So is it going to be "Felder vs. Golden" inside the GOP caucus

Right now,  it's boiling over inside the Brooklyn GOP and the head of the Brooklyn Conservative Party Chairman Jerry Kassar  ---  And it's all about the "Frankenstein" fellow-caucassing state senator,  nominal Democrat Simcha Felder and the end of speed cams in school zones all over New York 

State Senator Simcha Felder,  until 2018 the "D-R-C" state Senator from Boro Park and surrounding ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities,  has held the NYS Senate, and virtually the whole of NYS government, hostage throughout 2018 over an item of extreme parochial interest  ---  and something quite outrageous in its own right

HOWEVER  ---  LOCALLY,  IT WILL NOT BE SIMCHA FELDER THAT PAYS THE PRICE FOR THIS OUTRAGE  ---  IT WILL STATE SENATOR MARTIN GOLDEN

Last Friday, the NY Post did its lead Editorial all about it  ---  it stated the case quite completely,  but succinctly

Sometimes the most interesting fight is on the undercard.

The upcoming Democrat primary between Andrew Gounardes and Ross Barkan is heating up and might be quite interesting by September;  however, the hottest thing around right now is something that doesn't even look like it should be a fight on any card  ---  "Golden v. Felder"  ---  It's being fought deep inside the GOP and Conservative Party club houses or cloak rooms or phone booths or wherever else the people who count hash these things out.....

Until now, even though State Senator Felder's intransigence has been mentioned, it has not been the main story in why speed cams will no longer exist in school zones throughout NY State.  The NY Post Editorial has changed that narrative somewhat.

Here's exactly what the Editorial Board at the Post signed on for:

"If a car going more than 40 mph hits an 8-year-old, that child’s likely going to be maimed or killed. And The Post clocked multiple vehicles in the high 30s and low 40s Thursday — all in a school zone whose speed cameras stand disabled because the state Senate didn’t reauthorize them....   In all, we recorded dozens of speedsters rushing past PS 124 in Park Slope, each a potential killer if school were in session....   Which is why the Senate has to come back and pass the speed-camera bill before school starts up again in the fall....   Happily, the Times-Union reports that Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan is already canvassing his members about coming back for a special session. Since the bill has broad bipartisan support, it should be easy enough to get a quorum to do the job....  [***  >>> By all accounts, the holdup has been Sen. Simcha Felder, the Democrat who provides the key vote to make Flanagan majority leader. <<<  *** ;  emphasis mine] Yet it’s not just unconscionable to give Felder (or anyone else) a veto here, it’s political suicide: Every vulnerable Republican will face opposition ads charging that senator with endangering kids’ lives. And if they lose one seat, Felder is irrelevant....   Yes, the blame here goes far beyond Flanagan or Felder: City Hall’s efforts to lobby the Legislature range from vacuous to imperious, neither of which helps get things done. And the Assembly has its own long string of failures to tighten traffic-safety laws....   But it’s up to Flanagan now: Pass the camera bill, or wind up with blood on your hands...."  (See "Albany must fix the speed camera mess"  [entitled "Kids Before Politics" in the NY Post print editions]  NY post Editorial Board, 7/26/18 [print editions 7/27/18],  NY Post/ Opinion/ Editorial   [https://nypost.com/2018/07/26/albany-must-fix-the-speed-camera-mess/]).

MARTY GOLDEN IN THE CROSS HAIRS  [Along with Felder]

Make no mistake about this   ---   the speed camera issue will be a big deal in any 2018 general election between Marty Golden and either Andy-boy Gounardes or Barkin'-at-the-moon Barkan.  If the Flanagan and the GOP leadership in the state senate (including Marty himself) don't fix this,  Marty Golden will lose the 22nd S.D. seat for the GOP,  once and for all,  and it will happen in 2018.

That's why this is a fight between Golden and Felder.  And even though it's buried in the undercard, it's a fight that Marty must win to survive.....

