyn Eagle article seal the deal in 46th AD assembly race... involving the invisible and unmentioned State Senator Golden ? ? ? ” from 10/30/15 below on this blog).
As I stated in my earlier post about the Eagle coverage of the Potter-Harris race, the gratuitous positive commentary about Pamela Harris' presence in Bay Ridge seemed somewhat unusually "anti-Republican" for the Eagle. Now, in its post-election coverage, the pitch appears to be gratuitously anti-Lucretia Regina-Potter. Now, it seems fair to ask, WHAT DOES THE EAGLE MEAN BY ALL OF IT ??? And --- "WHY IS THE EAGLE DOING THIS ???
Over the years, I have seen how the Eagle plays favorites..... I have to wonder if there is some kind of ulterior pro-Marty Golden agenda being pushed by the Eagle and what it did and now continues to do vis a vis the most recent 46th AD race.
There's another to look at this Gale. Many people want Southwest Brooklyn to retain an active two party political culture, even if they're not necessarily Republican themselves. It sets the neighborhood apart from the rest of the city. Lucretia Regina-Potter needs to stop running so others can step up, and keep the competition fresh. She is a very good DL and will be a good county secretary, but she is not a good candidate for public offices.
Bay Ridge still votes Republican just go to the NYC Board of Elections page and you will see that. Sure there are blips here and there but overall it is one of the most reliable Republican areas outside of Staten Island.
RESPONSE: THE "... TIMES [AND PLACES AND PEOPLE] --- THEY ARE A CHANGIN' " EDITION
I AIN'T NO WEATHERMAN, BUT.... ON TUESDAYS IN EARLY NOVEMBER IT'S BEEN GETTIN' UNSEASONABLY COLD AT THE POLLS FOR REPUBLICANS IN ALL THEIR OLD "STRONGHOLDS" AROUND THE FRINGES OF BROOKLYN
SOMETHING VERY BAD HAPPENED TO THE BROOKLYN REPUBLICAN PARTY THIS PAST TUESDAY --- IN A RACE THAT MANY PUNDITS AND PEOPLE IN THE KNOW THOUGHT SHOULD HAVE BEEN COMPETITIVE, WITH A REASONABLE SHOT AT A "STEAL" FROM THE ACCOMMODATING DEMS --- THE BROOKLYN GOP AND IT'S CHOSEN CANDIDATE LOST BY NEARLY 2 TO 1
MAYBE, "LUCRETIA" GOT CRUSHED BY A ROGUE WAVE --- I SURE HOPE IT AIN'T NO NEW PATTERN OF WAVES
Let's get this outta the way --- I know "Cheers" has been cancelled for quite a while and also that Kirstie Alley now weighs almost as much as I do. Also, FYI, even if I wanted to, I couldn't find a place in Bay Ridge or any place else in Brooklyn where everybody knows my name, or where everybody might even know the names of anybody that I know --- with the POSSIBLE exception of Marty Golden (I guess, I gotta give him that !).
I know all about "CHANGE" and that, in spite of what some of us GOPers might hope, or wish for, "CHANGE" is a constant.... also, since it isn't identical with "TIME," change might be a "DIMENSION" all on its own.
Those who have pointed out that losing by numbers like 2 to 1 was nothing new for "Lucretia" are missing the point. I think that something new did happen this time --- she lost by almost 2 to 1 when some OTHER people thought that she had a chance of winning and even put some effort and resources into her race. Even if L R-P ran her routine also-ran, lackluster race, her 2015 election day result should have been better.
Nationally, conservative Republicans did pretty well last Tuesday night. --- However, that absolutely wasn't true on either side of the Narrows, be that on Staten Island or the Bay Ridge-Graves End-Coney Island side. What seems to have happened on both sides of the Narrows is that the projects voted pretty strong and the one- and two-family houses not so strong. That means on both sides of the Narrows there was a bit of an "Obama-year" dynamic --- and that's also something different (also in the 2013 "Municipal" primaries and elections there was a similar "Obama-year" dynamic in many parts of the "City").
Instead of focusing on "Lucretia," maybe the GOP gurus need to focus on Pam Harris, not as an anomaly, but as someone who's riding some kind of a wave -- a wave that could also carry "a Mike McMahon," who's nothing like "a Pam Harris." Let's just hope it's a "ROGUE" wave and not part of some new pattern.
