Never Forget...

From the Desk of Brooklyn GOP Chairman Craig Eaton:

On this 9th anniversary of the attacks of September 11, let us all take a moment to remember those who were lost, be thankful for those who survived, be grateful to those who answered the call in our city's most desperate hour of need, and be ever vigilant until those responsible for the attacks are brought to justice. On this day, our city is united against those who would do us harm and committed to protect the freedoms that make America the greatest nation in the world.

Let us never forget what happened in 2001, but let us also look forward towards a brighter future as a new beginning is rising out of Ground Zero more and more each day. With every floor built and every aspect of the Memorial fixed into place, New Yorkers move closer to a rebirth at Ground Zero. And everyday, a message is sent to terrorists around the world that New Yorkers will not be defeated.

September 11 - Should The Show Go On?

Russell and I have had a running argument regarding whether or not to do any broadcast this Saturday, September 11th. Since we can't decide, we're putting it to YOU. Respond with a comment to this article by Saturday at 12:00 AM. The most votes wins.

Russell says YES:

The show must go on. John McCain learned the hard way that taking time off for any reason during a critical campaign period is disasterous. Of course, we all know that 9/11 is not just "any reason", but we don't stop doing what we do on Pearl Harbor Day, D-Day, or the day that Gettysburg's bloodiest battle took place.

We all lost friends and family on 9/11. Soldiers are dying every day in Iraq and Afghanistan. In their honor, and to put a thumb in the eye of our enemies, we must carry on. Whether or not we do a show I will be out campaigning for someone. I recommend you all follow my lead.

Gene says NO:

I think Russell and I agree that we both want to honor those lost and those who sacrificed on 9/11. We only disagree on how best to honor them. I believe that we are - at our essence - a show about politics. I think politics should take a backseat on this day.

By not doing the show, I don't believe that we are dishonoring the lost, or that we are dishonoring those who had served and continued to serve. We are saying that 9/11 transcends politics.

Let the comments begin!

My Morning in Gravesend

On the way out of my house this morning, I walked passed the old Asian woman that regularly comes into my driveway to look for cans and bottles in my recycling bin. I don’t think she has much luck usually because, as far as I know, everyone that lives in the house returns their bottles and cans for the 5-cent deposit that the State holds hostage.

I continued down my block to the corner 7-11 to buy a cup of coffee before my ride into work. I passed several neighbors that were also heading to their cars on their way to work. In the 7-11, a working class man in front of me in line asked the clerk for a tin of apple flavored chewing tobacco. The clerk informed him that the City has banned the sale of all flavored tobacco products (not completely accurate- they still allow menthol flavored cigarettes!) Needless to say, he was not happy and made some disparaging comments about the Mayor and stormed out.

As I approached my car with cup of coffee in hand, I see a man standing near the tree in front of my car acting suspiciously. The woman in the car behind me had a baffled look on her face and began walking away quickly as I approached. I gave the man by the tree a closer look and saw that his pants were open and he was urinating on the tree in front of my car on the corner of Avenue U and West 8th Street!

Being the polite person that I am I waited for him to finish up before going to have a chat with him. Before I could open my mouth I heard another neighbor’s voice saying “Hey Russ, what the f@#$ is this guy doing?” So we asked him in a very Brooklyn-esque way what he was thinking and he frantically apologized. That was probably a good idea on his part.

The man that came to my aid is somewhat of a friend of mine. I'm not going to name names, but he is also one of the stars in a new show on Spike TV called “Scrappers” (http://www.spike.com/show/38515). It airs every Tuesday night at 10 PM. I don’t know his political persuasion, but I do know that he is as Brooklyn as it gets and he did the right thing this morning.

Our Mayor and local elected officials are busy banning aluminum baseball bats and flavored tobacco while our streets revert back to the way they were pre-Giuliani. I live in a relatively safe neighborhood, but quality of life issues/crimes are increasingly making life uncomfortable here.

Where are the police? I see traffic enforcement agents and sanitation supervisors issuing out tickets every morning and throughout the day to hardworking residents while they are powerless to stop graffiti taggers and public urinating dirt bags.

President John Adams once said “Liberty once lost is lost forever.” Our government at all levels has gotten into the business of taking liberty from the working class while turning a blind eye toward street hoodlums and other special interest groups. When will it stop? Just because the Mayor doesn’t like tobacco, trans fat, or salt and Councilman Jimmy Oddo doesn’t like aluminum baseball bats doesn’t mean that they should use their government power lent to them by the people to ban them.

