Now, if the actions of the voters in this past primary/special election are any indication of the sentiments of Brooklyn Republicans, the desire for genuine improvement over stagnation and failure is the first order of business.  And while the ideological gap between the increasingly younger, anti-”cradle-to-grave” electorate and the party establishment is stark, it is not insurmountable.

Brooklyn Young Republican Club President Glenn Nocera signing into vote for himself and his sister Donna Nocera for the Republican County Committee race in the 44th AD 57th ED . Sept 13, 2011

After all, on Tuesday, September 13th, voters showed, once again, that not only are they maintaining an anti-establishment posture, but they are rebuffing hostile attempts by the party establishment to purge Brooklyn of its young, independent Republican reformers.

In the most talked about upset from that day, we know that businessman Republican Bob Turner beat Democrat David Weprin by an impressive margin in the contest to decide who was going to represent the 9th Congressional District, or the so-called “Anthony Weiner” seat.

Weprin, backed by just about every Democratic establishment figure–including the Brooklyn Republican Party’s best buddy, Brooklyn Democratic Chairman Vito Lopez, was clearly recognized as an unqualified supporter of the Obama and Washington Democrats’ agenda.  The people are fed up with their awkwardly executed and catastrophically unsuccessful agenda for years now.  And so, the voters made it resoundingly clear that they were not going to send more of the same to Congress anymore.

The Brooklyn Young Republican Club, having participated in and analyzed Turner’s performance in 2010, knew from the start that he was a solid candidate.  That’s why our organization was the first in Brooklyn to host a fundraiser for Turner’s special election, donating $1,000 in support of his candidacy, and devoting tremendous time and effort in support of his election.

However, while good Young Republicans and young Republican-leaning voters of all affiliations were helping to send one more voice of reason and reform to Washington, the Brooklyn Republican Party establishment dedicated itself, yet again, to its antiquated Republican-eat-Republican agenda.  In fact, key operatives linked to the Turner campaign had been internally bemoaning the severely underwhelming support from the Brooklyn Republican Party leadership throughout the campaign.

That’s because, as usual, resources were diverted instead to intraparty warfare, just like in the 13th Congressional District primary last year.  Fortunately, whenever the current Brooklyn Republican Party establishment undertakes just about any political initiative, they are about as successful as Obama’s Hope and Change agenda.

For instance, Brooklyn Young Republican Club President Glenn P. Nocera was challenged for his county committee seat in the 44th Assembly District of Kensington, Brooklyn by Republican Chairman Craig Eaton and his hack minions. His leadership as a Young Republican activist and reformer apparently warranted that the Republican Party spend a tremendous amount of donor money on hit-piece mailings against fellow Republican Nocera in favor of candidates who didn’t even live within the same district!

As a testament to well over a decade of dedication to Republican principles and promoting its message of limited government, the Republican voters of Glenn’s district sent a clear response of “Back off and shut up!” to the establishment with an astounding vote of 23-1!

Meanwhile, in the establishment’s favorite battleground district, the 49th Assembly District, which consists largely of Bensonhurst, Borough Park and Bath Beach, the establishment yet again failed to silence the independent Republican voices that have repeatedly called out for reform and improvement within our party.  This was despite multiple, vicious, and expensive hit-piece mailings as well as cadres of county minions on the ground.  In response to the establishment’s hate-filled invective against fellow Republicans, 49th AD Republicans broadly supported Lucretia Regina-Potter and running mate Michael Bennette for the State Committee Member/District Leader positions over their establishment-backed opponents.

Establishment figures like Eaton think they wield the power to summarily replace hard-working, known Republican activist leaders with individuals whose only qualification to serve is fealty to the Chairman (and usually under the threat of removal from a patronage job).  Not only, in fact, is his imprimatur a veritable political Do-Not-Resuscitate for most campaigns–at best, but it only goes to show what the priorities are of the Brooklyn Republican Party under its current administration: cartel-style eradication of all voices of reform from within.

Since 2007, the current administration of the party has solely devoted its resources to engaging in political fratricide.  In doing so, they have completely left stranded a public desperately searching for any refuge of integrity and ingenuity.  There are genuine but completely missed opportunities for real leadership and solutions to government’s financial problems, practical solutions for alleviating the burdens on our economy that stifle growth and prosperity, and providing real reforms to the crisis of the debt-saddled young professional trying to get their start that is plaguing our generation.

And yet, tonight, when the members of that truly august body of career poll workers, Board of Elections employees, and superannuated intraparty warlords convene, I regrettably can only expect the status quo to continue for another two years.

In that case, over the next two years, however, I also expect the gap will further deepen and widen between the handful of Republican oligarchs and the growing young electorate that–Republican or not–is siding more and more with policies that favor limited government, greater personal and economic freedom, and intelligent, pragmatic policies and reforms to get us back on track–just about everything the Republican Party in Brooklyn right now is not.

But just like the cases of Turner, Nocera, Regina-Potter and Bennette, the only ones with the power to bridge this gap are you, the young (and preferably Republican) voters of Brooklyn.

As we move forward, we must fight to put the right people in the leadership of the Republican Party and public office, and, more importantly, cultivate leaders amongst ourselves on the right social, economic and political principles.  Through these efforts, we, together, can build the bridges we need to close the gap that separates the public’s will from effective action in order to accomplish finally what those “leaders” who have fallen abysmally short in conviction and integrity cannot.

