Source: Liz Benjamin / Capital Tonight

Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb told me on CapTon last night that his staff has identifed some unspecified “flaws” in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s redistricting reform bill, which might spur his conference to propose amendments – or even an entirely new piece of legislation.

Kolb, along with Senate Minority Leader John Sampson and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, signed former NYC Mayor Ed Koch’s reform pledge last fall, agreeing to co-sponsor independent redistricting commission legislation by March 1.

The leader said he remains supportive of the concept of redistricting reform, but insisted there “can’t be any even slight advantage to anybody.” He is so far unconvinced that Cuomo’s bill accomplishes that.

“We believe there might even be a problem constitutionally on the equal protection clause, in terms of fair representation, the demographics about upstate, downstate, you know, the island and all that enters into pla,” Kolb said.

“I’ve been at the forefront of saying: Nonpartisan independent redistricting…If we’re not there on this bill, we’ll have our own bill that is a better bill if we think this bill is flawed.”

“It’s not just about the pledge. It’s the pledge that we think would make better government. If we end up modifying or amending the governor’s bill to make it really a good bill I have no problems supporting the governor’s bill with amendments. If he’s not willing to amend his bill, that’s when we’ll come up with our own suggestions.”

Capital Tonight news is reporting that Republican Tom Kirwan has been officially declared the winner:

According to the MidHudsonNews.com Thomas Kirwan has been finally declared the winner in the 100th Assembly District. It was the last legislative race in the country to be called.

A Brooklyn appellate court voted 4-0 this morning, declaring him the winner over Democrat Frank Skartados, who actually defeated Kirwan back in 2008.

Kirwan’s victory gives Republicans 51 of the 150 seats in the Assembly, which means they would be able to sustain any veto by Governor Cuomo if they voted as an entire block.

Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb released the following statement on the announcement of the court’s decision:

“After a long legal process, the race is finally over and Tom Kirwan should immediately be certified the winner so taxpayers in the 100th District have a voice during the budget process.  I congratulate Tom and his family on this tremendous victory, which has increased the ranks of our Assembly Republican Conference to 51 Members and broken the Democratic ‘supermajority.’  Tom is a true public servant and brings with him a proven track record of reform that our state needs. Today’s victory is a terrific ending to a historic election cycle where Assembly Republicans won three out of four Special Elections last February, in addition to winning nine open seats, and picking up nine new seats in November’s elections.”

Congressman Michael Grimm and BYR Treasurer Glenn Nocera

Michael Grimm’s election in the 13th Congressional District on November 2, 2010 was a showcase of fine Republicanism and grassroots activism. This was the target race in all of New York City, if not New York State. What made Grimm’s campaign important was that he was part of the Republican insurgency of the House of Representatives to defeat Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi and introduce a different breed of conservatism in Congress. The seat, formerly held by Michael McMahon, is strategic to conservatives in New York. Why? Because it covers vital Republican strongholds located in Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights. The location was the decisive factor in helping Michael Grimm get elected, which included Brooklyn Young Republicans who, by pounding pavement, helped spread the word.

Michael Grimm’s election, however, was one of the very few Republican victories in Brooklyn. While he and Nicole Malliotakis claimed victory Tuesday night in large part due to many Republican votes from the larger Staten Island portions of their districts, other Brooklyn Republicans went back to their homes to no avail. Phyllis Carbo lost with only 34% of the vote in the 47th Assembly District.  Brian Doherty lost with 38% in the 48th AD.  Peter Cipriano also lost with 38% in the 49th AD.

The 58th and 59th Assembly Districts had no Republican candidates running.

And, my favorite: the 46th Assembly District attempted to run a Republican Candidate against Alec Brook-Krasny, but was swiftly knocked off the ballot and Brook-Krasny ran essentially unopposed. Needless to say, those District Leaders in the 46th have some explaining to do.

The numbers can be upsetting.  After all, Republicans do have a lot to offer to New York City and to Albany. Free markets, low taxes, a revamped welfare system, and transparency all contribute to good government. But with election numbers this low in Brooklyn in one of the best years for Republicans in quite some time, a few things come to question.

1) How does the Chairman allow Democrats to run unopposed in districts, especially Democratic Chair Vito Lopez’s handpicked State Supreme Court judge nominees (whom Brooklyn Republicans always cross-endorse)? Republicans are some of the best and brightest in the borough. The question begs, why is there no effort being made to tap into and cultivate a Republican intelligencia?

2) The 46th AD leadership is weak. Not running a candidate is one thing, but dropping a candidate off the ballot is another. With the fervent anti-incumbency feel running rampant throughout the country, District Leaders Clorinda Annarummo and Simon Shamoun had the opportunity to surgically remove a career politician. The question begs, why didn’t they?

