Our long term history of mutual long-term spite kept me from noting that Gary Tilzer deserves kudos for being the first to blow the whistle on this preposterous effort by the Boys from Austin Street to throw an extra Jew into the 6th CD race for Congress.
Jeff Gottlieb, a 70 year old Board of Elections employee, and petition gatherer for Party choice Grace Meng first jumped into this race about 20 minutes after Ed Koch endorsed Lancman (who, incidentally, has used the occasion for some shameless racialist whining). His candidacy couldn't pass the laugh test during a cholera epidemic.
That being said, Tilzer and I operate from different theories.
Tilzer sees the Gottlieb candidacy and two candidacies in the 7th CD, Dan O’Connor and George Martinez (both of whom have been the subject of my own theorizing) as all being part of the same phenomena–I do not.
I believe Vito Lopez had nothing to do with Dan O'Connor's entrance into the race against Nydia Velazquez. O'Connor's race is clearly the product of ideological fanaticism (with a dose of ego). Lopez's forces have craftily used O'Connor presence as an opportunity to foment a bit of mischief, but while they exploited that activity, they didn't create it.
The evidence indicates that George Martinez's candidacy also did not spring from Lopez's mind, but was mostly a product of George's ego. But the evidence strongly suggests that Lopez's forces probably encouraged the candidacy (as they did once before), and that the suggestion of a future quid pro quo (perhaps reminiscent of a past one) might not be far from Martinez's mind.
By contrast, Gottlieb is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Queens organization and his candidacy is, to paraphrase Robert Moses talking about the reform image of mayoral candidate "Holy Joe" McKee, an artificial creature, like a Frankenstein monster, found on neither land nor sea, put together by a Party Leader, for the sole purpose of making mischief. Lancman: Gottlieb is ‘One of The Hackiest Hacks in All of Hackdom’ www.politicker.com
The increasing number of those who are speculating that Liz Crowley's candidacy for Congress might be an Austin street plot to split the white vote (something of which I'm not certain), should recall who first raised the question on March 19th:
"Friday on Facebook:
Queens Guy: Crowley will probably support his cousin…
Gate: Perhaps—not sure he wants to piss off both Jews and Asians; Liz Crowley does not avoid a primary in that seat
Queens Guy: Do u think that he cares….
Gate: Yeah–he likes to have a piece of every interest group –his gays, his Jews, his Latinos, his Asians–it's why he threw Sabini under the bus.
Thought from today: Given the inevitability of a challenge from Lancman though, one could be forgiven for thinking that Crowley is doing his cousin a favor by splitting the white vote.” The Gateway (Queen of Queens Edition) | Room Eight www.r8ny.com
Waking up and smelling the Dominican coffee. Vince Morgan to End Congressional Bid and Endorse Espaillat www.politicker.com
Gate (1/26/12): In essence, though it doesn't look like it, Mark Grisanti and Tim Kennedy have exchanged districts. Both now have bigger problems in their primaries than their generals.
Today’s prediction: Though there are more white than blacks in this district, in a primary this is not the case; add pro-choice voters (holding their nose), and Thompson beats Kennedy (ask the Coppola Family). Sources: Former State Senator Antoine Thompson Mulling Primary Challenge To Tim Kennedy | wgrz.com www.wgrz.com
Apologies to Dodge Landesman:
1) Dodge says he is no longer running for Democratic State Committee. This was not apparent from my research, but I was clearly wrong. Whether aborting two races before you reach your 22nd second birthday gives bloggers the right to compare you with Harold Stassen is one Dodge and I will just have to disagree upon.
2) Dodge says he is not supporting Dan O'Connor for Congress, and I must take him at his word. However, the wording of his quote ("I knew there was a big controversy with that race and that blogger seemed to jump the gun shouting a conspiracy with a candidate involved in the OWS movement. Then City and State jumped the gun too and latched on to it without fact checking with anyone.") makes it clear he could only be talking about O'Connor, and makes it "appear" (the word I used) that Dan is supportive of his candidacy.
However, if Ike is your favorite president and you call yourself a "small government Democrat," then calling yourself a "progressive" is probably deceptive advertising unless you are talking about Teddy Roosevelt type process reform rather than Henry Wallace type fellow traveling. The Gateway (Jews and Jerks Edition) | Room Eight www.r8ny.com