It is possible that the 46th AD has become a Democratic stronghold over night. But with Lucretia as the candidate that is hard to determine. Lucretia ran an awful and disorganized campaign and she was more divisive than ever. Maybe another Republican would have fared worse than Lucretia who knows...but it is time for Lucretia to take a time out from running so that we can see what would happen if she didn't try to bulldoze everyone and play spoiler like she did to Tom McCarthy and Steve Lilikakis. On the night of their latest crushing defeat Arnaldo already declared that Lucretia will be running again in 2016. Folks this is insane. It is time for Lucretia to put an end to these immature never ending personal battle against people who disagree with her.
I think we are all amused at how you are trying to spin things favorably for Lucretia. Give us a break. Lucretia was a terrible candidate and no amount of posts you delete can change that.
CORRECTION: THE "OOPS ! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN ?" EDITION
THE COMMENT BY "ANONYMOUS SAID... AT 2:40 PM" HAD BEEN DELETED IN ERROR --- I DON'T KNOW HOW IT HAPPENED --- HOWEVER, THANKS TO THE COMMENT BY "ANONYMOUS SAID... AT 3:50 PM," IT WAS RETRIEVED AND POSTED
For some reason the comment referred to above had been put into "Spam." Once located, it was easily posted in its proper sequence.
Lucretia is not comfortable campaigning in Bay Ridge and she hasn't built up a network there. The 46th routinely has problems finding Republican poll workers on Election Day.
Wow! Worse then I thought it would be. Lucretia must have even lost the Bay Ridge/ Dyker parts for her to be beaten by such a large percentage. I think Lilitakis did better last year. How could this be, she worked very hard. She was even at St Bernadette's my Church campaigning.
ReplyDeleteOnly a few years ago, an almost united Brooklyn Republican Party was winning special elections in districts just like the 46th AD.
ReplyDeleteBack then, the only GOP officials not closely united with the rest of the Brooklyn Republican Party leadership were the LaGuardia Club's leaders, Lucretia Potter and Fred Martorell, along with club Founder and President, Arnaldo Ferraro. They held out against the Eaton-Golden leadership team and eventually took over control of the whole party in Brooklyn, when Golden and Eaton had their break-up.
But what did Ferraro and Potter accomplish? Now that they're in control, they can't unite the Republican Party behind then so they can even get close in a special election in their own backyard.
Just compare these election results in the 46th AD from 2006-2014:
ReplyDelete2006 — ALEC BROOK-KRASNY (D), against Patricia B. Laudano (R), DEMOCRAT Won 11,129 votes to 4738 votes (70.1%- 29.9%); 2008 — ALEC BROOK-KRASNY (D), against Robert Capano (R), DEMOCRAT Won 19,293, votes to 8,250 (70.05%-29.95%); 2010 — No Republican Candidate; 2012 — ALEC BROOK-KRASNY (D), against Thomas A. McCarthy (R), DEMOCRAT Won 16,016 votes to 9,680 votes (61.3%- 37% {Green Party Candidate received 440 votes for 1.7%); 2014 — ALEC BROOK-KRASNY (D), against Stamatis Lilikakis (R), DEMOCRAT Won 9,001 votes to 6,420 votes (58.4%- 41.6%).
Lucretia is obnoxious and this isn't much of a surprise. She will primary any Republican who tries to run next year. Maybe it is the end of the line for Republicans in the 46th. But we'll never really know while Lucretia is in charge because she is such a polarizing figure in the Party.
ReplyDeleteThe only comparisons that work due to reapportionment are 2012 and 2014. The district became significantly better for Republicans in those years. And of course it was an open seat. Lucretia did very poorly.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many excuses Lucretia will unfurl this time.
ReplyDeleteUPDATE & RESPONSE: THE "NO EXCUSES" EDITION
ReplyDeleteWHEN SOMETHING THIS BIG HAPPENS, THERE IS NO POINT IN MAKING ANY "EXCUSES" --- BESIDES, WHO'S IN ANY POSITION TO EXCUSE IT, OR EVEN ANY PART OF IT
I do have a few early but interesting observations --- State Senator Martin Golden and Jerry Kassar favorite, City Councilman David Greenfield, was mentioned as one of the elected officials present at Pamela Harris' victory celebration on Election Night.