Wake up my brothers and sisters. Elect people that believe in our republican form of government and will also protect us by cleaning up our streets before it is too late.

Wilson on Brooklyn GOP Radio Sept. 18th, Giuliani Stumps For Turner!

Looks like we have fans in high places!

After posting and talking about Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's guide to "Maximizing Your Benefits", which is essentially a how-to in pension padding that would drive the State to ruin, Brooklyn GOP Radio received a nice thank-you note from Mr. Wilson, who then agreed to be a guest on our show LIVE! in two weeks.

Did I mention that Mr. DiNapoli earned last week's "Buffoon of the Week" honors for this debacle? No? Well, if you missed that discussion, check out this past Saturday's show!

(By the way, the page in question has been taken down, but we have a cached copy of the content saved via PDF here!)

For more on the pension-padding issue, check out some of the coverage linked below, and don't forget to support Harry Wilson for Comptroller!

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle - who broke the story
NY Daily News 9/4
NY Daily News - Daily Politics
NY Post 9/3
NY Post 9/4
NY Post - Opinion
Poughkeepsie Journal

***

UPDATE: Just received a press advisory from the Bob Turner For Congress campaign that America's Mayor, Rudy Giuliani will be hitting the campaign trail with him before his "Move the Mosque" Rally later tonight.

Is this the best GOP Campaign that no one (but us) is paying attention to, folks?

For More, check out

http://capitaltonight.com/2010/09/giuliani-stumps-for-weiner-opponent/

Brooklyn GOP Candidates & The Ground Zero Mosque Issue

If you've tuned into the show the past few weeks, you've heard us talk about the Mosque issue - probably the most talked-about issue on the campaign trail. So let's see what the Republican campaigns out there are saying about the mosque.

We checked in with the Bob Turner For Congress campaign, and received this notice about his "Move The Mosque" Rally tomorrow at the Forest Hills Band-Shell on Forest Park Dr. & Woodhaven Blvd. in Woodhaven, NY

I think Bob is on to something - this is the first "Move The Mosque" Rally, as opposed to the anti-Mosque rallies that have taken place. Just about every Republican campaign has spoken out against the mosque near Ground Zero:

Susan Kone is running in the Congressional district where Ground Zero and the mosque are physically located. She has planned a "Sensitivity Summit" for tomorrow, where she has invited Imam Rauf and other community leaders to gain a "sensitivity to the pain and grief of those New Yorkers and Americans who were so profoundly affected by the tragedy of September 11 and the continued emotional distress that would be caused by the presence of a mosque so close to the location of the sacred site of the former Twin Towers."

Both NY-13 candidates have also been very vocal in their opposition to the Mosque near Ground Zero, and we encourage you to look up their - and everyone else's - positions on the issue.

Volunteer At The "Victory Center"!

I took this photo this week on a busy Thursday night as volunteers were making calls, checking lists and organizing literature for the next day's pavement pounding.

As you can see, there's plenty of work to go around, so come down and volunteer! There's opportunities for all ages, and you'll meet a lot fo good people as well.

Stop by the "Victory Center" at 7620 17th Ave. and lend the Brooklyn GOP a hand!

NY-13: Testing Candidates Under Fire

As Primary Day approaches, tensions grow. How candidates react under this tension should tell you how they'll handle adversity as your representative.

I respectfully submit the NY-13 race as a prime example. In recent days, Michael Allegretti has been pressing Michael Grimm on the use of photos of Grimm by his campaign showing him with medals that he knew he wasn't entitled to wear.

Says Allegretti:

Why does Michael Grimm continue to avoid giving a credible explanation as to why he knowingly used photos of himself, on numerous campaign materials, wearing military awards that he knew he did not earn and should not be wearing? The voters of Brooklyn and Staten Island deserve answers.

The issue revolves around a photo of Grimm in his Marine dress uniform that he used on his website and campaign materials until several weeks ago. Specifically, he is wearing a Meritorious Unit Citation and Presidential Unit Citation, both from the Army.

Here is the photo in question:

Grimm's Response:

At the time I was wearing them, I was entitled to wear them," Grimm said. "To have this petulant child say anything about my military service when he hasn't served a day in his life is truly distasteful.