Jonathan J. Judge is Chair of the Board of Directors of the Brooklyn Young Republican Club.

After many recent inquiries, I wanted to personally share with you the news that I have decided not to seek a fourth term as President of the Brooklyn Young Republican Club.  Moreover, in light of all the recent developments in Brooklyn Republican politics involving our organization, I feel that you ought to know exactly what my decision means for the Young Republican reform movement in Brooklyn. It means we keep moving forward.

Since the current administration was elected in 2008, we have attracted many new, energetic Young Republicans who have gained a tremendous amount of experience and accomplishments in grassroots politics, and that has made us an invaluable resource in Brooklyn.  These notable individuals have also given the club much of their time and energy to advance many of the issues we have been promoting over the years.

As my third term comes to a close later this spring, now is the time for these hardworking members of our club to be promoted in the service of the organization and, by extension, the good people of Brooklyn.  I will be assuming the role of Chairman of the Board of Directors, and the outgoing officers, Vice President Sam Rivera and Secretary Christina Bennett, will be serving as members of the Board of Directors.  Glenn P. Nocera, currently Treasurer of the organization, was nominated to run for President of the Club at our meeting last Wednesday.  He truly has an extensive background in local politics, and each of the nominees for the next administration are just as committed to the causes of reform as we were under the current administration.

Now, my job will be to oversee the administration of the club as a whole, as opposed to being responsible for the day-to-day administration of the club, which is the job of the Club’s President.

So despite the fact I’m not seeking a fourth term, I’m here to stay to pursue the next level of the work that we’ve started, much to the chagrin, I’m sure, of certain people in Brooklyn politics.

For those of you concerned with what, if any, impact recent Brooklyn Republican politics has had on this decision, let me assure you that it has not had any in the least.  We were quite aware from the time even before I was President that current Brooklyn Republican Party Chairman Craig Eaton, in his full-blown paranoia, was continuously looking at ways to try and eliminate the presence of the Brooklyn Young Republican Club over which he did not have any direct or indirect control.

Our internal strategy from the beginning was building the organization to be fully independent and self-sufficient in the event that a hostile chairman made a hostile move to try and harm our organization.  We have thoroughly succeeded on that front, and they have failed miserably.   In fact, there has only been a positive gain for us in membership and donations ever since!

Now that one of our main internal priorities from the beginning has been met, all of us in the current administration agreed that the next step is to help a new administration take over with our continued participation and leadership in the club, albeit in different capacities.  This way, for instance, we can begin to implement our recently adopted candidate recruitment initiative, for which we have been cultivating our Political Action Committee, BYRPAC.  Plus, we all have our eyes fixed on making further inroads in the Republican county committee convention this fall, where county-wide leadership is up for election.

We are anything but discouraged. If anything, the fact that the party leadership is still more concerned about what other Republicans are doing than competing on real issues in general elections has emboldened many of us to continue the pursuit of reform inside and outside the party.

So though I may be leaving this particular position, it is in order to pursue the same efforts at the next level in concert with my colleagues and friends in the Brooklyn Young Republican Club as well as with other concerned Brooklynites.

Lastly and most importantly, I want to thank deeply from the bottom of my heart Sam Rivera and Christina Bennett who tirelessly served the organization with me over these past three years.  We worked hard through good times and tough times, and there were many, many busy nights, but every bit of it was worth it.

I also want to thank Glenn Nocera for all that he has done and all that he will do as the Club’s next President-elect, along with Vice President-elect Roy Antoun, Secretary-elect Osher Gordon and Treasurer-elect Lou Perrotta.   These people are very much dedicated and selfless in their pursuit of reform for a better, more Republican and more Constitutional government for all Americans.  I can safely say that all of us in the club look forward to helping them accomplish even more in Brooklyn and beyond than we were able to under my watch.

As always, if you have any questions or would like to reach me personally for any reason, you may email me at JJJudge@gmail.com or call me at 347-278-7525.

Sincerely and gratefully yours,

Jonathan J. Judge
President
Brooklyn Young Republican Club
Established 1880

Earlier today, New York State Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox crowed in light of Kruger’s surrender to federal authorities:

This [corruption] is definitely a Democratic problem and it started with [former Queens Assemblyman] Brian McLaughlin, who was also the head of the Labor Council in New York City.

Of course, the press was quick to respond about the arrest of former Republican State Senator Vincent Leibell and the conviction of former Republican State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno on corruption charges, among other incidents.

Cox then replied:

It seems like it is mostly a Democratic problem. But I agree with you about Senator Leibell.

Now you know that many Brooklyn Young Republicans, and especially me personally, have been honest about the problems on both sides of the aisle.  Corruption can occur among Democrats as much as Republicans.  It has nothing to do with the principles of our party, or who its voters are.

It does have a lot to do, however, with the men and women who lead the party and let these problems go undetected because of the allure of a much bigger political and financial payoff.  That happens in all politics, regardless of party.

