Bob Capano --- The Reform Party --- AND --- The Brooklyn GOP

Depending on what Bob Capano and Curtis Sliwa do with the Reform Party in Brooklyn in the next year or two,  this might be the biggest change in how the GOP has had to do things since the days of  Nelson Rockefeller, Jacob Javits and John Lindsay Jr.  (btw, there's a Rockefeller Center and a Javits Center, but where is the Lindsay Center ???)

Are the NYS Reform Party, in its various aspects, there to be the un-Cola to the NYS "Conservatives"  ?????

Bob can make himself a bigger deal inside the Brooklyn GOP by being outside of it  ---   than he ever was able to be/do inside of it.   Bob Capano and Curtis Sliwa are in a position to turn lots of things wrt the Brooklyn GOP onto their head(s).....   And one of those things is Jerry Kassar  (as in "It was just one of those things one of those crazy flings..."  -- CP). 

Nonetheless,  this whole Reform Party thing is a work in progress.  It remains to be seen how much sophistication and heavy lifting Bob and Curtis can (are willing to) bring to the table vis a vis all the other parties active in Brooklyn and/or statewide.  So, let me give this new dynamic duo some free advice:

First, have very long and serious talks with the likes of Jeffrey Klein, Diane Savino and other key IDC Democrats;

Next, have very long and serious talks with the likes of Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Michael Gianaris and other key members of the Democrat Minority Caucus  (btw, do you see where I'm goin' with this yet ???);

Third (maybe, even a little lower than that), have very long and serious talks with the likes of Ted Ghorra,  Nicole Malliotakis and other key "Brooklyn Republicans"  (Again, do you see where I'm goin' with this yet ???);

Fourth (maybe,  even a little higher than that), have possibly a very short but serious "fuck you and everybody that likes you" talk with the likes of Jerry Kassar,  Fran Vella-Marone and other key Brooklyn "Conservatives"; and

Fifth (and this should definitely be done after the "First" through "Fourth" above have been completed)  have a very long and serious talk with Justin Brannan:  1)  reporting on the results of first four long and serious talks;  and  2)  (and this is both brilliant and appropriate) paying homage and assuring general fealty to Justin Brannan as the one true "Boss of Bay Ridge".....  (>>> NOW <<< do you see where I'm goin' with this  ?????)

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Now, to kick back and enjoy some Sunday football (possible  ---  because the Meadowlands G-men aren't playing today)   !!!!!
BTW,  can I have a Diet 7-Up or a Diet Sprite  ?????
---  No,  not a Diet Coke or Coke Zero,  but a Diet Sierra Mist will do.....

Howard Graubard's excellent analysis

Gatemouth !!!   Howard Graubard ???   Who knew ???

---  I worked with the man for years,  did lunch, did drinks (didn't do the nasty).....  Now, he's completely out of the closet as "Gatemouth"  ---  Who next ???   Superman,  Batman, Zorro, Mickey Suits, John Catsimatidis ?????

HG's  in-depth 2017 NYC election analysis is definitely top notch  ---  all the way down to the 43rd  District City Council race

Let's go right to Mr. Graubard's  >>> local <<<  look at the "greater Bay Ridge" district: 

[As part of an overall Graubard/Gatemeouth rebuttal to a NY Times analysis of the city-wide impact of the Mayor DeBlahblah campaign]

"....  Let’s get real here [first, HG analyzed the Yeger-Hikind race; then he got down to Brannan-Quaglione]

....   As for Brannan, he scratched out a victory of 12,516 (50.51 percent) to 11,621 (46.89 percent) over his Republican opponent, John Quaglione—a close race and a stunning contrast to the race four years before, when Quaglione lost 62.76 percent to 35.50 percent.

And there may be an explanation for Quaglione’s improvement.

In the same area where Brannan barely won, the mayor managed only 9,330 votes (36.56 percent) to Malliotakis’ 14,302 (56.05 percent). Sal Albanese, who represented almost all of that area on the council from 1982 to 1997, got 1,119 (4.39 percent) on the Reform line.

How badly was the mayor repudiated here? Well, in the same area, the incumbent councilman, Vincent Gentile—who’d recently run fifth in the countywide district attorney primary while still winning that area—managed to get 48 percent of that district’s votes on the Reform line, without campaigning.

In other words, the mayor ran 14 percent behind a political zombie.

But if one believes The Times, the mayor lent Brannan coattails by getting nearly 3,000 fewer votes and running behind him by almost 14 percent.