3) The low voter turnouts, lackluster campaigns and candidacies, and low vote percentages are unacceptable. For far too long, the Republican Party has been receiving far too few votes in virtually any election. The question begs, why is the Chairman doing nothing to change this?

And so, the question ultimately begs, what are Brooklyn Young Republicans willing to do to fix this?

On Tuesday, Malliotakis received 54% of the vote against her opponent, Janele Hyer-Spencer, who received just 45%.

The very democratic fabric of the American Republic rests entirely in the hands of a civil society; that is, an active and vibrant culture that understands the way the political system works, is involved in local groups, and knows the importance of voting.

I know there are a million other things you would rather do tomorrow before the polls close, but the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives’ futures rest entirely in your hands. These branches are inefficient, you are indifferent, the political system in the United States has become nothing more than a circus show on TV propped up for your entertainment. Little do the pundits, critics, and incumbents know about the needs of your household, family, and finances. But this is your chance to sway the efficiency of government in your favor.

As a Brooklyn County Committeeman and Communications Director of the Brooklyn Young Republicans, I ask you to take the time tomorrow to venture to your local polling site and vote. Apathy and indifference have been the arbiters of the defeat of liberty and responsible government. For the past 70 years, the United States has experienced an exponential growth in the Federal Government at your expense. The dollar has been devalued 97% since the creation of the Federal Reserve and paying an exuberant amount of taxes has become second nature- it shouldn’t.

I’m not going to make this piece a rant for you to vote “Republican” or “Democrat”. This is, however, a request for you to vote. If you do nothing, nothing good happens. If you do something, something good happens.

Remember, you own the fruits of your labor. Don’t let government take more than it already has.

After you vote, get involved. We need to Rally for the Republic. Email us at info@brooklynyr.com or text us at 347-560-1880, we want to hear from you!

- Roy Antoun

Brooklyn County Committeeman

Communications Director, Brooklyn YRs

Bar XII

206 East 34th Street (and 3rd Ave)

New York, NY

Come watch the primary results with your favorite Young Republican Club!

Kick up your feet and relax with some local candidates after a long day of pounding the pavement.

Food will be provided all night!

Candidates in attendance include:
Alex Powietrzynski
Roger Blank
and
Pat Tina

Light Press

Admission is:

$10 for Members
$15 for Non-members
$35 for membership* + ticket

Venue is handicap accessible

Subway: 6 to 33rd St

Source: Andrew J. Hawkins / The Capitol

When Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb took over from Jim Tedisco over a year ago, he said his goal was to run competitively in all 102 districts held by Democrats. And if he was ever going to pull it off, this would be the year to do it.

Voter anger at incumbents is at an all-time high, especially toward Democrats, who control all three braches of government. Republicans made significant gains last year in key swing counties like Westchester and Nassau. And the Assembly minority won three out of four February special elections, two of them flipping seats that were previously held by Democrats.

Conditions are just right for a strong Republican showing in the Assembly this year. Even Republican State Chair Ed Cox seems to think so, when he alleged on air that Speaker Sheldon Silver was anticipating losing as many as 25 seats in November.

So naturally, as election season begins to heat up, the Assembly Republicans are seeking to tamp down expectations, knowing that if they cannot hit that mark, their minority status will likely be permanent.

“If we get to 52, 53 or higher, that’s going to be great,” Kolb said of his current 42-member conference.

Read the rest here.

Source: Capital New York

By Mark Hay

On a rooftop just south of Park Slope, just after the last major salvo of July 4 fireworks over Manhattan petered out,  a lightly buzzed Jonathan Judge, president of the Brooklyn Young Republicans, stepped in front of the view of the skyline.

“We are gathered to celebrate our independence from foreign domination,” said Judge, a compact young man with bright orange hair and, like most of the men in attendance, a thick goatee. “And our independence from corruption and for reform.”

Judge and 15 club members and guests had gathered atop the roof of former congressional candidate and vice chair of the King’s County Republican Party Susan Cleary, simply to celebrate, they all said. Also in attendance were Lucretia Regina-Potter, the B.Y.R.-backed candidate running for State Assembly against Peter Abbate in the 49th district, and Joseph Hayon, a N.Y.-9 Congressional candidate running on religious values. (Hayon claims no affiliation with the B.Y.R. He said he got an e-mail about the event and just decided to make a prolonged appearance.)

With the view of the city’s major fireworks largely obscured by midtown’s skyscrapers, and the fireworks from the Gowanus and Prospect Park coming in irregular bursts, the night turned to drink and discussion of their core values.

“We’ve got all kinds of Republicans here—conservatives, libertarians, all kinds,” said communications director Roy Antoun, a Rutgers student and county committeeman and an enthusiastic admirer of Ron Paul. “But at our core, we all believe in two things: reform and some type of limited government.”

“Our club has matured into an individual, reform-thinking organization,” said Judge, seeking to distance his organization from the county Republican organization, and by implication, Brooklyn Republican chair Craig Eaton. He added, “We find flaws in both parties—the way that they support the status quo.”