Maybe the biggest villain in Brooklyn supported by Jerry Kassar, the NYS Senate Republicans, and a cowed and completely "buffaloed" electorate is not Marty Golden --- just as likely, it is Simcha Felder

According to the "Canarsie Courier":   "Under the stewardship of NY State Chairman Curtis Sliwa and Kings County Chairman Bob Capano, the state’s Reform Party has been mixing it up on the issues with other political parties and getting serious contenders in place for this fall’s elections...."

Case in point:  The Reform Party candidate against  Simcha Felder (D-R-C)  ---  LUIS RIVERA

This is what the report appearing in the "Canarsie Courier" had to say:  "One issue that affects many yeshivah school kids and their parents in the Canarsie Courier’s coverage area in Brooklyn, as well as throughout the state, and that has been gaining traction in parochial educational circles, is what the Young Advocates For Fair Education (YAFFED) describes as a sub-standard secular education provided in some ultra-Orthodox schools....   It is an issue that Sliwa protégé, and fellow long-term Guardian Angels member, Luis Rivera, is passionate about. Rivera, the Reform Party challenger currently gunning for Democratic State Senator Simcha Felder’s Brooklyn District 17 seat, issued a blistering press release in which he claims Felder had a [ ] role in lowering the bar for yeshivah education standards....   Rivera argues that the 'Felder Amendment' - as he calls it - 'carves out special treatment to ultra-Orthodox yeshivahs that lowers the bar even further for students.'  He claims that the embattled Felder - who is also being attacked by fellow Democrats as a closet Republican - held hostage the current Albany budget until he successfully slipped in the 'yeshivah carve-out.'...”     ("Reform Party Flexing Its Brooklyn Muscles" by Rybstein,  7/25/18,  Canarsie Courier   [http://canarsiecourier.com/reform-party-flexing-its-brooklyn-muscles-p2388-199.htm]).

The article also noted that  ---  "Felder’s district covers a large swath of Brooklyn’s orthodox communities from Boro Park to Flatlands, Marine Park and Sheepshead Bay, where Rivera faces an uphill battle to become the next state senator...."  and that  "....  Rivera called on Mayor Bill de Blasio to follow through on his three-year-old promise to investigate the city’s yeshivahs to ensure they are meeting their secular education requirements...."

Democrat Ross Barkan goes after fellow Dem Andrew Gounardes for being too close to Reform Party Chairman Bob Capano

Whoduh thunk it !!! ??? 


Bob Capano and his little Brooklyn Reform Party has become an issue in the Democrat Party primary for the state senate seat now held by Marty Golden


Barkan resorts to extreme left "political correctness" and "guilt by association" in his long-shot campaign against Gounardes  ---  raising the specter (and a Republican hope) of a hard-left Democrat running against Marty Golden

Now Capano has become city-wide news outside the Republican and Reform parties !!!

THEY SAY THAT  ---  "EVERY KNOCK IS A BOOST"  ---  but sometimes you do have to wonder. 

According to a hit-piece on Andrew Gounardes by  Samar Kurshid in the "Gotham Gazette"  ---   "As the contested Democratic primary for a southern Brooklyn state Senate seat heats up with less than two months to go, reporter-turned-candidate Ross Barkan is calling out his opponent Andrew Gounardes for accepting the endorsement of the Reform Party and its local leader, Bob Capano, who has a history of anti-immigrant rhetoric.... "  (See "In Democratic Senate Primary, Barkan Criticizes Gounardes for Embracing 'Anti-Immigrant' Reform Party Leader" by Samar Kurshid,  7/24/18,  Gotham Gazette/ State  [http://www.gothamgazette.com/state/7821-in-democratic-senate-primary-barkan-criticizes-gounardes-for-embracing-anti-immigrant-reform-party-leader ]).

The article went on at great length to bash both Capano and Gounardes,  with may quotes from Ross Barkan and local "immigration advocates" and agitators like Fatima Elmansy,  who  has been with both Linda Sarsour and "The Reverend"  El Yateem.

No doubt, Ross Barkan has connections in the press world that was his milieu for several years.  Now, he appears to be cashing in on those connections with heavy rolling thunder articles like this one.