Those were not coattails; they were nearly a noose [for Brannan]...." 
(See "Election Analysis Reveals Another Tale of Two Cities" by Howard Graubard,  11/15/17,  New York Jewish Life  [https://nyjlife.com/2017/11/election-analysis-reveals-another-tale-two-cities/]).
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NOTE:  THIS IS THE GRAUBARD/GATEMOUTH ANALYSIS;   AND IT DOESN'T CONSIDER THE OCD CONSPIRACY THEORIES THAT WE LOVE HERE AT  "BROOKLYN ...  FOUNTAINHEAD"

Cracks appearing in the Brooklyn GOP edifice complex

“REPUBLICAN PARTY STRUCTURE… ???   WE DON’T NEED NO STINKIN’ REPUBLICAN PARTY STRUCTURE... !!!" 

---  OR ---  WHO’S IN CHARGE HERE;  AND WHO’S YOUR DADDY  ?????

AND BTW,  HOW DOES ANYBODY EXPLAIN THE APPARENT >>> MAJOR DISCONNECT <<<  IN POSSIBLY THE KEY EDs IN THE 2017 CITY COUNCIL RACE ?????

A few things here in Brooklyn have been brought to my attention that to some might be very interesting.  ---  First,  how did John Q. do in those parts of the 43^rd Council District that overlapped Nicole’s Assembly District ?   Second,  can anybody come up with a good GOP reason why Craig Eaton is on the Justin Brannan transition team. 

 

The “Kings County Politics” blog sure as hell didn’t bury their lead on this story,  since their headline blasts out  ---  “Brannan Transition Team Includes Golden GOP Adversary” and puts it under a banner entitled “Pure Politics”…..  (See “Brannan Transition Team Includes Golden GOP Adversary”  by Kadia Goba,  11/17/17,  Kings County Politics/  Pure Politics   [https://www.kingscountypolitics.com/brannan-transition-team-includes-golden-gop-adversary/]).

Sing out, brothers and sisters, and clap those hands really loud:    “[Clap--clap--clap]  Oh my ---  my !!!   Oh my, my….  mmmmn !!!   Oh my ---  my !!!   Oh my, my….”

The Eaton-Brannan (or is it Brannan-Eaton ???) thing surely looks like an “In your face, Marty…”  kind of move.  At least that’s how it looks to yours truly;   but, hey,  what do I know or care about any of it;  I’m on the verge of becoming a full-time Floridian, drinkin’ mimosas and Irish coffee at the Beach Bucket every day with my Sweetie Pie,  and listening to Ronstadt do “Blue Bayou,”  Don McLean doin’ all his own stuff and other much older oldies by various artists,  far too numerous to mention (but, so far, no Jerry Vale).

THE BIG DISCONNECT

Now, this is something that’s needs some real deep drilling by somebody more in the know than I.  ---  Do the results for Nicole Malliotakis and John Quaglione in the Bay Ridge EDs of the 64th  AD add-up,  match-up, link-up  or any-other-up you can think of,  other than the obvious  >>> f**k-up <<<   ?????

Isn’t there something really wrong there ?????    Can Jerry Kassar explain this  >>> anomalous <<<  result ?????

Jes  Askin’

John Quaglione comes clean and admits --- “I know nothing !!!”

The “Kings County Politics” website reports that Candidate “Q” has denied any knowledge whatsoever about a last minute mailer on his behalf  ---  possibly illegally paid for by large scale real estate developers obviously expecting something in return

 

This is the same "crew" that got people like State Senator Martin Golden in hot water with a U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara investigation a couple of years ago

So much for all the BS about Marty Golden staffer John Quaglione’s having any media savvy whatsoever…..   When cornered about the financing surrounding a potentially embarrassing piece of lit being delivered by mail late in his campaign for City Council,  John Quaglione pleaded complete ignorance about the contents of the mailing itself and/or who it was that foot the bill.  

According to the KCP report by Kadia Goba,   “A super Political Action Committee (PAC) of realtors backed candidate John Quaglione (R) in Brooklyn’s 43rd council one week before the general election….   The super PAC, Progress Now New York Inc., includes the powerful Real Estate Board of New York PAC (REBNY) and names Quaglione as the favored Independence Party candidate in a mailing sent to voters in the district….   Quaglione, who has worked for State Sen. Marty Golden (R-Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Marine Park, Gerritsen Beach) for nearly two decades, denied knowing about the flyer as well as its origins….”  (See “PAC Money Aids Qugalione In Last Minute Mailer”  by Kadia Gobia,  11/3/17,  Kings County Politics/  43^rd District City Council Race  

[https://www.kingscountypolitics.com/pac-money-aids-qugalione-last-minute-mailer/]).