Unfortunately, such broad–and perhaps unintentionally disingenuous–generalizations like that which Cox made hurt our party’s credibility to be the party of reform.  I would wholeheartedly agree with Cox that Democratic monopolies, like what we have in New York City, can and do breed rampant corruption.  After all, in not less than 6 years, Democratic City Council Members, State Assembly Members, State Senators, a State Comptroller, and a host of Democratic operatives on government payrolls have been arrested and convicted on a variety of corruption charges.

More importantly, the number of Republican corruption cases pales in comparison to the huge number on the Democratic side.

But let’s not forget that as entrenched as Democrats are here in New York City (in some notable cases with the help of local Republican leaders), there are places in New York State where the Republicans have a stranglehold on electoral outcomes.

It is a fact that your less-than-well-intentioned “political animals” are naturally going to seek public office through whatever organization can get them elected as easily as possible.  In New York City, they run with the Democratic machine.  In some places in New York State, such as Nassau County in its hey-day, they run with the Republican machine.

The only factor that can mitigate the payoffs of corruption is electoral competitiveness.  If Republicans leaders in Brooklyn, for instance, had not allowed Democrat Carl Kruger to run unopposed for over a decade in the second-most Republican district in Brooklyn, do you really think Kruger would have taken the risk of ending his political career and going to jail by performing the kinds of acts that the feds have accused him of?  Probably not.  Heck, we might have even had a Republican in that seat, and that would have been one less corrupt State Senator to talk about!

It is a well known factor in the science of corruption that elected legislative officials who have reason to believe they could lose an election at any time and therefore lose all protection from prosecution are less likely to take the risk of performing corrupt acts.  Carl Kruger is one of many perfect examples of what happens when someone gets too comfortable with cutting deals, running unopposed, and abusing their office to get as much power and money as they can extract from the public without electoral consequence.

(As a rule of thumb, always be cautious of the elected official who never has an opponent, especially if there isn’t even token opposition.  That is, I assure you, never an accident.)

Republicans, however, should not be afraid to speak honestly about our own elected officials when they do wrong.  We should be especially vigilant with our own party leadership and question why Kruger, among many others, have been allowed to go seriously unchallenged for so long.  And looking even beyond whatever our party’s compromised leadership has done, we should be, as Young Republican activists, actively recruiting and supporting principled, reform-minded Republican candidates to challenge and expose the deeds of any incumbent, whether within our own party or not, so that the public knows that it is getting the best, most principled service their tax dollars can provide.

Jonathan J. Judge is President of the Brooklyn Young Republican Club.

(The views and opinions expressed herein are not necessarily that of the Brooklyn Young Republican Club).

However, the story of Marisol Valles García, the now-former police chief of Práxedis G. Guerrero in the border state of Chihuahua, Mexico, is one worth our attention because, in many ways, her story could be ours.

In October 2010, the 20-year-old García found herself the only one willing to take on the job of the town’s police chief. Her predecessor had been savagely tortured and beheaded in 2009 by the drug cartels, creating a year-long vacancy for one of the most dangerous jobs in Mexico.

The violence stems from the brutally violent Juarez and Sinaloa drug cartels’ battle for control of the state’s main highway to access the cash-laden American drug market. Up until García’s appointment, the cartels had successfully intimidated the older and more experienced men, who rejected the job repeatedly for fear of their lives.

Yet as the men of Práxedis left this perilous task to the married mother of a baby boy and student of criminal justice at the University of Guadalajara, the international media looked on in both awe and pity at the courageous young chief who proclaimed at her swearing-in:

“I took the risk because I want my baby son to live in a different community than the one we have today. I want people to be able to go out without fear. We’re all afraid in Mexico now. We can’t let fear beat us.”

Well, after a six-month stint in the position, reports from the press have indicated that García may have fled to the United States seeking asylum after being sent repeated death threats from the drug lords because she refused to cooperate in their illicit trade.

Now, we who live in the New York City of 2011 most probably have the luxury of not worrying about such life-and-death scenarios beyond the crisis of our morning cup of coffee going up about 20 cents.

But for those of us with longer memories, we know that it wasn’t always the case.

About 20 years ago in New York City, we faced a true crime and drug epidemic, where drug dealers, organized crime, racially-motivated violence and crooked public servants almost destroyed NYC from the inside out.

It wasn’t until communities of civic-minded New Yorkers came together as private citizens and decided enough was enough that chaos gave way to order. In many ways, the election of Republican New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani marked the turning point in the fate of New York City–which represented a complete rejection of the City’s complacency with the failed status quo.

And we New Yorkers banded together to clean our city up.

While we should be grateful that the early 1990′s proved that the renaissance of great cities like New York was possible, let’s be mindful of the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of victims throughout those trying times beforehand that devastated many of New York’s men, women and children along the way.

And that’s why we should never allow ourselves to be so distracted by the problems of today that we fall victim to the grave errors of the past that inevitably return to confront us time and again. What is happening in Mexico is merely a reminder that whatever liberty, prosperity, and safety we have now can dissipate like a puff of smoke if we are not vigilant and willing to take the necessary steps to protect it.

So remember the story of Marisol Valles García, the young woman who showed more courage than anyone else to do what was right and necessary for her community. I have no doubt she chose to flee in the face of the death threats made against her because the people who should be guaranteeing her protection in her job have been too thoroughly weakened or, worse yet, compromised by the cartels.