Barkan's attempts to run to the left of Andrew Gounardes have been by painting his opponent as too close to the conservatives, Trump-Republicans  ---  and now Capano's Reform Party  ---  in the upcoming Democrat Primary for the state senate seat held by Conservative-Republican Marty Golden.  This seems to be a bare-knuckled and radical strategy given the ethnic and political makeup of the district,  however it is a solid one that has roots in recent Democrat trends;  and it has worked in a lot of prior Democrat primary races, both recently and historically.

RIP: Anthony Caracciolo

Most people only needed to refer to him as "Tony"  ---  during Caracciolo's heyday,  he was "Tony" and powerhouse Anthony J. [Tony] Genovesi was "Tony Genovesi" 

"Carach," as Mr. Caracciolo was sometimes called, was one of the last conservative-leaning Democrat District Leaders  ---  his "old 51st" covered southern Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Kensington, "Sunboro...",  Sunset Park above Third  &/or Fourth Avenues, and briefly, a sliver of Bay Ridge out to Ovington Avenue

In the late 70s and early 80s,  he was openly socially conservative  ---  just like his boss long-time City Council Speaker Tom Cuite

As late as the early 1980s,  "Tony" was seeking RTL endorsements for his favored Democrat candidates  ---  In 1980, "Carach" wanted to back "Honey" Flynn,  an  RTL-endorsed Democrat against incumbent Joe Ferris,  but Tony's co-leader, Louise Finney, and Democrat County Leader Meade Esposito intervened,  and during that primary Tony's club stayed "neutral,"  while Finney worked for Ferris.

Tony was often laughed at by the other Democrat District leaders,  but his power was real;  and he held on for many years after the CBID "reformers" were sure they could take him out  ---  he certainly outlasted Joe Ferris.....

Reformer Bob Capano uses his column as part of his version of unrestricted submarine warfare against "Republican" Marty Golden

Captain Capano launched two very well-aimed torpedoes into the side of the flagship of Brooklyn Republicanism,  New York State Senator Martin J. Golden  ---  it remains to be seen whether the old four-stacker had his guts blown out below the belt where it counts;  and whether he rolls over and goes down without a  return shot like the "Lusitania" did over a hundred years ago..... 

Does this mean that the whole Reform Party is going "all in" against Golden ?   Is Curtis Sliwa on board with Captain Capano ??? 

Are there even more bigger, more lethal,  "fish" out there ready to give Golden some of the "hit-'em-'Harder' "  action wolf-pack style ?????

  

Oh!  And Bobby C. all but said,   "Hey,  John Quaglione,  'This Bud's for you'  in his summation !!!"  (See if you agree.....)

Excerpts from Capano's column

 

And so it goes:  "Here is an open secret in politics: Elected officials are only as effective as their staff....  And the golden rule during campaign season is that there is a clear line of separation for staffs working on the taxpayers’ dime in their official capacity and engaging in political activities for their boss. Sure, a staffer can do both, but the hours working on each must be separated....  Lately, it seems that state Sen. Marty Golden’s staff has let him down on all of the above...."    [Translation:  my torpedoes are aimed at the  "S.S. Marty"  ---   but John Quaglione  ---   I didn't mention your name,  but do know that you are on board for this voyage;  so, enjoy the swim.....]  (See  "Golden’s staff’s faux pas showing cracks in his armor"  by Bob Capano,  7/19/18,  Courier Life's  Brooklyn Daily/  Politics/ Opinion/ The Right View   [https://www.brooklyndaily.com/stories/2018/29/all-right-view-golden-staffers-2018-07-20-bd.html]).

There is lots more detail in Capano's article about the multiple "Golden Staff" offenses,  apparently in violation of clearly stated federal law about a politician's use and control of social media.  However, the coup de grace is in Capano's concluding paragraphs;  and it's into the head(s) of people hitching a ride aboard the good ship "Marty G."

