FLASH UPDATE & BACKFILL: THE "BACK TO WHAT'S REALLY IMPORTANT" EDITION

YESTERDAY, BOB CAPANO WAS A GUEST ON CURTIS SLIWA'S "DRIVE AT FIVE" RADIO SHOW ON ABC 770

ON AIR: CURTIS SLIWA TALKED TO BOB CAPANO ABOUT OPPOSING THE $$$$ DEPOSITS FOR PLASTIC SHOPPING BAGS PROPOSED BY COUNCIL SPEAKER MELISSA MARK-VIVERITO 

***  AND THEN SLIWA SEGUED TO CAPANO'S RUN FOR THE CITY COUNCIL IN BROOKLYN  ---  AND TO TOP IT ALL OFF: CURTIS SLIWA SAID THAT HE'LL GO "ALL IN" FOR BOB'S BEING THE GOP CANDIDATE TO TAKE VINNY GENTILE'S SEAT >>> "... BECAUSE THIS GUY IS STRAIGHT UP..."  ***

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HERE'S THE  SLIWA "MONEY SHOT" FOR CAPANO

Curtiss Sliwa concluded yesterday's interview with Bob Capano by stating the following on air [http://www.wabcradio.com/the-drive-at-5-with-curtis/]:

>>> "It looks like Bob's going to be running for the City Council in Brooklyn's 43rd district...Bob is a Republican. I will do everything that I can to work for Bob's election out there because this guy is straight up." <<<

NOW, THAT REALLY IS "EARNED MEDIA"  ---  GOOD JOB BOB !!!

FLASH BACKFILL: THE "LATE-BREAKING STORY" EDITION [ VERY VERY "LATE BREAKING"]

JULY 31ST 2015 ARTICLE ON THE "KINGS COUNTY POLITICS" BLOG TELLS TALE OF A GOP CANDIDATE'S COMPLAINTS ABOUT A BOARD OF ELECTIONS VOTER PURGE IN THE 46TH A.D. AND THE REST OF BROOKLYN

WHY WERE THESE TIMELY COMPLAINTS IGNORED BY THE COMMISSIONERS, ADMINISTRATORS AND TOP CLERKS AT THE BOE IN BROOKLYN AND/OR CITY-WIDE ---  BEFORE THE BROOKLYN BOE PURGES FESTERED, OOZING PUSS INTO THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES ???

Almost seven months ago the political blog "Kings County Politics" mentioned the following in the middle of an article about the GOP candidate for the NYS Assembly in the 2015 Special Election for the Assembly in the 46th A.D. in Brooklyn:  "[Lucretia Regina-Potter] sees the City’s Board of Elections purging of voters from their records as a major issue....  The BOE sent letters out in June and if constituents don’t send them back with updated information they risk being taken off as registered voters, she said....  [Regina-Potter] said the BOE has thrown off about 11,000 of the borough’s roughly 112,000 registered Republicans and has probably thrown off more registered Democrats...." (See "46 AD Race: Lucretia Regina-Potter Emerges As GOP Frontrunner" by Staff Writer, 7/31/15, Kings County Politics [http://www.kingscountypolitics.com/46-ad-race-lucretia-regina-potter-emerges-as-gop-frontrunner/]).

That warning by GOP activist and 2015 candidate Lucretia Regina-Potter was sounded more than six whole months earlier than the big Board of Elections blow-up resulting from the scandalous purge of well over a hundred twenty-five thousand Brooklyn voters prior to the 2016 New York Presidential Primary. Even though Lucretia Potter's numbers were focused on Republican voters, the percentage of purged Republicans should have suggested the staggering number of Democrats needing to be purged, if a similar decimation of potential voters were to be applied to Democrats in Brooklyn.

What is interesting is that Lucretia Regina-Potter's initial complaint arose in the context of the 2015 Special Election in an area close to several of the homes of BOE officers mentioned in connection with the recent purge scandal, most notably Simon Shamoun, Mary-Rose Sattie, Betty Ann Canizio and David Annarummo. All of those have had a long history of intense personal & political opposition to Ms. Regina-Potter.

It's also interesting that another top BOE official, Diane Haslett-Rudiano, is now suing to have Lucretia Regina-Potter removed as the Kings County Republican Party Secretary.  Whether that suit was in any way related to Potter's complaints in July 2015 is something that needs to be put to Rudiano, when and if Diane Haslett-Rudiano appears to testify in any way in her own case.

Many people think that later this week, BIG things are going to happen in Court WRT the Brooklyn GOP

Starting tomorrow, some court proceedings dealing with the 2015 Kings County GOP Convention have been scheduled in the Brooklyn Supreme Court; and on Friday,  the scene will shift about a fifth of a mile away to Monroe Place where an appeal is already pending

There are many expectations on both sides in what some have referred to as a legal contest between the Golden and Eaton factions of the Brooklyn GOP. Many people in "the Marty Golden faction" are expecting big things to be coming out of the Brooklyn Supreme Court this week, with an evidentiary hearing scheduled for April 28th and a pre-hearing conference on tap for tomorrow. However, goings on in the appellate court on 29 April 2016, including a motion for a stay, might throw all of that well off-schedule.

On the other hand,  “the Marty Golden faction” is probably thankful for any delay at this time. That’s because one of Golden’s main witnesses will have to be the now-infamous Diane Haslett-Rudiano, who is named as the Golden’s faction’s lead petitioner.  She is a particularly important witness, because not only did she reconvene the rump County Committee Convention as its “Chairman”;  she is the foundation witness for almost every document tendered to the Court by the Golden faction in support of Rudiano's petition to [among other matters] remove Arnaldo Ferraro as "County Chairman" and replace him with Ted Ghorra.

Lately, there have been many in the Golden faction who have tried to put distance between themselves and Ms. Rudiano, but that doesn’t seem possible in the context of this lawsuit.

SUPREME COURT CALLED CASE BROUGHT BY DIANE HASLETT-RUDIANO AS THE ONE BROUGHT BY “THE GOLDEN FACTION”                                                            

Even in Justice Edgar Walker’s decision of March 21, 2016, he referred to the petitioners in the lead action (Kings County Index No. 700004/2015) the first-named being Diane Haslett-Rudiano,  as being aligned  with State Senator Martin Golden of the 22^nd Senate District to such an extent that he called all of  it “the Golden faction.”

