All Talk, No Action

It is no secret that the Brooklyn Young Republicans, under the leadership of Jonathan Judge, have marginalized themselves to the point of irrelevancy.

That said, you might be asking, "Why write anything about them then?" Well, as much as it pains me to say, it's time for me to publicly turn in my membership to this dysfunctional organization. It's broken beyond repair.

And it's a shame - because it didn't have to happen this way.

I've been a member of that club and have been for years, and considered Jonathan a friend during the early years of my tenure... and considered him at the very least a political acquaintance when our relationship began to sour a little over a year ago.

I always felt that the idea of a YR Club is to "build the bench" for the County lineups of the future. We were supposed to be the Soldiers listening and learning from the more experienced leaders. We were supposed to be the pavement pounders for our candidates, doing the things necessary to get our guys elected.

That's not what the YR Club in Brooklyn stands for now and hasn't for a while.

The YRs under Mr. Judge don't care to listen or learn from those who have walked the road before them. Quite the opposite. Instead, they think they know it all, or should I say they think they know better than everyone.

And pounding pavement? They don't go out during petitioning. They don't do literature drops. They don't go door-to-door. They don't stuff envelopes, or hold signs or make phone calls or do any of the other things that get candidates elected. Things that actually matter when it comes to "pounding pavement" for the Party.

It's a shame.

Over the past 1 1/2 years, Judge and Co. have endorsed candidates based solely upon opposition to whomever the County has endorsed. What's worse than the lack of support to the Party candidates - they endorse Democrats over other Young Republicans (like they did in the 44th Council Special Election).

Once their endorsements are announced, they do little or no work for those candidates - as is evident in the disastrous candidacy of Lucretia Regina-Potter (She's a sitting District Leader and was beaten almost 2 to1 in the Republican Primary by Peter Cipriano - a young Republican)
or when Jonathan Judge endorsed Joe Lazar, an entrenched Democratic machine-politician over Ken Rice, a young Republican who succeeded in making the ballot where Judge failed.

Notice a theme? Mr. Judge and his ilk go after young Republicans who work with the County. But it's deeper than that. Peter Cipriano and Ken Rice are dynamic young Republicans who have been bitterly attacked by both Jonathan and his club simply because they are young Republicans, like myself, who work with the County. In the case of Mr. Rice, he beat Mr. Judge at his own game, making the ballot for the Special Election in the 44th where Mr. Judge failed, and in the case of Mr. Cipriano, he did something no young Republican member can claim - he won an election.

It's a shame.

What's worse, they flaunt their arrogantly lazy approach to political activism. They were essentially defunct and derelict in their duty to their membership when their leader shut down operations to make an unsuccessful attempt at candidacy in a no-party race. More recently, the day after Primary Day - after a hard day of doing nothing - the Club met for snacks and conversation. Do you know where I and many other hard working Young Republicans were? Crashing at the Brooklyn HQ after hours of overnight lit dropping, phone calling and poll watching, taking in the lessons learned from wins and losses in Brooklyn and in the State.

It's a shame.

Aside from the above, the YR Club go out of their way to hurt the Party. The YR Club bylaws allow for Democrats as well as people that do not live in Brooklyn to become voting members of their club. It is rumored that officers of the club run or contribute to blogs that attack fellow Republicans on a daily basis - a rumor yet to be denied after over a year. Some active members openly support this garbage.

They obviously have all the free time in the world to do so, seeing as how none volunteer for any kind of political operation. They're content to stare at computer screens and scream into the wind that is the Internet.

It's a shame.

It is because of these and other reasons that I can no longer in good conscience be a member of the Brooklyn YRs as currently constituted. I call on every member of that club to evaluate what that organization has done to advance the Republican Party and our ideals. Upon review, I am certain that many of you will join me if you look at the situation objectively.