The questions for each of us to answer is how many of us would be willing to take on the tough job that García did if push came to shove, and how many of us are willing to do now whatever it takes to keep New York City on the right path.

And while we reflect on those questions, let’s be sure to say a prayer for Marisol and her family that they find peace and safety wherever they go.

Jonathan J. Judge is President of the Brooklyn Young Republican Club.

(The views and opinions expressed herein are not necessarily that of the Brooklyn Young Republican Club.)

“If New York Democratic elected officials were angels, no Republicans would be necessary.”

Wow, yesterday was a bad day for reform (the LIFO bill passing the State Senate notwithstanding).

The New York State Young Democrats are praising the Senate Democratic Minority  as “Heroes of Reform” because they pay lip service to Governor Cuomo’s Independent Redistricting Commission bill.  Mind you, this is the same caucus that warmly embraced the likes of Pedro Espada and Hiram Monserrate until the 2009 coup (after which the Republicans briefly embraced them for their own unrealized political ambitions), and other lovable “reform” icons such as Carl Kruger and Kevin Parker.

At the same time, the New York State Senate Republican Majority announced that they are not going to sign on to Governor Cuomo’s Independent Redistricting Commission bill, either as is or for the purposes of improving it through the legislative process, citing constitutional issues.

Now I have written before that Senate Republicans were allegedly going to backtrack on the pledge to advance independent redistricting reform earlier this year, which they agreed in principle to support when the entire conference signed on to former New York City Mayor Ed Koch’s NY Uprising pledge.  (And you also probably know that our club’s informal motto is the “R” in Republican stands for Reform.)

But why is the majority really not backing it, you might ask.  In case you don’t already know, gerrymandering districts for State Senate, State Assembly and Congressional seats after the decennial census has been a time-honored tradition of the corrupted political establishment in New York State to further entrench the status quo.

What usually happens is the majority party of the State Senate and the State Assembly draw favorable districts for their majority members to keep them in office, despite the best efforts of the better angels of the people, and they horse-trade over Congressional districts to seal the deal.  That means the State Senate Republican Majority has been complicit in marginalizing and selling out the real reformers of the Assembly Minority, currently under Republican Leader Brian Kolb, in exchange for the Assembly Democratic Majority selling out the Senate Democratic Minority.  (Isn’t Albany just like one big happy, dysfunctional family?)

In their calculus, the Senate Republicans win, the Assembly Democrats win, so who shouldn’t be happy?

Well, want to know why your taxes are high, government spending is obscene, special interests groups are omnipotent and the taxpayers have been virtually neutered?  There’s your answer.

Now, Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos is right that the Senate Democrats, when in the majority for a brief time between 2008 and 2010, never advanced any legislation to promote independent redistricting reform.  Therefore, this announcement is no reason for Senate Democrats or the public to think the Senate Democrats can wear the mantle of reform, especially when they have the luxury of not jeopardizing a majority in the process.  But that’s also not an excuse for Senate Republicans to avoid dealing with the problem until the next census in 2020.

After all, the Senate Republicans claim they want a constitutional amendment to implement a permanent, nonpartisan independent redistricting process, which, due to the legal mechanisms involved, would not be able to take effect until after this redistricting process has taken place.  Don’t get me wrong: it’s a great long-term strategy. But holding out only for that scenario would mean, unless Senate Republicans and Assembly Democrats, with Governor Cuomo’s approval, back some kind of reform this year, the same dysfunctional, corrupt system will be in place to determine the district lines for the next 10 years.

If that’s the case, you can definitely forget about Republicans winning more State Assembly seats (Speaker Silver will crush any possibility of that for sure), and Albany corruption and bad government will permeate more of our daily lives to our detriment over the next decade.

Most importantly, if my hunch is correct, the only reason that Democratic Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver is willing to risk his 99-out-of-150 member caucus by saying he supports Cuomo’s reform bill is because he thinks Senate Republicans are not willing to risk their tenuous 32-30 majority by drawing non-gerrymandered districts.  He figures that he gets points for supporting reform, he won’t lose Democrats in the Assembly due to the Senate’s failure to pass any reform that would produce honestly-drawn, non-gerrymandered districts, and the Republicans look like the bad guys.  How more perfect could life get for Shelly?

So, let’s make sure to keep Republicans the chief reformers of New York State government while proving that the Senate Democrats’ claim of being the “Heroes of Reform” is nothing but a laughable delusion.

Want to help? Contact Senate Republican Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Brooklyn Republican State Senator Marty Golden, and tell them to support some kind of immediate independent, nonpartisan redistricting reform to take effect this year, even if it isn’t Governor Cuomo’s plan exactly. It’s about time we finally put an end to the entrenched status quo in Albany, and show the Democrats to be the crafty political tricksters we know them to be on this issue of reform.

Jonathan J. Judge is the President of the Brooklyn Young Republican Club.

(The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily that of the BYRC.)

Since 1880, the Brooklyn Young Republican Club has always proudly maintained its grassroots, reform-minded Republican character.  These latest corrupt moves for direct control of independent Republican organizations by Mr. Eaton and the State Young Republican Association’s leadership, long beholden to establishment cronies, only serve to demonstrate how out of touch the Republican Party leadership is with the public and the grassroots of our party.  It also means there is much more work to be done in Brooklyn and New York State in cleaning the party up.

