Some time in the late fall came news that the Brooklyn Democratic Organization was actually interested in beating State Senator Marty Golden.
First elected in 2002, when a clusterfuck of Democratic disloyalists, led by Carl Kruger, and including Dov Hikind, Mike Nelson, the Garson Crime Family and Steve Harrison jumped ship on a Democratic incumbent, Golden was unopposed in 2004, 2006 and 2008, often because of the active intervention of the organization (although purportedly anti-organization Democrats like Harrison also played a role).
By contrast, in 2010, a Democrat did run, and the Party made less than a pro forma effort to help him.
Some suspect all this was because the County organization was just too cozy having a Senate Republican around to do some of their contracts.
Others called it smart politics.
For years, local Democrats and Golden sycophants alike articulated the theory of The Mythical Golden Effect, whereby a challenge to the Bay Ridge Bloviator would result in so much money and effort expended on Golden’s behalf that it would impact against all local Democrats.
When this was actually tested, in a very bad year for Democrats, the numbers pretty much proved that The Mythical Golden Effect did not exist, though that didn’t stop those with an interest in maintaining the status quo from maintaining that it did.
In fact, in a bad Democratic year against the worst possible Democratic candidate –an openly gay leftist in an area that prefers its Democrats (and Republicans) to be closeted gay conservatives—Golden’s victory was not all that impressive.
The Sen Dems now have their anointed one—a bright young man with supposed access to money named Andrew Gounardes, who, upon opinion and belief is a protégé of Queens State Senator Mike Gianaris, who heads the Senate Dems’ Campaign Committee.
Gianaris is a Greek-American, and comes from the City’s largest Greek community, Astoria. Gounardes is a Greek-American and comes from the City’s second largest Greek community, Bay Ridge.
Word is that in exchange for supporting Gounardes, Kings County Democratic Leader Vito Lopez was promised support by the bipartisan Greek political money types for the Comptroller campaign of Lopez favorite, Councilman Dominic Recchia. (Perhaps the recent coziness between Lopez loyalist District Leader Kevin Carroll and Greek-American Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis is part of the same package deal).
Jonathan Yedin, a bright young Lopez protégé who had been the Party’s Executive Director and who’d been running for the Golden Senate seat, quickly took a dive, and Vito introduced Gounardes as the anointed one at the Party’s Christmas party.
It now appears that Lopez will pull out all the stops necessary to make it look like he is pulling out all the stops for Gounardes. Come the fall, if it looks like a rabbit can be pulled from this hat, Lopez might actually even go for broke and really work the race.
But that is not the sole bad news for Golden these days.
Yesterday, City Hall News put the spotlight on Golden in an uncomfortable manner, spotlighting a group he’s funded bigtime.
The Bay Ridge-Bensonhurst Beautification and Preservation Alliance was founded by Marty Golden around the time he decided he wanted to run for office. It has been financed with tax dollars by Republican electeds who wanted to help advance Golden’s career, and it exists solely for the purpose of publicizing Golden at taxpayer expense (I will spare you a blow by blow of the details, except to note that there seem to be even more blanks yet to be filled in, and they are probably not pleasant—go read the link).
Therefore, I am renaming the group with a moniker which reflects both its politics and its inspiration. From now on, it shall be known as "The George W Bushwick Center."
Actually, that's unfair to Vito Lopez.
The Alliance is not a social services agency like Ridgewood-Bushwick, which came into being for its own reasons and then evolved into a political empire to further its social purposes. The Alliance is a political machine which runs programs and distributes money only because doing so furthers its political purposes.
Yesterday also brought us the guilty plea of Carl Kruger’s co-defendant Richard Lipsky.
As Kruger aficionados know, perhaps Kruger’s closest non-sexual associate, other than mother-in-law Dorothy “Hot Dot” Turano, was lobbyist Lipsky.
They’ve been thisclose.
The most hilarious non-Turano related detail of all the recent Kruger stories is that when investigators searched Lipsky’s apartment (with Kruger repeatedly calling during the visit), they found $106,000 in cash, $4,000 of it in a suit pocket to facilitate easy access.
So guess what?
A very quick review of Marty Golden’s Campaign Committee filings reveals the following gift.
Filing Year Contributor Amt Date
2011 LIPSKY, DOROTHY 3,000.00 18-DEC-10
Just in case it isn’t obvious, this Dorothy (as opposed to Kruger’s Dorothy) is Richard’ wife (out of courtesy and because I had trouble formatting, I've left out Dorothy Lipsky's address, but rest assured, it is the same as Richard's). You know, the person who makes sure that the cash left around the house is nicely cleaned and pressed.
Apparently, in this case, it was pressed upon Marty Golden.
Really, Marty, isn’t it time to return this money?
Dorothy could probably use it.