Capano's Summation:

"....   Staffers should have the same professional and ethical standards as elected officials because we also pay their salaries. If they do not, it is up to the boss to make a change....   I don’t know how to explain the recent sloppiness of [NY State Senator Martin]Golden’s staffers. It could be the pressure of Golden’s first legitimate re-election race, or just comfort by staffers who have been with him throughout his career in public office  (Hmmm !!!  THat sure sounds like Kassar and Quaglione)....   One of the pitfalls of being in the same position for so long is that it causes one to lose focus. In business, this is one the reasons retail chain stores often change managers every two years. The equivalent in politics would be term limits....  Perhaps, this is one more reason for term limits for all elected officials, and therefore, their staffs as well."

Are Golden, Malliotakis and Donovan lawbreakers and 1st Amendment Scofflaws ???

The especially lovely Julianne Cuba is quoting somebody,  who says it's a pretty good  >>> CASE <<<  that they are.....

LOOK OUT  ---  I'm afraid that she buried the lead on this one  ---  BUT  ---  What do I know ???    I'm only a humble independent Republican blogger !!!

HERE'S PART OF THE BACKSTORY ON THE NY1 NEWS ITEM ABOUT MARTY GOLDEN'S BLOCKING ADVERSE COMMENTS ON HIS SOCIAL MEDIA SITES

Here's the good/ bad stuff (based on your POV) about ALL THREE REPUBLICAN INCUMBENTS HERE IN BROOKLYN:

"....   A coalition of self-described progressives in Brooklyn are demanding three pols to stop blocking people on social media, following a May federal court ruling that deemed it unconstitutional for President Trump to block his critics on Twitter....   “We call on you to remove these blocks. Likewise, comments made on public officials’ social media platforms should be respected as any other form of protected speech. We’d prefer not to have to fight to get you to respect the Constituti­on,” members of five political groups, including Bay Ridge for Social Justice and South Brooklyn Progressive Network, wrote in a July 9 letter to a trio of Bay Ridge Republicans — state Sen. Marty Golden, Rep. Dan Donovan, and Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis....  Not only is blocking constituents with whom an official has differing views childish — and unconstitutional — but it also prevents voters from learning their representa­tive’s stance on important issues, said one Bay Ridgite....  “I’ve been blocked by both state Sen. Golden and Assemblywoman Malliotakis for pointing out their hypocrisy,” said Amy Zarkos in a press release. 'It’s beyond frustrating to see my reps claim stances I disagree with and not be able to comment, all the while reading comments posted mostly by constituents who do agree with them. People who aren’t in the know aren’t getting the full story, and that’s dangerous.'...”  (See  "Pols get antisocial on social media" by Julianne Cuba,  7/12/18,  Courier Life's Brooklyn Daily/  Party Line  [https://www.brooklyndaily.com/stories/2018/28/pl-party-line-2018-07-13-bk.html]).

NEWS FLASH --- REFORM CANDIDATE GETTING INTERVIEWED ALMOST AS I POST THIS

LUIS RIVERA, the Reform Party's brand new candidate against Brooklyn's most faux-Republican, faux-Conservative hack Simcha Felder,  is going to be interviewed at 2:15 on Brooklyn's only daily news talk show - produced at BRIC TV in downtown. The show is called 112BK.....

More like this to follow,  I'm sure !!!

On issue after issue, Republican State Senator Martin J. Golden is dangerous for all of the children

We all know how dangerous Marty Golden can be behind the wheel of his car;   we even know that he can be dangerous to others and is very unpredictable when he is a passenger in a chauffeur-driven car…..