In fact, over the past year, voters across the country, and especially within the Republican Party, have expressed their anger and frustration with the ‘get-along, go-along’ status quo that has brought the rise of the Tea Party movement.  For too long, Republican Party leaders and insider operatives have expected grassroots Republicans to blindly follow their will.  Instead, our party needs to be open to those who do not always agree with the party leadership, including their choice of candidates.

After all, where would we have been in 2010 without principled, reform Republicans and Tea Party activists willing to challenge the failed Republican Party establishment?  For instance, nearly 7 out of 10 Republicans thought independent Republican Michael Grimm was the better nominee for the 13th Congressional District.  Yet if Mr. Eaton and his shrinking band of establishment supporters had gotten their way, Mr. Grimm would not be Congressman Grimm today.

Throughout our organization’s history, we have never shied away from calling out the corruption and misdeeds in both parties, while organizing voters around principled candidates and common-sense solutions.  The Brooklyn Young Republican Club believes that we need to put people before politics, good policy before patronage, and reform before the ‘go-along, get-along’ status quo.  We pledge to continue our commitment towards those ends and welcome all young Republicans, Tea Party activists, and young Brooklynites fed up with a failed, do-nothing establishment to join us in this tremendous opportunity to make sure the job gets done right.

Over the past couple of weeks, you have probably seen the tremendous coverage over the latest development in Brooklyn Republican politics, where Brooklyn GOP Chairman Craig Eaton has unilaterally sponsored a misleading “re-launch” of the so-called “OFFICIAL Brooklyn Young Republicans.” Unfortunately, we know that this move was designed to cause confusion and damage to our organization, the original Brooklyn Young Republican Club established in 1880, while instilling further divisions within our party so Mr. Eaton may feel more secure in his chairmanship.

In fact, Brooklyn Young Republican Club officers and board members attended the “Inaugural YR Meeting” of Eaton’s Young Republicans to ensure attendees were not confused about the existence, authenticity and purpose of the original Brooklyn Young Republican Club, due to the misleading advertisements that went out from Mr. Eaton’s small band of operatives.

And what we witnessed at this function would be demoralizing for any Republican.

Most of the attendees were official party leaders, consisting mostly of district leaders who have held their positions for decades and other executive committee members, as well as a couple of the establishment’s newcomers and their friends, who have received backing of the current leadership largely in the name of advancing other internal conflicts.

I spoke with a few of the party operatives and leaders who attended the function, and, although I won’t name them publicly, they confided to me their trepidation about the Mr. Eaton’s maneuver.  One proclaimed, “I know one day we’ll all be united again as a party.”  Another commented to me, “I’m not sure that this [starting up a rival club]  is going to work out well for us as a party.”

However, there was one brief encounter that deeply disturbed me as a Republican.  Now, while there are certainly people in the party leadership whose involvement is based on a different premise than many of the Brooklyn YRs, I make it a point always to remember that, even if we disagree, we are fellow Republicans nevertheless.  So in that spirit, I greeted the entirely familiar faces that attended Eaton’s Young Republican meeting.

And then I approached the Vice President of Eaton’s organization, Eugene Pevzner, to introduce myself, since I had seen him at a previous function but had not formally met him.  While extending my hand in the course of introducing myself, he brusquely rejected the amicable gesture as though I had personally committed an offense against him.  Mind you, this is the first encounter we actually had.  This reaction even stunned one of the onlookers, who has been a county operative for years.

I mention this not to say anything personally in particular of Mr. Pevzner but to indicate which perspective each side has of these recent developments.  For Mr. Eaton and the county establishment, it is a battle for absolute control of the party in every respect.  Vilifying and undermining fellow Republicans is absolutely essential in this plan because one cannot afford to have anyone believe that anyone whom the establishment dislikes could ever be a political ally.  I can only imagine what has been said to Mr. Pevzner to provoke a reaction like that in so short a time.

Meanwhile, we have always believed that our job as the Brooklyn Young Republican Club is to build the party from the ground up with as many young, civic-minded activists as Brooklyn can offer–especially where Republicans do not have the foundation they need for success.   That has been our history since 1880, and we certainly have no plans on abandoning this pursuit of reform and Republican principles.  Control is not an issue for us because, in a county of nearly 3 million people, political success is born out of compromise and cooperation on common ground, not by trying to pull everyone’s strings to produce one person’s version of an acceptable outcome.

That’s why, in the course of events over the past few years, Brooklyn Young Republican Club members have been actively encouraged to interact with the county establishment, including Mr. Eaton, in the course of our efforts assisting candidates and training Young Republicans to be the leaders of our party today.  While we certainly have had frank discussions about the many incidents that have occurred, there has never been a need to forbid contact or communication with the leadership.  People always came to their own conclusions, based on what they experienced personally and what they hoped their personal payoffs to be from their involvement, and they chose accordingly from there.

And yet, despite the attempts over the years by many individuals in the party to get Mr. Eaton to sit down and have his preoccupations assuaged through dialogue and compromise, Mr. Eaton has always rejected the olive branch and chosen instead the “us or them” approach, which has led the party down this destructive path.