Given the cross-examination that is likely (and, some have said, has been planned) for Ms. Rudiano at the Edgar Walker hearing, it is unlikely that her personal attorney would allow her to appear on this case.

FRIDAY'S CASE AT THE APPELLATE DIVISION                                   

The appeal by the Eaton faction to the Appellate Division is aimed at several rulings and findings by Justice Edgar Walker in his interim decision of March 21, 2016.  In addition to their appeal, the Eaton faction has also sought a stay of the case(s) in front of Justice Walker until his initial decision has been reviewed by the appellate court, which is also located in Downtown Brooklyn.

Why the Diane Rudiano’s Problem at the Brooklyn BOE Could Become a Really Big Problem for Marty Golden

Local deals and corruption -- between Marty Golden, Staten Island Republicans in the Council and leaders of other parties -- directly connects everybody involved to a big national story related to the Clinton-Sanders Democratic Presidential Primary last Tuesday

Lots of people need to be very afraid of DIANE “HAZMAT” RUDIANO

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BACKGROUND 

NY POST COVERAGE

Earlier today, the NY Post reported that ---  “The city’s Board of Elections suspended the top official at its Brooklyn office without pay as they probe the mysterious purge of more than 120,000 Democratic voters from the borough rolls that wreaked havoc on Tuesday presidential primaries….  The solo suspension of Diane Haslett-Rudiano from her $125,000-a-year post over widespread polling problems is raising eyebrows that extend beyond party lines….  Democrat Betty Ann Canizio, the BOE Deputy Clerk for Brooklyn, is the official primarily responsible for overseeing the borough’s Democratic voting rolls while Haslett-Rudiano, a Republican, oversees her party’s rolls, sources said….”  (See “Board of Elections official ‘scapegoated’ for voting mess” by Rich Calder, 4/21/16  [print version 4/22/16], NY Post/ Metro [http://nypost.com/2016/04/21/board-of-elections-official-scapegoated-for-voting-mess/]).

NYTIMES’ COVERAGE IS QUITE SUCCINCT AND ON POINT 

Here are the points made in the NY Times’ coverage of the Diane “HAZMAT” Rudiano story (From “Elections Board Official in Brooklyn Removed Amid Investigation” by Rick Rojas & Vivian Yee, 4/21/16, NY Times/ NY/ Region [http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/04/22/nyregion/elections-board-official-in-brooklyn-removed-amidinvestigation.html]):

* The performance of the NYC Board of Elections during the presidential primaries on Tuesday was the subject of complaints by voters who said they faced difficulties trying to cast ballots; and also on Tuesday, that Mayor Bill de Blasio said that voters and voting-rights monitors had reported the “purging of entire buildings and blocks of voters from the voting lists”….
* It’s been noted that more than 125,000 Democratic voters in Brooklyn were dropped from the rolls between November 2015 and this month, while about 63,000 others were added, officials said….
* The New York City Board of Elections suspended an official in Brooklyn on Thursday. Meanwhile,  city and state officials are investigating whether tens of thousands of Democratic voters were improperly removed from voter rolls ahead of the New York presidential primary on Tuesday….
* Diane Haslett-Rudiano, the board’s chief clerk in Brooklyn, has been suspended without pay pending the outcome of an internal investigation into the handling of voter rolls, the board said in a statement on Thursday and her suspension was quickly reported-on by The Daily News….  
* Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the NYC Board of Elections Michael J. Ryan has said that each year thousands of names are added and removed from voting rolls, and that he believed that “no voters were disenfranchised”….
* The reports of irregularities have nonetheless prompted New York State’s Attorney Genera, Eric T. Schneiderman and New York City’s Comptroller Scott M. Stringer to open separate inquiries….
*  In a statement on Thursday, Mr. Schneiderman said that the “administration of the voter rolls in Brooklyn is of major concern to our office and is a focus of our investigation”….
*  Michael J. Ryan, executive director of the elections board, has said that each year thousands of names are added and removed from voting rolls, and that he believed that “no voters were disenfranchised”;  and The NYC Board of Elections said that  it would cooperate with the city and state investigators.

CONNECT THE DOTS AND SEE WHO BENEFITS

In one of the earlier items that I posted on this blog about Diane Haslett-Rudiano, I clearly asked this: "Who benefits?”; and I also repeatedly announced to EVERYBODY ”… Connect the dots, folks, connect the dots...” (See “The DIANE HASLETT-RUDIANO factor — is the spin just starting ?” by Galewyn Massey, 6/10/13, Below on this Blog [http://galewynmassey.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-diane-haslett-rudiano-factor-is.html]).  Since that time many things have evolved and become clear as day.

Since June 2013, Rudiano made her deal with Marty Golden; and she became his ready and willing servant for almost anything and everything (the Pro-Golden machinations at the Brooklyn BOE and Rudiano’s being Golden’s strawman in election cases in both 2013 and 2015 come to mind). Also since June 2013, a special position was created for Golden’s former staffer, Georgea K., while she waited in the wings for Diane Rudiano to move along. And in addition, since June 2013, we have had an opportunity to see what a rotten operation Diane Rudiano, Georgea K. and Simon Shamoun have put together for the Golden-faction Republicans at the Brooklyn Board.

THE CURRENT DIANE “HAZMAT” RUDIANO FLAP CONNECTS BROOKLYN GOP BOE CORRUPTION TO THE NATIONAL STORY ABOUT DISENFRANCHISED DEMOCRATS  IN THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY

According to the article, which appeared in today's NY Post:  “The city’s Board of Elections suspended the top official at its Brooklyn office without pay as they probe the mysterious purge of more than 120,000 Democratic voters from the borough rolls that wreaked havoc on Tuesday presidential primaries.... The solo suspension of Diane Haslett-Rudiano from her $125,000-a-year post over widespread polling problems is raising eyebrows that extend beyond party lines.... Democrat Betty Ann Canizio, the BOE Deputy Clerk for Brooklyn, is the official primarily responsible for overseeing the borough’s Democratic voting rolls while Haslett-Rudiano, a Republican, oversees her party’s rolls, sources said….” (See “Board of Elections official ‘scapegoated’ for voting mess” by Rich Calder, 4/21/16, NY Post/ Metro [http://nypost.com/2016/04/21/board-of-elections-official-scapegoated-for-voting-mess/]).

