| You remember the "North Shore Committee for Truth", don't you? It's the Republican Senate Campaign Committee funded astroturf entity that I wrote about last summer that sprang up shortly after Craig Johnson won the SD-7 special election. The website for the "committee" now seems to be defunct (what did they spend the $5K Bruno gave them on anyway?), but the woman who is at least nominally behind that effort, one Christine A. Nagy (or Christine A. Imrie, depending on what documents you are looking at) is also the woman behind the apparently successful (for now, anyway) effort to keep Johnson off the WFP line this November. Spin Cycle has the goods:
Stealthy tactics and the targeting of Sen. C. Johnson
The court case that has knocked Sen. Craig Johnson off the Working Families Party ballot line was brought by a Republican resident of Westbury whose address is also that of a now-you-see-it-now-you-don't civic "committee" -- which sent out letters attacking Johnson shortly after he was elected last year.
Senate GOP Majority Leader Dean Skelos of Rockville Centre has made no secret of his special desire to unseat Johnson, the only Democrat in Long Island's 9-member Senate delegation. The Senate Republican Campaign Committee donated $5,000 last year to the North Shore Committee for Truth, whose treasurer was listed as Christine A. Nagy.
Records show Nagy, 35, is registered to vote under that name, and did so in 2007, but on other records is Christine A. Imrie, who made the successful application to challenge Johnson's petitions. Meanwhile the "truth" committee's Web site, active a year ago, seems to have gone off-line, though you can see some of the content by clicking this Google-cached item. Phone numbers that are listed under both of the petitioner's names seem to be disconnected.
Just in case this tactic didn't work, Nassau Republicans also sent out one Patrick Lilavois to collect petition signatures for a WFP candidacy that only ever existed as a means for denying Johnson the ballot line.
Meanwhile, the earlier gambit by which Patrick Lilavois, also of Westbury, gathered 44 signatures for the WFP line -- with help from North Hempstead Republicans -- seems to have paid off for the GOP as a tactical move. If a party member signs two candidate petitions, only the first one counts. In some cases, Lilavois got to the doors of party members first, helping Johnson's foes' efforts to winnow down his number of valid signatures and thus aid the prospects of keeping him off the WFP line. Some earlier partisan analysis from the Johnson side is here.
So, now we see that Skelos' white whale pursuit of Craig Johnson isn't limited to just throwing loads and loads of cash at long shot Barbara Donno while his endangered incumbents twist in the wind. |