It is my feeling, however, that fellow Republicans who have not been very involved within the party do not really understand how we have gotten to this point.  The story of my political experiences as well as that of others has not really been told in full.  For many of you who have been watching these latest events unfold, this all may seem perplexing if not completely foreign.  However, these developments have been years in the making, and the Republican voters of Brooklyn–especially the Young Republicans who are in the process of inheriting the party itself–have a right to know.

That’s why I am going to start a series of posts entitled, “Finding the Republican Party in Brooklyn,” recounting the incidents and personal experiences that have not only led the party down this path, but also to offer young people like Mr. Pevzner a better idea of what they might be getting into and what they could expect down the line unless the many Young Republicans of Brooklyn take care to protect and defend the integrity, independence, and grassroots instincts of the Brooklyn Republican Party.

Jonathan J. Judge is President of the Brooklyn Young Republican Club.

This, however, is just the latest attempt by the current anemic leadership of the Kings County Republican Party establishment to distract Republicans from its persistent failures to earn any Republican challenger in Brooklyn a majority of support from voters. Instead of at least spending the past four years cultivating an enduring relationship with the diverse, civic-minded young Republicans in Brooklyn, Kings County Republican Party Chairman Craig Eaton has deliberately chosen to invest himself–and consequently the party–in destroying as much of the self-motivated, grassroots Republican activists that might rightfully challenge the all-talk, no-action status quo of its politically-compromised establishment.

Our organization, founded on the objectives of advancing Republican principles and government reform, continues to innovate new strategies for effective grassroots activism among young Brooklynites, and we continue to attract those same individuals to engage in and learn from the causes and campaigns that we as young Republicans support. Especially for these reasons, we continue our steadfast commitment to providing an open, inclusive and dynamic environment for Young Republican activism in every corner of our great borough. Everyone counts–from Williamsburg, to Kensington, to Bedford Stuyvesant, to Bay Ridge–and we exist to make that particularly true for all young Republican voters.

However, we now must publicly caution our membership and the general public against confusing this unilaterally Craig Eaton-sanctioned young Republican effort, which is based in the same tiny corner of southwest Brooklyn as all of the party’s other activities, from the authentic Brooklyn Young Republican Club, which has existed as a Brooklyn-wide organization for over 130 years and shall continue to do so regardless of what the temporary leadership of the Kings County Republican Party establishment prefers.

As authorized by the Board of Directors of the Brooklyn Young Republican Club, we will take all appropriate action to thwart any attempts to deceive or mislead Young Republicans or the public in Brooklyn as to the existence, authenticity and purpose of our organization: the Brooklyn Young Republican Club, founded in 1880.

About the Brooklyn Young Republican Club: Following a successful effort to support the Republican Garfield/Arthur Presidential ticket, the Brooklyn Young Republican Club was founded in 1880 by renowned Republican and reformer Seth Low, who later served as Mayor of Brooklyn and of the City of New York. Since then, the Club has served as the launching pad for many notable Brooklyn Young Republicans in civic, social and political life. For more information on the Brooklyn Young Republican Club, visit our website at http://www.BrooklynYR.com.

However, now that the Senate Republicans are back in the majority–albeit 32-30–there’s an article in City Hall News today that is questioning how firmly committed Senate Republicans are to this important pledge.  Most assuredly, Assembly Democrats under Speaker Shelly Silver are probably not thrilled with the concept either; both majorities might have something to lose by not guaranteeing their conference members “safe districts”.  Yet, gerrymandering is never a sustainable, long-term substitute for genuine political organization and activism, and that’s particularly true for Republicans in New York.  We have seen the evidence of that throughout New York City and New York State in the past decade, where several custom-carved Republican-safe districts were lost to Democrats anyway.

You certainly can make up your mind on where Senate Republicans might be heading in the independent redistricting commission debate that will consume much of this year’s politics in Albany in preparation for the 2012 election cycle.  This City Hall News article is but one look at the whispers floating around the Albany rumor mill.  But, while I don’t expect most Assembly Democrats under Shelly Silver to catch the reform bug anytime soon, I certainly hope that we can count on the Senate Republican Majority to stay true to their pledge and remember that the “R” in Republican has always stood for reform.  And this is a big reform all New Yorkers need.

Today, Monday, January 17th is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  On this day, we remember a very special American who ultimately sacrificed his life in pursuit of the cause of equality for all. While others during his time took more hostile stances towards the crises of his day, King is especially remembered for his noble fight in civil rights by embracing a message of respect, love and peace among Americans from all walks of life.  That was and continues to be the key for making the promises of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness an ever-expanding reality for everyone in our great country.  So please do take some time today to remember the life and work of this remarkable person.

When I was first informed about the Brooklyn GOP Radio Blog’s latest piece, “All Talk, No Action”, I thought it was the ironically appropriate new motto of the Brooklyn Republican Party’s blog talk program.

Many Brooklyn YRs opted to go door-to-door to hand out literature for U.S. Senate candidate Gary Berntsen.

Of course, I quickly skimmed the subsequent diatribe from 47th Assembly District Leader Russell Gallo, a recently resigned (and hardly ever) Brooklyn Young Republican Club member, loudly proclaiming the supposed irrelevance of an organization and movement in which he never participated and to which he devotes a Wall Street Journal-length op-ed to smearing.