Conservative Party Chairman and Golden Chief of Staff Jerry Kassar's fingerprints are all over what happened in the 46th AD in 2015. The first and most important thing was the Conservative Party's premature announcement of its support for Democrat Katy Cucco, which was actually mentioned as one of the Democratic Party's biggest reasons to shift its support from Cucco to Harris (central to that was the about-face by Delia Schack, whose comfortable relations with Mr. Kassar are well known). The second was Kassar's peculiar "endorsement" of the Republican-selected candidate, Potter --- and what flowed or didn't flow from that endorsement(more about this in a later post, coming soon).
No one who is a Republican believes any of the weaker than usual excuses. There were over a dozen elected officials at Harris's party last night and considering she won by close to 30 points I'm surprised there weren't twice as many. As for Kate Cucco this and that, what is the relevance? Are you saying Lucretia who lost Bay Ridge would have had a better chance against Bay Ridge resident Kate Cucco? Recriminations when Lucretia loses are not necessary, it is time for her to mellow out and start helping rebuild the GOP in Brooklyn and part of that rebuilding effort involves her taking a time out from her manic obsessive need to run for any office available.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, and Bay Ridge Dems will not succeed in ousting Harris in a 2016 primary. Last night Harris got a huge Coney Island turnout and Bay Ridge turnout was low. She can turn those same people out in a primary and outweigh any vote from Bay Ridge.
ReplyDeleteSUR-RESPONSE: THE "OBSERVING AND POINTING FINGERS ISN'T MAKING ANY EXCUSES FOR ANYBODY" EDITION
ReplyDeleteTHERE ARE NO EXCUSES FOR THE CRASHING, CRUSHING GOP FAILURE IN THE 46th AD IN 2015, BUT THE GOLDEN-KASSAR CROWD ARE TRYING TO GET AWAY QUIETLY AS IF THEY WEREN'T INVOLVED
Everybody at the top of the Brooklyn GOP >>> on all sides <<< were more interested in 2015 organizational matters and who would be running the Brooklyn Republican Party in 2015-2017 than anything going-on in the 46th AD. As a result, NOBODY was doing the necessary work to have a shot to WIN the 46th AD seat after Assemblyman Brook-Krasny had announced that he was stepping down. Remember that since 2010, the Brooklyn GOP and Conservative Party had twice mobilized to win exactly the same kind of "Special" elections in a congressional and a state senate district. -- So, if there was any real interest in doing so, there were many things that could and should have been done to WIN the "Special" for the 46th AD seat.
First and foremost, Eaton and Golden didn't get together early in the process [like right after Brook-Krasny's announcement] to see if there were any GOP candidate that they could agree to support in the eventual special election. [ >>> However, with Kassar's very obvious deal with Democrat Kate Cucco, one wonders about the extent Republican State Senator Golden had a hand in that too.<<< ] Without a united effort behind an appropriate and attractive candidate, the chances of a GOP WIN in the 46th AD immediately sunk to almost nil. As a result, and almost completely by default, the GOP selected a shopworn, threadbare and inappropriate candidate who had almost no chance to WIN in the 46th AD -- if nothing else in her political career, Lucretia Potter has proved that, more than anything else, she can't win any Assembly race anywhere near where she lives, does business or engages in her political activities as GOP district leader.
Then, there was next to no meaningful fund-raising by either the GOP candidate herself, her local GOP club, the Brooklyn GOP, local benefactors, City-wide benefactors, the GOP Assembly caucus or the NYS GOP. As a result, just on campaign expenditures, Harris is sure to have outspent Potter by a significant amount, possibly by more than 2 to 1. To put it simply, the GOP 2015 Special Election Campaign in the 46th AD was grossly underfunded.
Lastly, GOP 2015 Special Election Campaign in the 46th AD. The eventual GOP-Conservative candidate, Lucretia Regina-Potter and her mentor, Arnaldo Ferraro --- did next to NOTHING to try to WIN the 2015 special election --- the campaign that they ran was a lesser than average, going-through-the-motions, also-ran campaign, almost the same as any other they'd done before many times. Also, arguably, their biggest move in 2015, turning on State Senator Golden's faction at the 2015 GOP County Convention, was the single biggest factor in Lucretia's abysmal showing last night. -- But that was part of their calculation in September; and the almost certain sacrifice of their 46th AD special election campaign was knowingly made when they switched to Eaton right before the convention.
Does all of that sound like any kind of "excuse" to you? If so, to whom is that excuse being made? And more important, for whom is that "excuse" being made?
I don't know Gale. Lucretia wants/wanted to be the Assemblywoman more than anything. I doubt she knowingly threw away that opportunity as part of some "calculation".