Rich Calder's piece in the Post made special note of the following: ".... 'It sounds like they cut a deal to make the Republican the scapegoat and protect Betty Ann,. said an elected Brooklyn official who’s a Democrat.... Canizio is an ally of Brooklyn Democratic Chairman Frank Seddio. She has a long history as a borough district leader of rubber-stamping his candidate nominations and political appointments. Seddio used his political muscle to help Canizio, 68, secure her $120,000-a-year post, sources said.... BOE sources say she’s routinely absent or works half days. She failed to show up for work Thursday and wasn’t at her Bay Ridge home when visited by a Post reporter...."

As I commented earlier on another thread below:  “Looking beyond the Post article, it's plain to see that Republican State Senator Golden's greasy fingerprints are all over any deal with Frank Seddio and other Dems to protect Betty Ann Canizio. Canizio is a once and future Democratic Party District Leader in Marty Golden's State Senate District, and also she is a long time close friend of old Golden hand [Clorinda Annarummo], and pro-Golden Dems with close ties to the Conservative Party.”

To >>> connect the dots <<< about what happened at the BOE, somebody needs to sit down and talk to Diane Haslett-Rudiano.  So far she has been mum; but investigators, city, state and possibly even Federal (Yes, I do mean Preet B.) have their ways of loosening tongues…..

That’s why Diane Haslett-Rudiano is truly Diane “HAZMAT’ Rudiano.

Presidential Primary & Special Elections a “Mixed Bag” for Local “GOP” Pols

A majority of the Republican-Conservative politicians in the Southwest Brooklyn-Staten Island district supported Trump  ---  Only a few did NOT

Meanwhile, NYS Special Elections were not kind to those in the GOP & Conservative Party, who had been active and/or interested in some of those contests 

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Today, many Republican-Conservative politicians are basking in the glory that is Donald Trump.....

According to the only daily whose beat is wholly inside the borders of the 11^th Congressional District of Republican-Conservative Dan Donovan, “….  Trump, who visited [Staten] Island on Sunday, got an astounding 80 percent of the vote [t]here….”

The Staten Island Advance article went on to say this:  “….  Local Republicans gathered at Giovanni's Trattoria in Eltingville, where Ron Castorina Jr. celebrated his victory in his unopposed race for state Assembly….   Castorina is a Trump supporter, as is Councilman Joe Borelli, whose former Assembly seat Castorina was just elected to. Borelli (R-South Shore) is a co-chair for Trump's campaign in New York and was in Manhattan for the big win….   Pleasantly surprised by Trump's big win in the 11^th CD, GOP Chair John Antoniello said, ’t's pretty awesome, for any candidate in any election to get 80 percent. That's a landslide by far.’…   Trump's visit to Staten Island Sunday probably helped him here, Antoniello said….   Sean O'Sullivan, a former Republican, now a registered Conservative who couldn't vote in the primary, isn't a Trump supporter and sees the win as inevitable because [he said that] Texas Sen. Ted Cruz ‘shot himself in the foot’ with his disparaging ‘New York values’ comment, and John Kasich is too moderate for many Staten Islanders….  But ‘Donald Trump is a Republican of convenience….   "For some people, he's saying what people want to hear. I don't know if he believes it,’ he said….”  (See “New York primary: On Staten Island, big Trump win, narrow Clinton victory” by Rachel Shapiro, 4/20/16, Staten Island Advance/ silive.com [http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/04/on_staten_island_big_trump_win.html]).

Except for the snarky anti-Trump stuff by the Conservative guy, I think Ms. Shapiro’s report pretty much captures what happened in the 11^th Cong. Dist.;  however, the article is obviously and understandably Staten Island-centric.  So far there hasn’t been a lot of reporting about the Brooklyn GOP supporters of Donald Trump.

Here's what the Home Reporter did say:  "....  a majority of south Brooklyn nabes opted for Republican candidate Donald Trump, who took the win with more than 60 percent of all New York votes....   Just over 2,500 Republican voters turned out in Bay Ridge, 69.2 percent of them voting Trump. Meanwhile, candidate John Kasich claimed 20 percent of the Bay Ridge votes, and Ted Cruz, just 10 percent....  Trump won by even more in ‘hoods like Dyker Heights (76.3 percent of just over 1,000 votes), Bensonhurst (77.9 percent on the eastern side and 76.5 percent on the western side), Bath Beach (78.6 percent) and Sheepshead Bay (78.6 percent). He also scored victories in Windsor Terrace (53.1 percent) and Sunset Park (54.1 percent on the eastern side and 62.5 percent on the western side).....  The businessman-turned-hopeful politician collected over 80 percent of the votes in Seagate-Coney Island (scoring 259 votes compared to Cruz’s 33 and Kasich’s 26), and 81 percent in Gravesend (snagging 425 votes to Cruz’s 51 and Kasich’s 43)...." (See "Here’s how Southern Brooklyn voted in the primaries"  by Meaghan McGoldrick [w/ add'l reporting by Helen Klein], 4/20/16, Home Reporter News/ Online [http://homereporter.com/heres-how-southern-brooklyn-voted-in-the-primaries/]).     

WHAT’S UP WITH GOP-CONSERVATIVE STATE SENATOR MARTY GOLDEN AND HIS “FACTION” IN THE BROOKLYN GOP ???                                                          

Republican-Conservative State Senator Marty Golden is a crypto-supporter of Donald Trump, who recently was reported to have said this jazz: “….  Golden said that whatever one wants to say about bombastic billionaire presidential front-runner Donald Trump, ‘he is adding to the Republican Party.’…  Trump, Golden said, ‘is bringing people out in big numbers.’  Voters are turning to Trump, according to Golden, because the national Republican Party establishment ‘has failed them.’…   Brooklyn has more than 2 million people, Golden reasoned, and the GOP should be reaching out to as many residents as possible. ‘This is the environment to do it in. It’s a presidential year,’ he said....”

