Kudos to Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi for calling local GOP operatives exactly what they are- thugs:
Here's Suozzi's take on the day: "They're yelling like an angry mob, which is how Republicans have acted over the past 50 years. They don't have any ideas. They yell and scream, and the big thing they yell and scream is 'No. No. No.''" On his Twitter, he added: "GOP sent out the thugs."
Suozzi also expanded on his searingly accurate account of the GOP, extrapolating from the national to the local levels:
"This was a perfect symbol of what's wrong with the Republican Party from the national level to the state level to the local level," Suozzi said. "We don't need yelling and screaming. All I ever hear is no, no, no. All President Barack Obama hears on a national level is no, no, no. It's the same thing on the state level. Someone in that party has to have ideas and trying to scream and intimidate new candidates won't work."
What actions drew this response from Suozzi? Apparently it was another example of continuing exodus of all non-brain-dead individuals from the Christian Nationalist Republican Party; Nassau Democrats were announcing that the former chair of the Nassau Young Republicans, Nina Petraro Bastardi, is now running for the Nassau Legislature as a Democrat. This defection caused the adolescent, extreme right-wing base of what's left of the Nassau GOP to resort to outright thuggery, including pushing Bastardi's mother, challenging Dave Mejias to a fistfight, interrupting the press conference, shouting that Bastardi is "dumb as a rock," a "bitch," saying she "won't even get the minority vote" and threatening to bring their "friends" to Suozzi's next meeting.
If you don't believe me, just watch this shocking video of these sexist, racist blathering lunatics:
It appears that Nassau County legislator Dave Mejias has been succesfully muscled out of a race for the state Senate against Republican Kemp Hannon. Nassau County Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs was pissed at Mejias for allegedly backing off a promise to back charter revision that would allow Nassau legislators to immediately raise their salaries (Mejias denies ever making such a pledge.) This apparently didn't go over well with the Senate Democratic Caucus either as it showed them he "wasn't a team player."
The two had been at war after Jacobs said Mejias broke a promise to him to vote for a county charter revision that would allow legislators to immediately increase their salaries, which haven't changed since 1996. In retaliation, Jacobs withdrew the county party's support of Mejias planned challenge to State Sen. Kemp Hannon (R-Garden City).
Mejias denied making any promises. Angry over Jacobs' actions, he said he would no longer meet with the Democratic caucus and Democratic legislators could no longer depend on his tenth vote on the 19 member legislature. He then voted with the Republicans to kill a proposed traffic fee supported by Democratic County Executive Thomas Suozzi.
That vote led the state Senate Democratic Committee to drop its backing of Mejias' bid against Hannon, we reported last week, because it showed he wasn't a team player. The state decision, as well as local Democrats dismay at Mejias' tactics, helped bring him back into the fold, sources say.
Now it appears that Nassau boss Jacobs is "giving" the Dem nomination for SD-6 to one Kristen McElroy.
If Nassau Legis. David Mejias wants to run for State Senate, he will have to wage a primary.
Jay Jacobs, Nassau Democratic chairman, said the party will be giving the nomination to Kristen McElroy, 38, a Garden City attorney and mother of three, who is making her first run to take on Republican State Senate veteran Kemp Hannon.
Mejias had moved into Hannon's district in time to qualify him to run, but was snubbed by the party leaders after angering Jacobs by withholding support for a pay raise for county lawmakers.
Reached Friday, Mejias said that he will not mount a challenge for the nomination, will support the party's candidate, and will "focus 100 percent on the Nassau Legislature."
I know nothing about Kristen McElroy. Perhaps, she'll be a fine candidate, one that can beat Hannon. I certainly hope so and am eager to learn more about her. But, this whole process smells pretty bad to me.
(Great stuff here. - promoted by phillip anderson)
If history and money determined the fate of a campaign, Nassau County Legislator Dave Mejias (D-Farmingdale) would not have considered a 2008 run for the 6th NYS Senate Seat held by Kemp Hannon (R-Garden City
The most recent NYS BOE Financial Report has Citizens for Hannon with a healthy 295K COH. Citizens for Dave Mejias (County Legislative Account) shows him with 22K COH. Hannon has easily been elected to this seat since 1988 winning his 2006 re-election 40K to 29K against a poorly known and low funded challenger who had only the Democratic line.
The sixth district in central Nassau County has been going through some demographic changes that has made it more competitive than in any recent memory.
Hannon was re-elected in 06 against a poorly funded low profile challenger. These were Hannon's re-elect numbers:
As part of my diary series to kep one and all abreast of the Democratic Party efforts to capture control of the NY State Senate, The LI Newspaper, Newsday, in its spin cycle blog has posted this news about County Legislator Dave Mejias challenging incumbent Republican Kemp Hannon.