ReplyDeleteRESPONSE: THE "OH, I DIDN'T KNOW THAT -- I MUST HAVE GOT THAT PART WRONG >>> NOT ! ! !" EDITION
ReplyDeleteAre you kidding me ??? The night before the GOP County Convention, ykw, and her chief adviser Dr. Ferraro were "AGAIN" (as in it had been discussed at least once before) talking about what "Marty" might do vis a vis the 46th AD special election race if Ferraro agreed to become the next Chairman after Craig Eaton. Dr. Ferraro slyly said, "Who could complain if all I did was accept the party chairmanship after it was offered to me?"
So don't try to go all Hillary Clinton on me --- "Calculation ??? Do you mean like with a calculator (gesturing like doing key strokes on a calculator)?"
BACKFILL & A LITTLE UPDATE: THE “NOT SO LONG AGO – NOT SO FAR AWAY” EDITION
ReplyDeleteINSTEAD OF A BIG WIN, THE S.I . GOP SUFFERS A BIG LOSS — AND FORMER DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN MICHAEL MC MAHON MAKES A BIG COME BACK
PEOPLE ON THE ISLE OF STATEN, ESPECIALLY THE REPUBLICAN KIND, ARE GOING AROUND ASKING – “WHAT HAPPENED ?”
AND THEN I HEARD ABOUT >>> WAIT FOR IT..... <<< MARC ALVAREZ, GRIMM’S OLD “BODY MAN”
According to an article by Jillian Jorgensen in the Observer — “Democrat Michael McMahon will be Staten Island’s next district attorney, after defeating first-time candidate but longtime prosecutor Joan Illuzzi to flip what had been a Republican seat for 11 years.... Mr. McMahon, a former congressman and city councilman, garnered 55 percent of the vote to Ms. Illuzzi’s 45 percent, according to preliminary Board of Election results with 97 percent of votes tallied.... The race had boiled down to a battle between a career politician and a career prosecutor—with Mr. McMahon charging that Ms. Illuzzi had no civic or community experience and Ms. Illuzzi charging that Mr. McMahon had no law enforcement experience, and each candidate offering differing visions of what the district attorney ought to do. Mr. McMahon argued the role was to lead the office and fight for funding, while Ms. Illuzzi argued the DA should be more hands-on. Both candidates spoke about the need to stem the tide of Staten Island’s heroin epidemic, which has resulted in many overdose deaths and fueled other crimes; both had little positive to say about Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is unpopular on Staten Island....” ( See “Democrat Michael McMahon Wins Staten Island District Attorney Race” by Jillian Jorgensen, 11/3/15, Observer News/ observer.com [http://observer.com/2015/11/democrat-michael-mcmahon-wins-staten-island-district-attorney-race/]).
So far, the coverage in the SI Advance was even more bare-bones than that.....
So here’s what I got — An operator inside Republican Joan Illuzzi’s campaign, who is a Brooklyn Democratic Party activist (just don’t ask...), told one of my closest BSIs last week that something was wrong in the Illuzzi campaign, and that a lot of stuff just wasn’t working with the voters. At the time, many inside the GOP were being told things were working just find. Well, with a result that is completely upside down from earlier GOP expectations, something wasn’t working right somewhere.
Today I was told that there might have been some problem with Illuzzi’s mailings. A call to one of my old GOP wags yielded this — mailing for the Joan Illuzzi campaign was handled by Marc Alvarez [HMMMM ! Why does that name sound so familiar to me in such a personal sense ????? I’m sure it will come to me — maybe, a Guinness at the bar in the Ceol Pub on Smith Street in Downtown Brooklyn will jog my memory]. The wag went onto to say that having a guy who’s pretty much only known as a “body man” to former Congressman Mike Grimm do the mail doesn’t make any sense. On the other hand, the victor McMahon had pros running his campaign associated with The Advance Group, including media and mail.
Because of the Alvarez connection, I’m pretty sure there’ll be some follow-up on this one.....
Lucretia was a disastrous candidate. Anyone who thought she was going to change her approach was wrong. She was delusional and overconfident from the beginning of the campaign. The only reason she got the nomination was because of the infighting by Craig and Marty. The only reason she was able to beat Clorinda barely for District Leader was because of the infighting by Craig and Marty. There were hard core Republicans yesterday voting for her with a heavy heart. If she wants to help build the GOP in Brooklyn she can stop spreading her conspiracy theories laughable excuses stop running for any and every elected office stop playing spoiler to candidates like Lilikakis help find recruit and support candidates who can unify the party.