More enlightening about where Golden really was on Trump prior to the primary was where most of his key peeps were;  and here’s what they were up to.  ----   In an “in-the-know” Brooklyn blog, it was reported that  “…[S]ources in the Kings County Republican group led by attorney Ted Ghorra, confirmed [that they endorsed] Trump….  Ghorra [himself] would not confirm or deny the sources, but noted that Trump is a native New Yorker and thus a home state favorite that has a lot of rank-and-file Republican support….  [Ghorra] dismissed notions that Trump is so divisive that he will turn off minorities and immigrants from joining the GOP…..  ‘I think he (Trump) will have a lot more of a calm, serine disposition moving forward,’ said Ghorra, adding that Trump’s wife is an immigrant and that Trump is only seeking of a temporary ban of some immigrants until security concerns are worked out….”  ( See  “Amid Litigation Both Brooklyn GOP Factions Endorsing Trump” [ by Stephen Witt], 3/26/16, Kings County Politics Blog  [http://www.kingscountypolitics.com/amid-ensuing-litigation-brooklyn-gop-factions-endorsing-trump/]).

So far, there has been no credible report of Marty Golden or any “faction” of Brooklyn Republicans being part of any significant Donald Trump victory celebration  ---   that’s neither last night nor since.

On the other side of the slate, neither Assembly person Nicole Malliotakis nor Golden staffer John Quaglione were down with the pro-Trump crowd.  In fact, both Malliotakis and Quaglione were prominent at  GOP candidate John Kasich's events inside the 11th Cong. Dist. ---  almost on the eve of the primary.

POSSIBLE SHIFT IN NYS SENATE LEADERSHIP AFTER NASSAU SPECIAL ELECTION

Meanwhile, it looks like bad news in the “Special” with the greatest significance for Brooklyn Republican-Conservative Marty Golden.  In Nassau County, the apparent victory by Todd Kaminsky, a current member of the Assembly, over Republican Christopher McGrath, would give the Democrats a one-seat, mathematical edge in the 63-member Senate [ However, it should be noted that the “Republicans” in the majority have made deals with several Democrats to keep the GOP in control in the Chamber]. The outcome could determine which party controls the Senate, which now has 31 Democrats and 31 Republicans. There are almost 800  vo

 tes separating Kaminsky from McGrath --- with all precincts in Nassau's 9th NYS Senate District reporting, Kaminsky led by just 780 votes, garnering 49.9 percent of the vote to McGrath's 48.8 percent.

REPUBLICAN-CONSERVATIVE CANDIDATE W-A-A-A-A-A-Y BEHIND IN RACE FOR SHELLY SILVER’S SEAT

In lower Manhattan, Democrat Alice Cancel defeated three other candidates to win Silver's old seat in the 65th Assembly District. Cancel was a local Democratic leader, who worked in the office of the New York City Comptroller. She faced an unusually strong challenge from legislative staffer and Working Families Party candidate Yuh-Line Niou; and a not-so-strong challenge from the distant third-place finisher Republican-Conservative Lester Chang.  Green Party candidate Dennis Levy came fourth in the race in the Deep South of Manhattan district.

The main interest of those in Southwest Brooklyn in that Manhattan race comes from the fact that the “Republican” in the scrum was thought to have had a chance to make a decent showing --- and Liam McCabe, the Conservative party activist, had taken a key role in the Lester Chang campaign.  The way it looks neither Chang nor McCabe covered themselves in glory with this clunker.

AND THERE WAS ANOTHER BROOKLYN RACE

In Southeastern Brooklyn,  Jaime Williams, a Democrat, prevailed over Republican-Conservative Jeffrey Ferretti.

Williams is the former chief of staff to Roxanne Persaud, who represented the district in the Assembly until she won a state Senate seat in last year's elections.  The heavily Democratic 59th Assembly District is mostly in Canarsie;  but it includes many other neighborhoods of southern Brooklyn, and some of its EDs are in areas represented by State Senator Martin Golden.

Hillary decries “outrageous tax havens… for the super rich” --- BUT --- According to a report on the “Panama Papers” – many of the “super rich” who utilize those “outrageous tax havens” are well-connected to the Clintons

People mentioned in the “Panama Papers” include:  Gabrielle Fialkoff, finance director for Hillary Clinton’s first New York campaign for the U.S. Senate; Frank Giustra, who has traveled the globe with Bill Clinton; the Chagoury family, who pledged $1 billion in projects to the Clinton Global Initiative; Chinese billionaire Ng Lap Seng, who was at the center of a Democratic fund-raising scandal when Bill Clinton was president; and the company founded by late billionaire investor Marc Rich, who was an international fugitive when President Clinton pardoned him in the final hours of his presidency

According to a recent report in the NY Post --- “When the recently leaked 'Panama Papers’ exposed the existence of thousands of offshore bank accounts of the politically high and mighty…” What did a Hillary Clinton, who knows no shame when it comes to hypocrisy, do ?  She quickly decried them as an example of “outrageous tax havens [for] the super-rich.” 

Why do I say that Hillary knows no shame when it comes to hypocrisy ?  The Post report went on to show that  “….  [I]t turns out that the Democratic presidential front-runner and her husband have multiple connections with people named in the papers — including staffers and major donors….” (See “The Clintons’ connection to the Panama Papers”  by Laura Italiano, 4/17/16, NY Post  [http://nypost.com/2016/04/17/the-clintons-connection-to-the-panama-papers/]).

ONE OF THOSE NAMED IN THE “PANAMA PAPERS” WAS HILLARY’S NY SENATE STAFFER IN 2000, WHO NOW WORKS FOR CLINTON SUPPORTER MAYOR DE BLASIO

The NY Post article goes on to say this:  “….  Among those named in the papers as using the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca to set up offshore entities are Gabrielle Fialkoff, who served as Clinton’s finance director during her first campaign for the Senate in New York….  Fialkoff is also a senior adviser to Mayor de Blasio and director of the city’s Office of Strategic Partnership….”  Interestingly, Bill de Blasio was HRC's campaign manager in 2000.

Laura Italiano’s article in the Post closed with this: “….  The Clintons themselves do not appear to be mentioned in the document dump, McClatchy reported….  But their ties to multiple big-money names that turn up in the documents as using offshore accounts will be sure to fuel the campaign….”