There is plenty of documentary evidence that  “Senator-Lead Foot” Marty Golden is especially dangerous to our children around their schools

Last week, in a jibe at John Quaglione for saying to the press that,  in addition to everything else he has done,  Marty Golden had advocated that all state senators should go back to Albany  ---  in an attempt to be funny at John Q’s expense, I made a terrible blunder;   I said that the children living in State Senator Golden’s district would be safer if he stayed in Albany

---  NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH  ---  AND I DO ABJECTLY AND COMPLETELY APOLOGIZE TO ALL THE CHILDREN, THEIR PARENTS, AND TO THOSE ADVOCATES FOR CHILDREN,  WHOM I HAD SO BLATANTLY MISS-SERVED IN MY MOMENT OF WORD-PLAY AND WHIMSY  --- 

  ---  STATE SENATOR MARTIN GOLDEN IS A FAR GREATER DANGER TO THE CHILDREN IN HIS DISTRICT, IN NEW YORK  ---  AND BY RIPPLE EFFECT,  CHILDREN EVERYWHERE  ---  WHEN HE IS IN ALBANY FUNCTIONING AS A NEW YORK STATE SENATOR AND  VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE REPUBLICAN “MAJORITY” CONFERENCE OF THE NEW YORK STATE SENATE  ---  IN WHICH POSITIONS HE HAS NOW REPEATEDLY FOILED TWO MAJOR PIECES OF CHILD-PROTECTION LEGISLATION:THE CHILD VICTIMS ACT  (PROTECTION AGAINST PEDOPHILES)  ---  AND  ---  THE EVERY SCHOOL SPEED CAMERA ACT (PROTECTION FOR CHILDREN AGAINST HIGH-SPEED DRIVERS AROUND SCHOOLS)  --- 

It’s been widely reported that  ---  “…  ‘As the rest of America continues to decry sexual abuse and harassment, [State Senator Martin] Golden remains firmly planted on the wrong side of history, allowing hidden predators to continue inflicting pain and damage on our communities,’ said Steve Jimenez, a founding member of New Yorkers Against Hidden Predators, which organized the demonstration [at Golden’s Bay Ridge office].  ‘The inaction of him and his Republican colleagues in the Senate is a disgrace, and New Yorkers are making it known they have had have enough.”  By comparison,  State Senator Golden recently almost seemed nonchalant and blaze on the issue saying that he didn’t see an “impetus” to pass any legislation last year [2017].  Julianne McShane went on to observe that  “The bill is currently stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee and still has no floor vote scheduled — a fact protesters in Albany decried the day the legislature returned from its mid-winter break on Feb. 27, complaining that Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan wasn’t allowing the bill to come to the floor….”   (See  e.g.  “Locals call for Golden to support legislation protecting victims of child sex crimes”  by Julianne McShane,  3/2/18,  Courier Life’s Brooklyn Daily  [https://www.brooklyndaily.com/stories/2018/9/br-golden-child-victims-act-protest-2018-03-02-bk.html]).  

Almost the identical pattern has been followed by State Senator Marty Golden in his opposition to protecting children around schools by the use of speed-cams  (that issue has recently been quite well covered by the media as a whole, and by this blog in particular).  

So you see  ---  whether it's pedophiles or speeding cars around schools, Marty Golden treats it all like it's no problem worth doing anything about  ---  that is a very bad situation indeed  for our children and grand-children.

No matter how you slice it, keeping  State Senator Martin J. Golden in a Republican “majority” leadership position in Albany is very bad for the wellbeing of all children, especially the ones in the neighborhoods in and around Golden’s home district in Brooklyn.

ALSO DON’T BE FOOLED BY CRAFTY CONSULTANT-DRIVEN MANEUVERS TO SUPPORT PHONY FACE-SAVING BILLS THAT ONLY  >>> LOOK AND SOUND LIKE <<<  THEY ARE ADDRESSING THE DANGERS FACED BY SO MANY OF OUR CHILDREN AND GRAND-KIDS  ---  THOSE BILLS INTRODUCED IN THE REPUBLICAN-CONTROLLED STATE SENATE REALLY DON’T ADDRESS OR REMEDY THE REAL PROBLEMS  ---  DEEP AND INTRACTABLE SOCIOPATHIC BEHAVIORS;  AND, EQUALLY IMPORTANT,  THEY HAVE NO CHANCE(S) OF PASSING INTO ACTUAL LAW(S)  ---  OR AS MARTY GOLDEN SO GLIBLY AND FALSELY PUT IT ABOUT THE REAL REMEDIAL LEGISLATION,  REALLY AND TRULY THERE IS  “NO IMPETUS”  FOR  >>> HIS <<<  PHONY BILLS