ReplyDeleteHas Lucretia or Arnaldo blamed Marty Golden for her defeat? I was at her HQ last night and heard nothing no such accusations.
ReplyDeleteWould be great if Lucretia acknowledged the obvious and took a break from running for everything under the sun.
ReplyDeleteLucretia only won 18 EDs out of something like 70. And she lost a bunch in Bay Ridge, and even some in Dyker and Bath Beach. She said she was a community activist, but is not actually active in any community groups. She said she is a businesswoman but she has been unemployed for a longtime. She said she had all sorts of support from many people who apparently did not support her. Maybe people just figured it out after eight or nine runs and could not find a reason to vote for her.
ReplyDeleteHarris did not get all that many votes, it's just Lucretia in a district with 122,000 people could find just about no one who wanted to make the effort to vote at all. She probably thought her only hope of winning was from a low turnout. Little did she think she would also be a victim of it.
Good post to above at 7:18. People are tired of her running over and over again. She needs to take a break.
ReplyDeleteUPDATE: THE “NOW, YOU TELL ME !!! — WHAT DO THEY MEAN BY THAT ???” EDITION
ReplyDeleteACCORDING TO THE BROOKLYN EAGLE, DEMOCRATS SAY THAT PAM HARRIS WON BY >>> MORE THAN THEY EXPECTED
THE ELECTION IS OVER, BUT THE EAGLE JUST KEEPS POUNDING ON REPUBLICAN LUCRETIA REGINA-POTTER --- IS THERE SOME PILING ON HERE --- IS THE PILING-ON BY THE EAGLE PART OF A PRO-MARTY GOLDEN AGENDA BY THE FOLKS AT THAT PAPER ???
According to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle — “Candidate [Pam Harris] showed strength in all parts of district.... On Wednesday, Harris and her supporters were basking in the glow of a bigger than expected victory in the race to succeed former Assemblymember Alec Brook-Krasny, a Democrat who resigned in July to take a high-paying job in the private sector.... It had been expected to be a close race between Harris, a retired correction officer, and Republican businesswoman Lucretia Regina-Potter. But instead, Harris easily defeated Regina-Potter, 63 percent to 37 percent....” ( See “Harris victory bigger than Democrats expected” by Paula Katinas, 11/4/15, Brooklyn Daily Eagle [http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/2015/11/4/harris-victory-bigger-democrats-expected]).
The Katinas-Eagle report also repeated almost every point that I had raised in my earlier post above that was critical of one of the pre-election Brooklyn Eagle articles about the Potter-Harris race (See my post “Does a recent Brooklyn Eagle article seal the deal in 46th AD assembly race... involving the invisible and unmentioned State Senator Golden ? ? ? ” from 10/30/15 below on this blog).
As I stated in my earlier post about the Eagle coverage of the Potter-Harris race, the gratuitous positive commentary about Pamela Harris' presence in Bay Ridge seemed somewhat unusually "anti-Republican" for the Eagle. Now, in its post-election coverage, the pitch appears to be gratuitously anti-Lucretia Regina-Potter. Now, it seems fair to ask, WHAT DOES THE EAGLE MEAN BY ALL OF IT ??? And --- "WHY IS THE EAGLE DOING THIS ???
Over the years, I have seen how the Eagle plays favorites..... I have to wonder if there is some kind of ulterior pro-Marty Golden agenda being pushed by the Eagle and what it did and now continues to do vis a vis the most recent 46th AD race.
There's another to look at this Gale. Many people want Southwest Brooklyn to retain an active two party political culture, even if they're not necessarily Republican themselves. It sets the neighborhood apart from the rest of the city. Lucretia Regina-Potter needs to stop running so others can step up, and keep the competition fresh. She is a very good DL and will be a good county secretary, but she is not a good candidate for public offices.
ReplyDeleteBay Ridge stopped voting Republican 30 years ago.
ReplyDeleteOh, I also wanted to let you know that NBC cancelled Cheers
Bay Ridge still votes Republican just go to the NYC Board of Elections page and you will see that. Sure there are blips here and there but overall it is one of the most reliable Republican areas outside of Staten Island.