NY POST ARTICLE TAKEN FROM LONGER & MORE DETAILED ARTICLE THAT WAS FIRST PUBLISHED BY McCLATCHY NEWS

The original report on the latest round of Clinton connections disclosed in the “Panama Papers” appeared on “McClatchy DC”; in that report was the following:  “Hillary Clinton recently blasted the hidden financial dealings exposed in the Panama Papers, but she and her husband have multiple connections with people who have used the besieged law firm Mossack Fonseca to establish offshore entities….  Among them are Gabrielle Fialkoff, finance director for Hillary Clinton’s first campaign for the U.S. Senate; Frank Giustra, a Canadian mining magnate who has traveled the globe with Bill Clinton; the Chagoury family, which pledged $1 billion in projects to the Clinton Global Initiative; and Chinese billionaire Ng Lap Seng, who was at the center of a Democratic fund-raising scandal when Bill Clinton was president. Also using the Panamanian law firm [Mossack Fonseca] was the company founded by the late billionaire investor Marc Rich, an international fugitive when Bill Clinton pardoned him in the final hours of his presidency….”  (See “Inside Panama Papers: Multiple Clinton Connections” by Anita Kumar, Marisa Taylor & Kevin G. Hall, 4/16/16, McClatchy Washington Bureau [http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/article72215012.html]).


The McClatchy News feed was also picked up by several right wing media outlets like Newsmax, Breitbart and Drudge, since it first appeared on Saturday.

Bob Capano’s Rapid Response to: JOHN QUAGLIONE’S ILL-ADVISED REMARKS TO "COURIER LIFE..." ABOUT CAPANO

Bob Capano Issues Statement To Local Paper About John Quaglione’s Attack In Print and On-line 

To All My BSIs:  "The game's afoot..."

________________ 

HERE IS WHAT THE BROUHAHA IS ALL ABOUT

Yesterday this comment appeared in a thread to the prior article about Bob Capano and his prospective City Council race that appeared below, and which was dated 4/14/16:

“Galewyn Massey said...

UPDATE: THE 'QUAGLIONE OPENING GAMBIT IS A BLUNDER" EDITION

JOHN QUAGLIONE THINKS THAT SLAMMING A "FELLOW REPUBLCIAN" IS A GOOD WAY TO START HIS RE-RUN FOR THE CITY COUNCIL -- AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !!! GOOD ONE, QUAGS....

HERE'S WHAT I'M TALKIN' ABOUT:

This appeared in ‘Courier Life's -- Brooklyn Daily’ by Julianne Cuba: ‘And after Bob Capano made public his desire to run for Vincent Gentile’s (D–Bay Ridge) Council seat next year, a few others have come out of the woodwork — including Golden staffer John Quaglione.... Quaglione slammed Capano for angling to represent a neighborhood he doesn’t even live in....  “If he lives in Staten Island and he wants to run again, then maybe he should run in Staten Island,”' Quaglione said. “But for our sake, Brooklyn deserves level-headed Republicans in the City Council, and we deserve someone who is in touch with the neighborhood and not someone who has left.”...  Quaglione says he knows the area better than carpet-bagger Capano, who would have to move into the district by election day to qualify for office.... The state senate staffer would focus on constituent services if elected, he said....  “The conversation needs to go back to basics,”  Quaglione said. “If you don’t feel safe, your garbage isn’t getting picked up, you’re getting a flat tire, you’re not happy with city services — that’s where the focus will be.” ‘ (See "Martin Golden says he’s pulling for Trump" by Julianne Cuba, 4/14/16, Courier Life's - Brooklyn Daily/ Party Line by Julianne Cuba [http://www.brooklyndaily.com/stories/2016/16/pl-golden-trump-2016-04-15-bk.html]).

More about this in a later posted article on this blog.....” 

CAPANO REACTED QUICKLY IN RESPONSE TO THE QUAGLIONE STATEMENT QUOTED IN THE COMMENT ABOVE

The first thing that Bob Capano did was send a quick response to Julianne Cuba at 9:45 AM 4/14/16.  Then he sent a complete copy of the “Courier Life -  Brooklyn Daily” article cited above, along with his first response to the paper, to Capano’s current inner circle of politicos and reporters; that was done from 10:32 AM through 11:11 AM,  There were some E-mails back & forth. Then at 1:08 PM, 4/14/16,  Capano sent  out an updated statement [from which I took the Bob Capano statements that you see quoted below]. 

UPDATED STATEMENT BY BOB CAPANO ON JOHN QUAGLIONE’S COMMENTS TO LOCAL NEWSPAPER 

Bob Capano got to the point very quickly in his updated electronic letter;  this being his lead line:  "I was very disappointed  to see that Mr. Quaglione decided to attack a fellow Republican because I had the audacity to express an interest in running for City Council….” 

Showing that he has learned a thing or two about political PR over the years, Capano was right back ON MESSAGE, continuing with this:  “….  I am not happy with the direction of our city under Mayor de Blasio and Council Speaker Melissa Mark Viverito, especially the environment they have created through their quality of life "reforms" that has made our streets less safe, and made the jobs of our cops more dangerous. I want to help change this direction, and if I pursue a City Council bid, I want to do that for and from my home town community where I spent about 41 of my 43 years of life. During this time I was involved in countless organizations, including serving as the President of the 68th Precinct Youth Council, which provides over 1,100 children of Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, and Bensonhurst with baseball and soccer programs.”   [ If you’ve been following Mr.  Capano, either here on this blog or in the local papers, you’d recognize that those lines are a key part of Capano's  current effort to publicize "quality of life issues" in Brooklyn --- in particular in the 43rd City Council District.]