Allegretti's Retort:

Michael Grimm has done something wrong, something dishonest, something that goes to the core of his integrity. It has absolutely nothing to do with his service. It has to do with his integrity," Allegretti said in an interview. "What he has done is use a photo in which he admits that he has medals on that he is not supposed to be wearing, and he is trying to confuse the issue by saying 'Allegretti never served, so don't worry about it'

You see where this is going... Let's give actual fact-finders the final word:

Grimm’s service record also includes the full list of the awards he received: the Selected Marine Corps Reserve Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Southwest Asia Service Medal with 3 bronze stars, the Armed Forces Reserve Medal with bronze “M”, the Kuwait Liberation Medal (Saudi Arabia) the Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait) and the National Defense Medal.

Those, and only those, are the awards Grimm won while serving from 1989 through 1997 and achieving the rank of corporal, according to his file retrieved by Major Shawn Haney, a Marine Corps public affairs officer. (Emphasis added)

Moreover, according to City Hall newspaper, the military record keeper was not familiar with any Marine unit serving jointly with the army in Iraq.

Unfortunately, after all this sound and fury, we're still without a definitive answer to Mr. Allegretti's question and are still left to ask why Michael Grimm used a photo of him in uniform with honors he knows did not earn in his political campaign.

Needless to say I have my own opinion on this situation, but I encourage everyone to investigate this and any other competitive race and judge for yourselves. Test your candidates to see how they react when they are pushed, prodded, questioned and challenged. That's the true measure of a prospective representative.

DiNapoli's Fuzzy Math

In my opinion, the strongest Republican campaign in New York has been Harry Wilson's run for comptroller. Wilson, a hedge fund manager with an M.B.A. from Harvard, recently wrote a report pointing out the deficiencies in the calculations of the state's pension fund. For you financial wonks out there, here is the paper.

From the NY Times:

When the state takes its snapshot of the fund, he says, it makes several mistakes, including two big ones. First, it counts money that is not in the fund — hoped-for investment gains that may or may not appear and future contributions from workers and taxpayers. Second, it does not take into account that the state pensions are worth more than other such promised money because they come with a constitutional guarantee.

The difference in dollars is huge, Mr. Wilson writes in a paper due out on Thursday. If New York recalculated its pension numbers with the stricter standards that companies use, it would come up $30 billion to $80 billion short, he says.

“The coming public pension crisis is the largest financial problem our nation faces at the state level,” he warns in the report, adding that it would eclipse the cost of the bailouts of companies like the American International Group and Fannie Mae, or the savings-and-loan industry in the 1980s.

New York’s retirees will not have their benefits cut, Mr. Wilson says, citing the constitutional guarantee. But over time, residents will see more cuts in public services and less money for infrastructure maintenance as public dollars are diverted to fill the hole in the pension fund.

The state’s plan to borrow billions more from the pension fund to get through this year’s fiscal squeeze, meanwhile, will drive the fund deeper into the hole.

Economists who were shown the paper said Mr. Wilson’s analysis of the problem was sound.

“That part of it is exactly spot on,” said Joshua D. Rauh, an associate professor of finance at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University who has written extensively on the accuracy of state pension numbers. He stressed that he was not endorsing Mr. Wilson’s candidacy.

DiNapoli's Response? Pure political cover.

Mr. Tompkins, the comptroller’s spokesman, said he was “flabbergasted” that Mr. Wilson would claim the state pension fund had a shortfall. He cited a report in the August issue of Governing, a publication for state and local officials, that called New York State “the nationwide pension leader, with the country’s highest-funded public pension at 107 percent.”

Every year, Mr. Tompkins said, the state requires a team of actuaries to review all pension calculations in detail; if something is awry, the chief actuary must report it to the comptroller and recommend an adjustment.

“The comptroller cannot arbitrarily change that number,” Mr. Tompkins said. “This is one of the more clearly defined processes in the law.”

Only once, more than a decade ago, did a state comptroller try to squelch an actuary, he said, and in that case the actuary resigned.

“We do things right,” Mr. Tompkins said. “We’re not New Jersey. We’re not guessing here.”

But, as one expert states, that's the problem!

That is the problem, said Zvi Bodie, a finance professor at Boston University who was asked what he thought of Mr. Wilson’s report. The state was following all the accounting rules to a T, Dr. Bodie said, and was coming up with misleading numbers because the rules were flawed.

What a great illustration of a fundamental flaw in governing - we need to pick candidates who see the broken system and who have the know-how to fix it. We can't afford anymore pols who stick their head in the sand and hide behind flawed systems. They care more about themselves than they do about us.