ReplyDeleteRESPONSE: THE "... TIMES [AND PLACES AND PEOPLE] --- THEY ARE A CHANGIN' " EDITION
ReplyDeleteI AIN'T NO WEATHERMAN, BUT.... ON TUESDAYS IN EARLY NOVEMBER IT'S BEEN GETTIN' UNSEASONABLY COLD AT THE POLLS FOR REPUBLICANS IN ALL THEIR OLD "STRONGHOLDS" AROUND THE FRINGES OF BROOKLYN
SOMETHING VERY BAD HAPPENED TO THE BROOKLYN REPUBLICAN PARTY THIS PAST TUESDAY --- IN A RACE THAT MANY PUNDITS AND PEOPLE IN THE KNOW THOUGHT SHOULD HAVE BEEN COMPETITIVE, WITH A REASONABLE SHOT AT A "STEAL" FROM THE ACCOMMODATING DEMS --- THE BROOKLYN GOP AND IT'S CHOSEN CANDIDATE LOST BY NEARLY 2 TO 1
MAYBE, "LUCRETIA" GOT CRUSHED BY A ROGUE WAVE --- I SURE HOPE IT AIN'T NO NEW PATTERN OF WAVES
Let's get this outta the way --- I know "Cheers" has been cancelled for quite a while and also that Kirstie Alley now weighs almost as much as I do. Also, FYI, even if I wanted to, I couldn't find a place in Bay Ridge or any place else in Brooklyn where everybody knows my name, or where everybody might even know the names of anybody that I know --- with the POSSIBLE exception of Marty Golden (I guess, I gotta give him that !).
I know all about "CHANGE" and that, in spite of what some of us GOPers might hope, or wish for, "CHANGE" is a constant.... also, since it isn't identical with "TIME," change might be a "DIMENSION" all on its own.
Those who have pointed out that losing by numbers like 2 to 1 was nothing new for "Lucretia" are missing the point. I think that something new did happen this time --- she lost by almost 2 to 1 when some OTHER people thought that she had a chance of winning and even put some effort and resources into her race. Even if L R-P ran her routine also-ran, lackluster race, her 2015 election day result should have been better.
Nationally, conservative Republicans did pretty well last Tuesday night. --- However, that absolutely wasn't true on either side of the Narrows, be that on Staten Island or the Bay Ridge-Graves End-Coney Island side. What seems to have happened on both sides of the Narrows is that the projects voted pretty strong and the one- and two-family houses not so strong. That means on both sides of the Narrows there was a bit of an "Obama-year" dynamic --- and that's also something different (also in the 2013 "Municipal" primaries and elections there was a similar "Obama-year" dynamic in many parts of the "City").
Instead of focusing on "Lucretia," maybe the GOP gurus need to focus on Pam Harris, not as an anomaly, but as someone who's riding some kind of a wave -- a wave that could also carry "a Mike McMahon," who's nothing like "a Pam Harris." Let's just hope it's a "ROGUE" wave and not part of some new pattern.
It is possible that the 46th AD has become a Democratic stronghold over night. But with Lucretia as the candidate that is hard to determine. Lucretia ran an awful and disorganized campaign and she was more divisive than ever. Maybe another Republican would have fared worse than Lucretia who knows...but it is time for Lucretia to take a time out from running so that we can see what would happen if she didn't try to bulldoze everyone and play spoiler like she did to Tom McCarthy and Steve Lilikakis. On the night of their latest crushing defeat Arnaldo already declared that Lucretia will be running again in 2016. Folks this is insane. It is time for Lucretia to put an end to these immature never ending personal battle against people who disagree with her.
ReplyDeleteI think we are all amused at how you are trying to spin things favorably for Lucretia. Give us a break. Lucretia was a terrible candidate and no amount of posts you delete can change that.
ReplyDeleteCORRECTION: THE "OOPS ! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN ?" EDITION
ReplyDeleteTHE COMMENT BY "ANONYMOUS SAID... AT 2:40 PM" HAD BEEN DELETED IN ERROR --- I DON'T KNOW HOW IT HAPPENED --- HOWEVER, THANKS TO THE COMMENT BY "ANONYMOUS SAID... AT 3:50 PM," IT WAS RETRIEVED AND POSTED
For some reason the comment referred to above had been put into "Spam." Once located, it was easily posted in its proper sequence.
The Bay Ridge Republicans I saw were openly supporting Harris.
ReplyDeleteI saw no evidence of a LRP campaign in Bay Ridge.
ReplyDeleteLucretia is not comfortable campaigning in Bay Ridge and she hasn't built up a network there. The 46th routinely has problems finding Republican poll workers on Election Day.
ReplyDeleteWell if she's not "comfortable" campaigning there then I guess she got what she merited.
ReplyDelete