The once and future candidate for the City Council wasn’t finished though.  In addition to all that he’d written above, Bob Capano turned his sights back on his new Republican nemesis,  John Quaglione.   Capano closed with these choice word about Mr. Quaglione:   “…. While I have worked in the private sector as a teacher and running businesses, which means meeting payrolls and budgets, Mr. Quaglione has literally been on the taxpayer's dime his entire adult life since college, working for one elected official. If it comes down to it, I am confident voters will choose someone with private and public sector experience working with top Republicans and Democrats, as I have done, versus someone whose only significant point on their resume is working for Marty Golden. "

IT IS INTERESTING TO TAKE NOTE OF THIS

Bob Capano so believed that John Quaglione had made quite a political blunder by making his remarks to the “Courier Life – Brooklyn Daily”  that Capano wanted everybody to see Quaglione’s remarks.  So he made sure that his missive to the paper, and others on his E-mailing list, closed with this:   “….   The link to Mr. Quaglione's comments are in the link below:  
http://www.brooklyndaily.com/stories/2016/16/pl-golden-trump-2016-04-15-bk.html

FOR PRESIDENT --- WELL, IT'S NOBODY ANYTIME SOON --- NYS Conservative Party looks like it will sit tight for now

In an interview with Newsmax:  Mike Long,  Statewide Chairman of the NYS Conservative Party, says there is no consensus among Conservative Party members and executives to support any of the leading GOP candidates

Long says the NYS Conservative Party won't select who will appear as the presidential candidate on Row "C" for some time ---  probably until September

What, if anything,  this means in the bigger picture is certainly open to some discussion  --- AND --- Why  Long and the Conservative Party are saying and doing this at this time is open to some necessary  and enjoyable gossip  ---  Even some real "muckraking" might be in order

Is there any connection between Preet Bharara’s current probe of Mayor Bill deBlasio and the more than year-long investigation of State Senator Marty Golden ???

Some of the things that recently appeared in the NY Post must have disturbed Marty Golden’s sleep and sent a shiver down his spine   —    You know  —  the articles and columns involving U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s further investigations into corruption involving the NYPD and possible corruption involving Real Estate Industry political donations to campaign committees

Do these NY Post Headlines* look familiar to you ???  

—  “FBI probing State Senator Golden’s fundraising activities” — “Golden has no one to blame but himself for what happens next” and  —  “Golden’s lust for power will be his final downfall” 

* Actually these are mock-headlines adopted from recent New York Post headlines referring to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s investigations of Mayor de Blasio, and then adapted by this blog to be about U.S. Attorney  Prett Bharara’s ongoing investigations of State Senator Marty Golden. What is quite interesting is that they are so apt and accurate in both "the original" and in the adapted format, which appears above.
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PART 1  —  NEW YORK POST’S RECENT COVERAGE OF CURRENT POLICE & REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY CORRUPTION

According to the NY Post, “US Attorney Preet Bharara now has Mayor de Blasio in his cross hairs — investigating his campaign fund-raising activities as part of a widening probe into NYPD corruption, sources said yesterday....  The feds are looking at how the mayor solicits campaign cash from members of the real-estate industry — and the fund-raising activities of his former campaign treasurer, Ross Offinger, the sources said....  A source who dealt with Offinger told The Post he “plays fast and loose” with campaign-finance regulations....”  (See  “FBI probing Mayor de Blasio’s fundraising activitiesa’ by Jamie Schram and Larry Celona, 4/8/16,  NY Post/ Metro [http://nypost.com/2016/04/08/fbi-probing-mayor-de-blasios-fundraising/]).

Also according to that story, the very same Real Estate Industry donor and bundler that gave money to Mayor deBlasio’s campaign, gave donations to at least one NYS State Senator, Adriano Espaillat.

In addition to the news article above, a couple of the NY Post’s top columnists weighed in on the budding scandal, that might blossom into something as big as the Big Apple itself..

NY Post columnist Michael Goodwin wanted to focus your attention here >>> “Forget for a minute the gift and cash scandal rocking the NYPD. Even the two shady Brooklyn businessmen who allegedly handed out the goodies are not the big fish. And don’t be distracted by the arrest of a man accused of running a Ponzi scheme out of a failed restaurant that some of the cops frequented....   Block all that out and keep your eyes where they belong — on Mayor de Blasio. He’s the focus of the FBI and Preet Bharara’s federal prosecutors. Everyone and everything else is an important detail, but just a detail....  I wrote Friday that all the probers’ tips lead back to City Hall, and now the target is coming into clear view. It looks as if the mayor’s three slush funds, the ones that good-government groups blasted as a “shadow government,” have a bull’s-eye on them....”  (See “De Blasio’s lust for power will be his final downfall” by Michael Goodwin, 4/9/16, NY Post/ Metro [http://nypost.com/2016/04/09/probe-into-de-blasios-lust-for-power-will-be-his-final-downfall/]).

Another of the Post's regular columnists, Bob McManus, had his say, thus:   “So now Preet Bharara has cast a gimlet eye on Bill de Blasio’s campaign fund-raising....  Which comes as no surprise. If de Blasio isn’t running one of the gamiest administrations since Tammany’s sachems were pulling the strings at City Hall, it isn’t for lack of trying....   But not to worry....  As mayoral operative Dan Levitan says: ‘We are fully confident that the campaign has conducted itself legally and appropriately at all times.’...  [However,] given Bharara’s performance to date — Shelly Silver and Dean Skelos go before federal judges for sentencing Wednesday — the prosecutor’s interest in de Blasio can only be stirring mayoral nightmares....  Bharara appears to be setting himself up to be the final arbiter [, which] must be sending shivers down the mayoral spine.... ” (See “De Blasio has no one to blame but himself for what happens next” by Bob McManus, 4/10/16, NY Post/ Metro [http://nypost.com/2016/04/10/de-blasio-has-no-one-but-himself-to-blame-for-what-happens-next/]).

PART 2  —  CURRENT PROBE OF MAYOR DE BLASIO SIMILAR TO THE U.S. ATTORNEY –  FBI PROBE OF STATE SENATOR GOLDEN

If all of those NY Post stories above seem very familiar  —  they should....   Not that long ago, similar stories about all of the same kind of corruption were being put out there about our local Republican-Conservative State Senator Martin J. Golden.  And those articles appeared both on this blog and other media, including the NY Post, during the last two years; here are some of them ( See “Bharara investigating Golden’s campaign finances” by Carl Campanile & Rich Calder, 10/9/14, NY Post [http://nypost.com/2014/10/09/bharara-investigating-goldens-campaign-finances/]; “BIG NEWS ! ! ! — NEW YORK POST REPORTS: U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara Specifically Investigating Brooklyn’s Only Elected Republican — State Senator Martin Golden” by Galewyn Massey, 10/9/14, Brooklyn.... Fountainhead [http://galewynmassey.blogspot.com/2014/10/big-news-new-york-post-reports-us.html]; “Brooklyn Eagle and Home Reporter ‘See No Evil’ and ‘See No News’ in the U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s investigation of Marty Golden’s Campaign Finances” by Galewyn Massey, 10/15/14, Brooklyn... Fountainhead [http://galewynmassey.blogspot.com/2014/10/brooklyn-eagle-and-home-reporter-see-no.html];
 “More Bad News for Dean Skelos ! --- And Marty Golden Too ?” by Galewyn Massey, 4/16/15, Brooklyn.... Fountainhead [http://galewynmassey.blogspot.com/2015/04/more-bad-news-for-dean-skelos-and-marty.html]);
“Another link between State Senator Martin Golden and Preet Bharara's Ongoing Investigation(s) of Republican State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and his son Adam” by Galewyn Massey, 4/21/15, Brooklyn...  Fountainhead [http://galewynmassey.blogspot.com/2015/04/another-link-between-state-senator.html]).