If it were not so important to rebuke this destructive and unproductive Brooklyn Republican Party mentality, I would have gladly left this unremarkable and silly critique to vanish into the cesspools of cyberspace.

The Brooklyn Young Republican Club, which has existed since 1880, for all intents and purposes, re-founded itself once again in 2008.  With a membership of 8 people at the time, almost no resources and no presence outside of Bay Ridge, the team of Young Republicans that have gotten involved in Brooklyn now spans the entire borough and has attracted statewide and national attention for our innovation and accomplishments in drawing the energies of young voters into principled political activism.  That’s why our club has hundreds of supporters in Brooklyn and counting.

At the Brooklyn Young Republican Club's January 2010 Meeting, Mike Grimm, the successfully elected Republican nominee for the 13th Congressional District, addressed the club, which allowed him to build volunteers and support in Brooklyn early in his campaign. Many Brooklyn YRs later went on to collect signatures on petitions for his campaign.

While to-date our club has never endorsed a candidate, our members have always freely and willingly volunteered their money, time and services to Republican campaigns and causes throughout Brooklyn and around the state because they encountered them through our organization.  As we are a club of freely associating Young Republicans from Brooklyn, the elected leadership of our club has never sought to dictate which candidates people can or cannot support, nor have we attempted to bully anyone into a particular strain of Republican ideology.  We do not agree all the time, and some of us agree rarely.  But we still come together to build up—not sacrifice and tear down—the Republican Party and its principles.  That has been our key strength as a political organization.

More recently, during the 44th Council District Special Election in March 2010, the membership of the club, freely and willingly, spent hours in blizzards collecting signatures, knocking on doors, doing literature drops, and donating money in support of my candidacy.  Had arcane election law procedure not prevented us from performing a full line-by-line recount of the signatures that we collected, my name would have, in fact, been on the ballot, which the Kings County Supreme Court clearly stated.  As much as I would have loved to have had club meetings during the short two-month campaign, dues-paying members strenuously objected to such a notion if it meant getting off the streets.  For their true dedication and support during that time, I am extremely grateful.

Brooklyn YRs trekked up to Albany to assist with Republican Jim Tedisco's Special Election Campaign for the 20th Congressional District

But more importantly, we have emphasized our commitment to government and political reform (inside and outside of our party), principled political activism, and the growth of civic and political infrastructure.  We have provided crucial resources and tools for Young Republicans to voice their concerns, advocate for the issues that matter to them, and resolve the problems they see in their own communities and party.  As such, we have been at the forefront of innovating for a 21st century approach to political organization and activism.  Naturally, the people of Brooklyn and beyond, in all parties, are now taking careful notice.

However, Russell Gallo and Gene Berardelli—both Republican leaders handpicked by Brooklyn Democratic Boss Vito Lopez’s favorite Republican Chairman, Craig Eaton—vehemently disagree with this approach.

They seem to think that the Brooklyn Young Republican Club instead ought to compensate for and be complicit in the failures, ideological and moral compromises, and incompetence of an exclusive, do-nothing Republican Party establishment all for the glory and profit of the same people who have relegated it to this sad state.

2009 Brooklyn GOP Establishment FREE Invitation-Only Holiday Party at the Marty Golden Family's Bay Ridge Manor, squandering a whopping $9,836.00 of party donor dollars. Could that money have been spent better?

The Chairman of the Party blows the party’s funds on social gatherings for poll workers and every personal pet cause with which he has a personal connection.  The District Leaders are fattening themselves and their relatives on Board of Elections and other taxpayer-funded patronage jobs.  They, like 47th Assembly District Leader Russell Gallo, run “clubs-in-name-only,” consisting of just the local poll workers that they manipulate to collect signatures under threat of losing a measly $200-a-day, twice-a-year poll worker job, which is taxpayer-funded.

Those “club members”, in order to get the poll worker job with the Board of Elections, run to be County Committee Members at the direction of the District Leaders.  And if any of them don’t vote with the District Leaders, the District Leaders threaten to fire them from their jobs.  Likewise, if any of the District Leaders don’t vote with the chairman, the chairman threatens to fire the District Leaders from their patronage jobs.

And after all of this, do they manage to accomplish anything, even the occasional win?  Never.

Is this the democratic, republican way to conduct politics?  No.  Rather, is this a communist-style top-down command hierarchy? Yes.

The Brooklyn Young Republican Club's Call to Action connected Joe DioGuardi, the successfully elected Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, to nearly 100 local Republican voters one week before the Primary Election.

That model has failed miserably in the past.  It fails now and will continue to fail.  That’s why the Republican Party of Brooklyn is in the shambles that it is in.  And since the Democrats do the exact same thing (albeit with more success), is there any wonder why New York City and New York State government is a disaster?

Worse yet, establishment apologists like Russell Gallo and Gene Berardelli apparently think that right is still on their side.  But let’s look at the facts.  While they are critical that my campaign in the March 2010 Special Election, after learning we would not be on the ballot, chose to endorse the candidate most in alignment with core Republican principles, they never once questioned or called out corrupt Democratic Boss Vito Lopez-approved Republican State Senator Marty Golden’s enthusiastic and unwavering support of Dem Boss Lopez’s handpicked candidate, David Greenfield, over that of a fellow party member.