QUAGLIONE JUST MADE IT WORSE BY SUGGESTING SOME KIND OF ILLEGALITY MIGHT HAVE BEEN INVOLVED

This quote by GOP-Conservative-Independence Party candidate Quaglione not only made “Q” look completely out of it as a candidate,  it also poured gasoline on the already red-hot story.  “….  ‘I have no idea and no knowledge of any groups doing any such activities,’ said Quaglione when asked about the flyers distributed by the super PAC. ‘To do so would break the law.’…”   It should be noted that Quags might be right about that  ---  according to the campaign finance laws in play,  super PACs like  Progress New York are prohibited from donating directly to candidates or parties, because they can only express their support by expenditures completely independent of campaign activites.

BRANNAN QUICK TO SEIZE THE ADVANTAGE WITH A STRONG BOOST BY KCP

Also in Gobia’s article for”Kings County Politics,”  are the following well-quoted remarks by one of Mr. Quaglione’s opponents  ---  Justin Brannan:  “….   These mailers truly show what’s at stake in this election.…   Wealthy special interests and big developers have made it clear they’re supporting a Trump Republican who has tried to decimate rent control and will support overdevelopment of our neighborhood.’…   ‘This Super PAC is funded by corporations and individuals who want to see towers and skyscrapers built in Bay Ridge, destroying our quality of life and completely changing the landscape of our neighborhoods,” said City Councilmember Vincent Gentile (D-Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights, Bath Beach), who employed Brannan in his office for a number of years.’…”  

To help make the import of Mr.  Brannan’s quoted remarks  even clearer,  the KCP article added this:  “…  The bedroom community  [Bay Ridge] has long resisted large developers seeking to build high rises in the area. As early as last year, Community Board 10 which represents residents in  Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Ft. Hamilton, fought to reverse a zoning law that allowed residents to expand on their one- and two-family homes.

NONETHELESS ---  IT’S TOUGH TO GAUGE THE IMPACT OF KCP’S REPORT  SO LATE IN THE CYCLE 

This report by KCP comes very late in the game for this year’s City Council race(s).  It remains to be seen if there will/ might be any significant effect on Election Day,  with only three days left until the polls finally open for business this year.

Will the 2017 City Council Campaign involve issues of the beginning of life, the end of life --- and/or --- the beginning and the end of a life

Will there be a last second push to reopen a couple of very old “murder” cases involving a then-prominent Saint Anselm’s family that some people  >>> SAY AND SAY AND SAY <<<  involved undue influence by John Quaglione, Marty Golden,  Attorney Arthur Aidala and former DA Charlie-Joe Hynes ---  and, Oh Yes !!! Some "Church" guys too.....

Somebody has thrown a brick through my window and it was wrapped in the old local urban legend about the very young woman who gave birth at home and put the baby in the trash with the assistance of (a) sibling(s)  ---  and,  yes, the baby died…..

After some brouhaha,  the case(s) against the girl(s)s was (were)  buried in some elephants’ graveyard,  probably with a lot of connivance by “…  the usual subjects…” in this sort of thing,  including some of the local Catholic Church leadership [YES, I still have that bug up my ass  /1/].

My blogging on another site several years ago raked-over this muck pretty well, so I’m not going to get into any of the gory, sordid and corrupt details >>> AGAIN. 

My own recent life experiences have taught me that most personal tragedies  ---  involve lots of guilt and recrimination  ---  and that forgiveness and love is the one salve that almost always helps to heal many of the open psychological and spiritual wounds that are part of the fallout.

But this is politics   ---  AND THIS IS NOT A KUMBAYA OR  “COME TO JESUS” MOMENT  ---  so, folks,  stand by for a ram…..  Probably, the same person that put a little suggestive mention about this case in a comment on this blog a few weeks ago is the same person that has sent a detailed letter to several of the principals involved in the Quaglione, Brannan and Capano races….

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/1/  BTW,  the current featured documentary “Keepers” on Netflix is a very powerful telling of several stories  about the murder of a Notre Dame nun (yes, that’s a another hook to Saint Anselm’s too)  ---   Sister “Cathy”  ---   almost fifty (50) years ago and the sex abuse ring active at a Baltimore girls Catholic high school around the same time.