Seeing the most recent headlines in the Post has to be upsetting for State Senator Golden, his staff and his insider-operators in the Brooklyn Republican Party. Of course, they would be most upsetting to Marty Golden, because as they say in legal circles, Marty’s case is “On All Fours” with the case that’s being pushed against NYC’s Mayor de Blasio. Like what the NY Post articles above show about Preet Bharara’s de Blasio investigation, the backgrounds of the two cases are almost identical.  The beginning is against a backdrop of police corruption, money is poured into “non-political” activities, those activities merge into self-sustaining political machine that attempts to create a monopoly in its political niche, and whose fund raising activities have become the focus of two U.S. Attorney-FBI investigations  —   one looking into Republican State Senator Marty Golden, and the other looking into Democrat NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio.

I recently spoke to a source, who has been closely reviewing Preet Bharara's case against Golden. That source reported that the case remains open; and the investigation moves along with other similar and/or related investigations. The similarities of the Golden & de Blasio investigations mentioned in this post did not surprise my source in the least.

To paraphrase a couple of lines from the Bob McManus column quoted in Part 1 of this post, above  —  Prosecutor Preet Bharara’s continued interest in Golden and relatively new interest in de Blasio can only be stirring the State Senator’s nightmares, like it's likely to be doing to the mayor's; and, given that Mr. Bharara appears to have set himself up to be Golden’s and  de Blasio's final arbiter, it must be sending shivers down the State Senatorial spine as much as it is to the mayoral spine.

City Council campaign themes emerging from Bob Capano’s series of E-mails, Tweets and press releases

A campaign for a 2017 race for the City Council is brewing in Southwest Brooklyn  —  It ain’t just talk anymore  —  Capano is now also reaching out for his “team”

Maybe, you have seen or heard some of this  ---  maybe, you haven’t.  No matter, here’s what’s been happening in the week-and-a-half since I last posted an article about the emerging Capano Campaign for the City Council seat now held by Vinny Gentile

First, Bob Capano has kept up his media blitz (something that’s been going on for months, Now). Second, Capano is reaching out to certain GOP insiders to be part of his “inner-circle,” both as part of his formal election committee -- and also as part of an informal “kitchen cabinet” of private operators of various descriptions and political PARTIES.

CAPANO’S MEDIA BLITZ GOES ON, AND ON, AND ON

Right now, the most visible aspect of Bob Capano’s effort is what is clearly a media campaign of some sort. That media push has included both regular press releases and occasional paid print advertising.  Clearly, an unstated theme of Capano's PR strategy is that of the "Energizer Bunny"  ---  he just keeps going, and going and going.

Since Bob’s ad buy in the Brooklyn Courier, he has followed up with a direct challenge to any Brooklyn office holder or Democratic leader to “... Publicly Stand Up to City Council Speaker Mark-Viverito....” and instead stand-up for the police and their fellow Brooklynites, who are feeling “... Less Safe...” because of the environment created by Speaker Mark-Viverito’s so-called “Reforms.”   Pulling no punches Bob’s last bullet-point was that  “...  Enough is Enough With [Melissa Mark-Viverito’s] Criminal Justice ‘Reforms’....”

In support of his position, Capano took special note of two recent surveys: one of NYC Police Officers; and the other of NY City residents showing that the policies and proposals of the City Council Speaker and the de Blasio administration were “... having a negative impact on our quality of life and police morale.”

Here it is in Capano’s own words: “.... Throughout my long history of public and community service in Brooklyn, I have always taken great pride in working for and with Democrats and Republicans. I have taken on some of the extreme views of my own Republican Party, and now I hope there are some Democratic leaders in our community who will do the same here, and stand up to City Council Speaker Melissa Mark Viverito and say enough is enough with the far-left criminal justice 'reforms' that are having a dangerous impact on our cops and neighborhoods. Whether it is the countless monitors looking over the shoulders of our cops, de-criminalizing quality of life crimes, erasing open warrants for offenders, closing Rikers Island, or not giving officers a raise despite the City Council giving themselves one for over 30%, it seems there is no common sense left in the City Council, or should I say the 'silly' council. Will one democratic leader show the courage and put our cops and communities over blind party loyalty to City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito? ”    Then Capano added this: “As the nephew of two former Brooklyn cops, I can not remain silent. I know that the vast majority of residents of Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, and Brooklyn support our NYPD, and do not want to go backwards when it comes to public safety. ”

As I stated in  comment to one of the articles below, “....  According to Steve Witt writing in his Kings County Politics Blog, ‘The war of words between Bay Ridge Democrats and Republicans –  [in] the borough’s only neighborhood with a healthy two-party system – continued today with Bob Capano, a longtime GOP operative calling out local Dems for not questioning City Council Speaker Melissa Mark Viverito‘s proposed criminal justice reforms.... Capano, who was born and raised in Bay Ridge, but now lives in Staten Island, is strongly considering moving back to his home turf to run for City Council Member Vincent Gentile‘s 43rd District seat next year when he is term limited out of office....’ (See "Bay Ridge Showdown Part 2: Republicans Call Out Dems On Criminal Justice Reforms" by Stephen Witt, 3/29/16, Kings County Politics [http://www.kingscountypolitics.com/bay-ridge-showdown-part-2-republicans/])....”  Also, Witt’s article and my comment both noted this:   “Bay Ridge Democrats spokesperson Chris McCreight responded that Republicans should be the last people to complain about criminal justice reforms.... 'Whether it’s assaulting a female reporter, tax evasion, or bribery, it speaks volumes that Bob and other Staten Island Republicans say nothing when their own party is involved in criminal activity.’...”