Brooklyn YRs campaigning in front of local church

They also chose to support, purely out of spite and Democratic deal-making, an unknown Republican who had lived in the City of New York less than a year compared to a candidate like myself who has been a lifelong resident of the district and has been very active in the community with city government issues.  That was even despite my personal reaching out to sit down and discuss my campaign so we could work together towards a win.

But the objective was not for an actual Republican to win, of course, since their endorsed Republican only garnered 332 votes out of nearly 13,000; it was for David Greenfield to get as much Democratic, Republican and Conservative Party support as possible to win.  That was just one of the many deals they made to prevent Republican State Senator Marty Golden from getting a serious Democratic challenger, and it was a deal they kept.

Republican State Senator Marty Golden's Chief of Staff, Jerry Kassar (right), working with Dem Boss Vito Lopez operative, Bobby Carroll (left), to score another win for Boss Lopez in the 44th Council District Special Election.

At the same time, they wonder why Young Republicans have tended to be more supportive of Lucretia Regina-Potter’s campaign for State Assembly in the 49th Assembly District over a largely civicly-disengaged and unknown 20-year-old former paid Bloomberg 2009 campaign staffer.  Despite two previous elections where the Brooklyn Republican Party chose to ignore and even undermine the efforts of Republicans like Regina-Potter in sections of Brooklyn outside Bay Ridge, this time they chose a strawboy candidate whom they used purely for revenge.  They then directed an unprecedented amount of money, resources and energy–at the expense of their own congressional candidate who lost–in order to defeat the genuinely better-qualified and better-situated Regina-Potter in a primary–and that by only a mere 173 votes with an 8% turnout.  Now he will face 24-year Democratic incumbent, Assembly Member Peter Abbate, a close, Vito Lopez-approved political ally to Republican State Senator Marty Golden.  (Hmm…I wonder how that race will turn out in the General Election?)

Once again, establishment apologists like Gene Berardelli and Russell Gallo have never put this much effort toward any candidate or organization that they actually genuinely supported–including their own underwhelming candidacies for public office–as compared to what they are willing to do to destroy independent, reform Republicans they never liked and have no interest in trying to get along with.  After all, where were all these establishment apologists for the Brooklyn Republican Party’s endorsed former candidates like Yvette Bennett, Glenn Nocera, Susan Cleary, John Chromczak, Pedro Monge, Sandy Serrano—among many others?  Young Republicans were there to help.  Where were they?

Brooklyn YRs Helping Former 44th Assembly District Leader Yvette Velazquez Bennett register new voters

Perhaps, it’s what 47th Assembly District Leader Russell Gallo himself revealed to me at the Republican State Convention earlier this year, that, after petitioning is over, any sincere campaign efforts cease because, to quote him, “Oh, c’mon, it’s not like any of these people are going to win anyway!”

If they have such little faith in the candidates that he and his colleagues pick, maybe it’s time for them to step down and let someone prove they can do it better.

Instead of criticizing the Brooklyn Young Republican Club, they would have been better off discussing how they could bring everyone together to build a true family of Republican voters and activists in support of a principled platform of reform for what ails government today, and then actually support it!

It is apparent, however, that they would rather be certain they are miserable in failure and servitude to the Brooklyn Democratic bosses in order to receive mere crumbs than risk being happy together in success with all of their fellow Republicans and neighbors.

Brooklyn YRs campaigning in 2008 for Presidential Candidate John McCain, State Senate Candidate Glenn Nocera and State Assembly Candidate Yvette Velazquez-Bennett

Unfortunately for them, Young Republicans, and most voters, are allergic to this kind of self-serving hypocrisy and foolishness, and right now, that’s all this Brooklyn Republican Party establishment has to offer.

So, for the duration of my tenure as President of the Brooklyn Young Republican Club, I pledge, to our fellow members and to all the young people in Brooklyn who want to leave a better system for their children than the one we inherited from the establishment of yesterday, that:

Roy Antoun, Brooklyn YR Communications Co-Chair, successfully won a primary for a county committee seat in the 46th Assembly District in 2009.

We will continue to welcome all Republicans of all perspectives and ideologies, including those Democrats and other voters who tend to identify more with Republican principles (who eventually change their registrations to reflect that) in order to build broad support for Republican principles and policies;

We will continue to innovate, and to encourage young Republicans to pursue whatever roles in party or public office they seek, sharing our collective experience, knowledge, and resources with them to promote those common objectives;

And, most importantly, we will continue to pursue any and all reforms and changes of leadership inside and outside our party to ensure that the Brooklyn Republican Party no longer remains the exclusive club of vassals to Brooklyn Democratic Boss Vito Lopez’s corrupt agenda, but a functioning family of independent, principled Republicans who seek simply to do their best to make life better in Brooklyn and beyond for everyone.

I’m sure that as Russell Gallo wishes to divorce himself from this organization and its goals, so have most of his colleagues in the Brooklyn Republican Party establishment.  It’s now up to us to tell them their time at the helm is at an end.

We simply can no longer afford it.

Jonathan J. Judge is President of the Brooklyn Young Republican Club.

(The views expressed herein are not necessarily that of the Brooklyn Young Republican Club.)