Still, they spent most of the evening talking about the ineffectiveness of the local Republicans. They think the state party is fairly useless, they don’t like the county leadership, which they feel is insufficiently transparent, and they had complaints about sub-leadership party functionaries, too.

Antoun was unhappy with his first local organizer because she failed to tell him where to show up to be a Community Council delegate. Regina-Potter has it out for the organizers and low-level folks in the 49th Assembly district.

Mostly, they were angry at the whole existing New York Republican firmament, in a comprehensive, Tea Party kind of way: for them, the party is an edifice that needs to be destroyed and remade.

“It’s not a party, it’s just a messed-up institution,” said Yakkov Bard, who says he is still a registered Democrat but intends on changing his registration soon. “I don’t think they have a goal, really.”

It should be said here that it’s hard to know what the goal for the Brooklyn Republican Party ought to be, realistically.

Brooklyn Republicans exist in helpless, seething discontent in a very Democratic borough within a very Democratic city. In Brooklyn, the 900,000 enrolled Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly eight to one.

The only real Republican force in the borough is State Senator Marty Golden, who is a sort of hyperlocal powerhouse, but thoroughly actualized in his fiefdom as it currently exists, and certainly no threat to the city’s established political order.

A beleagured state party, led by Chariman Edward Cox, provides no succor to Brooklyn, seemingly resigned to putting the same brave, hopeless candidates up against incumbent Democrats in downticket races, and focusing what little energy and means it possesses on manufacturing enthusiasm for gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio and on boxing out Mike Long’s Conservative Party of New York from the party’s tactical decision-making processes.

“Party leaders don’t do anything to organize or consolidate the party,” said Antoun, claiming that the Republican leadership has gutted the civil society mechanisms that could help Republicans to take more of Brooklyn than ever before.

“When associations are made by organized clubs—outside the express will of the party boss,” added Judge, “they are attacked.”

He says that the local Republicans organization deliberately seeks to destroy grassroots movements, and that a number of candidates had been called and harassed by higher-ups in the party for expressing dissent. Judge, Antoun and Regina-Potter say that internal debate about the direction of the party has been all but eliminated in Brooklyn, if not the city and the state.

Asked for his observations on the party, Judge said, “It doesn’t exist to be observed.”

(Reached for response, Eaton suggested that the Brooklyn Young Republicans were long on talk on short on constructive action. “It’s all smoke and mirrors and blogs and e-mails and statements instead of rolling up their sleeves and getting out in the field for a candidate,” he said.)

The first goal of the Brooklyn Young Republicans is to establish a foothold somewhere by actually winning. They deplored the lack of more significant help from the party firmament for Regina-Potter, who looks like CJ Craig from The West Wing if you took a picture of Craig and compressed it in Photoshop. She’s matronly and very proud to be so, leading her child with her around the event, pushing food and drink on a guest-reporter and pivoting from political topics to talk about the dinner she had just cooked and how incredibly hot the stove was.

She was not unaware of the odds she faced. “How can any average person who’s involved in politics go up against dinosaurs with huge war chests?” she asked.

There was no answer.

The Brooklyn Young Republicans speak about substantive politics with the zeal of Tea Partiers (not accidentally), and considered themselves locked in a fight with a party leadership that is not only complacent but ideologically compromised. They believe they’re gaining traction: Judge claimed that the organization, as of last count, had some 100 paying members and another 1,000 on its mailing list.

“We provide a place where we can speak without being condemned and judged for what we believe in,” said Judge. He claimed that a lack of transparency, choice on their ballots, and discourse had led many to abandon the Brooklyn Republicans. “And we bring them back,” Judge said. “We stop a lot of bloodletting.”

“The challenge of Republicanism in Brooklyn is about enunciating the common sense to enough people so that they can see that they’re digging their own graves,” said David Testilbaum, who recently became a member.

There seemed to be a consensus among the attendees that Brooklyn is teeming with secret Republicans—immigrants who have not broken into civil society, outcasts disillusioned by the party, and even Democrats In Name Only who vote for their party only for the chance to participate in a real debate and see real change come from their vote.

“There are a lot of Democrats out there who are strongly sympathetic towards the Republican Party,” said Judge. “We have actually been converting Democrats!”

Bard presented himself as living proof of that. “I used to think that conservatives ate babies,” he said. Now, he said, he believes that “conservatives are the most character-assassinated group in history.”

He told me he believes in the Brooklyn Young Republicans and their power to overcome the no-hope Brooklyn old Republicans. And he said he believes in Judge’s vision of Brooklyn as “hopefully soon a formerly Democratic borough.”

The event, scheduled to end at midnight, broke up early, with most of the attendees leaving after the food and drink started to run out. Bard and Judge stayed on the rooftop to the very end.