Marty Golden's long hot summer

SOME "HAZY, LAZY, CRAZY" THOUGHTS IN THE  SUMMERTIME  DAYS OF  "SODA, AND PRETZELS AND BEER" LEADING UP TO JULY THE 4th   -----

---  Sometimes you get exactly what you want  ---  and that is your undoing 

---  Marty Golden has consolidated his grip on the Kings County Republican Party with Ted Ghorra as his puppet GOP County Chairman  ---  but is there anybody out there that can accurately say Ghorra's the Brooklyn  GOP "leader"  (when HE has no GOP followers)

---  Just as important,  a team ostensibly supporting Marty Golden has put its people into as the 46th AD "leadership" spots as members of the Republican State Committee for that district

---  THEN WHY DOES MARTY GOLDEN HAVE TO PAY PEOPLE TO BE SURE THAT HE GETS ONTO THE REPUBLICAN LINE ?????

People will be doing a lot of talking about Marty Golden during this long hot summer of 2018.  Some of it will be good stuff for him;  however,  the real drumbeat will be bad,  Bad,  BAD..... 

Let's start with the 46th AD  ---  Lucretia and Arnaldo and Craig and Bob all still live there.....   Hmmmm !!!   On the Marty side of the fence,  even after all the reorganizing, and wheeling and dealing with Saperstein, the operation is one big cluster-f**k  shambles.  Whew, don't that make you feel all hot under the collar and clammy all over.....

Let's move on to the bigger picture items  ---  It's now obvious that the "team of pros" with whom SSMG has surrounded himself is not capable of  effectively protecting him anymore.  It's also obvious that the media has pretty much swung around to be against the REPUBLICAN incumbent from Bay Ridge on issue after issue  ---  and they are strongly reporting and commenting on scandal after scandal.

What's more,  as we go into this long hot summer of 2018,  Marty Golden has no real street operation of volunteers  ---  and practically more significant than that,  he does not have a crew of "captains" ready, willing and able to recruit and organize such a street operation.  The very same things can be said of Ted Ghorra  ---  except "in Spades" !!! 

Now, here's something that you can take to the bank,  I'm sure that what will be turned-out as the Marty Golden 2018 Campaign will be the best that a handful of less than top-drawer consultants can muster  ---  because Marty is cheap, and he wants to send as much of his campaign $$$$$  "South" as he can by hook or crook.

Sure, Golden's supporters will say that during this very hot July 4th week,  Marty is still the incumbent and is still ahead in the polls  ---  but those polling results are all very problematic;  and they do show weakness,  even to somebody like Andrew Gounardes.  Don't forget, the campaign has hardly begun.  Picture where things like polls will be after BOTH SIDES go all negative --  all of the time.

Hopefully, things will cool down by mid-October.  However, the way things feel right now,  it might be very, very  >>>  hot, Hot, HOT  <<<  all the way to Election Day 2018.

But do you know what Marty Golden does have going for him during this long hot summer ???    An air-conditioned Cadillac  ---   and let's see how far that takes him.....

Cue Nat.....

"...  Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summerThose days of soda and pretzels and beerRoll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summerYou'll wish that summer could always be here...."

I KID YOU NOT --- another Quaglione bell-ringer in defense if his boss

According to a recent report by Paula Katinas in the Brooklyn Eagle,  John Quaglione says that, in addition to everything that he said his boss has done already,  State Senator Martin Golden's final response to the demonstrations and civil disobedience at his Bay Ridge office caused by Golden's School Safety Zone Speed-Cam Defunding and Golden's documented high speed driving around schools is to   >>> "ADVOCATE" THAT STATE SENATORS SHOULD IMMEDIATELY GO BACK TO ALBANY <<<

Kudos to John Quaglione and State Senator Golden  ---  because doing just that alone would immediately and certainly make the school zones around Golden's Brooklyn district a little bit safer

What more needs to be said ???