I reported this rumor here at the Alabny Project as part of my 3rd SD Democratic Deep Bench Report. These top tier challenges will begin to take shape very quickly now. I believe Mejias will receive huge funding from the Governor through the DSCC!
Remember earlier this month when I wrote about a possible race between Dave Mejias and Kemp Hannon next year? Well, Dave is looking more and more like a state Senate candidate and is even having a fundraiser next week here in NYC. If Dave does indeed pull the trigger on this one, and I very much believe he will if hasn't done so already, this becomes a top tier race. Mejias can win this one, folks.
If only Republicans could govern as well as they can voluntarily deny reality:
"We still have 300 absentee ballots to count, and I'm confident that in the next week or so the results will show a Republican victory," Belesi said yesterday.
Mejias' lead at last count was 222. I took a statistics class once, and the odds a net gain of 223 or more out of those 300 votes for Belesi are about the same as Bush being elected for a third term in 2008.
If you're listening, Joe, there's something called dignity.
The County Legislator race between incumbent Democrat Dave Mejias and Joe Belesi is a close one. With 56 of 57 precincts reporting, Mejias is up by a mere 261 votes. I'm told that the not only is the GOP candidate not conceding, but is asking for the ballots to be impounded.
Democratic Nassau Legis. David Mejias changed his voter's registration address on Oct. 26 from North Massapequa to Farmingdale, sparking speculation he will run against State Sen. Kemp Hannon next year.
While his new address keeps Mejias in the same county legislative district, it puts him in the same senatorial district as the veteran Republican lawmaker from Garden City. The state Constitution requires anybody who runs for state senate to be a resident of the district for at least 12 months immediately preceding the election.
Mejias, who faces a challenge for re-election from Republican Joseph Belesi tomorrow, insists his reasons for moving were simple - he wanted a swimming pool and garage. His new house has both.
Mejias may now have a garage and a pool, but he could also have a real shot at Hannon next year. That would certainly be a race to watch.
Despite rumors to the contrary, there are actually elections happening in New York State this Tuesday.
If you are looking something to do this weekend, my friend Greg Lavine (yes, relation to the Nassau anti-incumbent hero Assemblyman Charles Lavine) who is a Democratic organizer in Nassau is looking for volunteers to help with 2 tightly contested seats for the Nassau Legislature up for election on Tuesday. The Nassau Legislature has the slightest of Democratic advantages at 10-9, and in order to maintain Tom Suozzi's reform agenda in Nassau, we need to keep that chamber in Democratic control.
The two Democrats are almost-Peter-King-slayer Dave Mejias (pictured above addressing the Fordham Law Democrats' Alumni Dinner this April) and Diane Yatauro, who respectively represent Nassau's 14th and 18th legislative districts.
It's especially important for Mejias to have a strong showing so he can hopefully enter his King rematch with the wind at his back.
Anyway, here's the scoop (via email):
Please volunteer on election day-This Tuesday- (Nov 6th) and/or this weekend for the Get Out The Vote effort. Email me at g.lavine1@gmail.com or call 516-639-8437. We will be phone calling, lit dropping, supermarketing, train station-ing and partaking in all other fantastically fun GOTV and E-day activities (Yes, that means free drinks and food)
Both Dave and Diane are young, progressive public servants who are targeted by the Nassau County GOP machine. Currently the Democrats hold a slim 10-9 lead in the legislature, so these two races are crucial to maintaining the majority. I look forward to seeing you soon!
WASHINGTON - Rep. Peter King attacked as "disgraceful" yesterday Republican moderates who warned President George W. Bush on Wednesday that his handling of the Iraq war threatens to damage the GOP's future.
"Members of Congress, whether in my party or the other party, who supported the war and are now turning against it because it's unpopular, that to me is disgraceful," said King. "If you can't take a political hit, then you can't send soldiers into war to take real bullets."
King, who shouldered his tightest re-election campaign ever amid last year's Democratic landslide, acknowledged he is feeling the heat as he continues to back the president despite growing public disenchantment with the war.
So Peter King calls it a "disgrace" that members of his own caucus would dare to defy Bush's marching orders; so much for the marketplace of ideas, free expression, all that jazz. King's marching in lockstep to Bush's orders so much that he can't fathom anyone seeing Iraq for what it really is: an intractable quagmire.
In the crucial test of political fund-raising, Long Island Republican Peter King flunked out this quarter. He reports
a low $99,005 in receipts, with $115,700 spent, for a grand ANEMIC total of -$16,695. That's right, he LOST MONEY this quarter!
The most recent NYS BOE Financial Report has Citizens for Hannon with a healthy 295K COH. Citizens for Dave Mejias (County Legislative Account) shows him with 22K COH. Hannon has easily been elected to this seat since 1988 winning his 2006 re-election 40K to 29K against a poorly known and low funded challenger who had only the Democratic line.