ADDITIONAL CAPANO PRESS RELEASES POINT OUT A DOWNTURN WHEN IT COMES TO “QUALITY OF LIFE” ISSUES  — AND —  CONDEMNS CONTINUED FUNDING FOR RADICAL ISLAMIC GROUP

Since Bob Capano challenged office holders and Democrat leaders to speak-out against City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito’s “criminal justice reforms,” he issued releases about the following matters, which showed a worsening of the “Quality of Life”: 1) criticizing the NYC DOT’s announced decision not to remove graffiti from public places;  and 2) noting that the “Guardian Angels” were resuming subway patrols in an attempt to stave off increases in subway crime.

Mr. Capano also resumed his long-term public jousting with the radical Arab/Islamist activist Linda Sarsour.  Capano’s latest release specifically “condemned” the City’s renewal of a $500,000 grant to Sarsour’s Arab-American Association. The organization is based in Bay Ridge and Linda Sarsour is its Executive Director. According to the Capano release, the grant was one of 14 given to community based organizations by The Mayor's Fund to Advance New York, which is led by NYC's First Lady Chirlane McCray.

Perhaps more important than Capano’s persistent, incisive and topical items in his media blitz were his organizational moves.

CAPANO STARTS PUTTING TOGETHER HIS “TEAM”

At a recent meeting with a few of his supporters, Bob Capano is reported to have indicated that he lined-up two of the “formal” members of his election team.  The first is a well-respected “manager-type” that has run successful Brooklyn campaigns in the past, Capano indicated that he was still in the middle of discussions with that “manager” --  as to whether he’d direct the campaign on a day-to-day basis as a paid “campaign manager,” or serve as a paid consultant overseeing some other of his associate operatives. The second is a well-known Brooklyn leader, who would oversee Capano’s campaign finances, a position that he had held in the past for various campaigns and candidates.

Bob also mentioned that three experienced fund raisers, who would each be handling separate fund raising activities, were likely to cover all of that for the 2017 campaign. Capano said that it is most likely that, from those three would emerge a single Capano Campaign fund raising and/or financial chairman.

“ALBANY’S SHAME” >>> THAT MEANS >>> MARTY GOLDEN

All Republicans in the New York State Senate helped Cuomo and Heastie pass a “Dream Budget” for Dems and Progressives

According to the NY Post Editorial Board, when it came to this year’s New York State budget, “Senate Republicans again proved worthless.... [What they agreed-to will hit New Yorkers hard.... Along with Governor Cuomo, they are] now fully vested in putrid Albany politics-as-usual....”

In case you were locked in a closet, or maybe you just missed it: on Friday, NYS lawmakers approved a $156 billion state budge for the next fiscal year.  Although agreement on the package had been announced Thursday night, the NYS Senate didn’t actually vote to pass the package until 9:37 AM on Friday; while the Assembly kept things going until much later in the day, because they took a five-hour recess at 5 AM, thus not approving the budget until around 7:30 PM Friday evening.

A SORE SUBJECT IN TO MANY IN BROOKLYN GOP POLITICS  —  ESPECIALLY TO ME

Among most active Brooklyn Republicans, everybody knows who “Albany’s Shame” refers to; their one and only all-Brooklyn elected governmental office holder,  RINO State Senator Martin Golden. That’s why when the NY Post editorial writers used that phrase — “Albany’s Shame” —   I was sure that somewhere in their “apt –  for April Fools Day...” editorial would be a harpoon into the ass of the “Great White...” State Senator, who represents Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Marine Park and a few other areas.  I was not disappointed; in fact I was more than vindicated in my own eyes.

According to the Post's editorial writers, ".... Senate Republicans again proved worthless. Yes, they pushed to limit the pain. But [they lost, and] what they agreed to will still hit [New Yorkers very] hard...." (See “Albany’s Shame” by NY Post Editorial Bd., 4/1/16 [print editions 4/2/16], NY Post/Opinion/Editorial [http://nypost.com/2016/04/01/albanys-budget-a-perfect-fit-for-april-fools-day/]).

MARTY GOLDEN DIDN’T EVEN KNOW ABOUT WHAT HE WAS VOTING ON

The Post’s editorial indictment went even further: “.... [T]he sad fact is, most lawmakers didn’t know what was in the budget they passed....  Indeed, the biggest lie is that they did their job by meeting the March 31 budget deadline....  Just what made it necessary to pass the budget before anyone could read the bills, let alone understand them?”

Another news report in the same print edition of the NY Post as the editorial cited and quoted-from above, noted the following: “....Several lawmakers were clearly overtired, swaying as they stood. Others dozed on couches....”; and this: “....  Just one senator, Simcha Felder of Brooklyn, voted against[, but h]e did not explain why....” (See “$156 billion state budget a ‘progressive’s dream’” by Kirstan Conley, 4/2/16, NY Post/Metro [http://nypost.com/2016/04/02/156-billion-state-budget-a-progressives-dream/][Note: in at least one print edition, the headline for this article read, “Dem dream’ budget is passed in Albany”]).

SENATE REPUBLICANS PASSED A STATE BUDGET THAT DEMOCRAT ASSEMBLY LEADER CALLED A PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRAT’S DREAM

In among the meat and potatoes of Kirstan Conley’s article about the newly passed budget was the following telling commentary by one of NY State’s top Democrats, who happens to be quite a “progressive,” as well:   “Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) described the final product as a progressive’s dream, citing a tuition freeze at the city and state universities, a 12-week paid family-leave plan, and a plan to boost the minimum wage from $9 to $15.... [He then went on to say]  ‘This is exactly type of budget that Democrats dream about, but it actually became a reality for us this year.’...”

DE PROFUNDIS CLAMAVI AD VOBIS  —  IS THERE NONE AMONG YOU WHO LOVES ME ENOUGH TO TRY AND RID ME OF THIS TROUBLESOME GOP STATE SENATOR

We Brooklyn Republicans don’t need any state senator that voted in favor of the coming year’s budget  —  not matter what party he is enrolled in or what establishment folks might endorse him.