Every once in a while a columnist gets a crazy idea and just can’t help himself. Yesterday, in just such a moment, I unloaded on Borough President Marty Markowitz’s representative on the City’s Industrial Development Authority (IDA), Joseph Douek. At the behest of the Mayor, in a blatant act of political hog-slopping, the IDA had approved a $12.5 million refinancing plan for the All Stars Project, a "non-profit" group controlled by cult leaders Fred Newman and Leonora Fulani, which specializes in staging anti-Semitic performance pieces and indoctrinating young recruits to the cult. Despite overwhelming evidence of the sleaziness of the deal and the evil of its beneficiaries, Markowitz, who brags about his fealty to the Mayor, had Douek, an Orthodox Jew from the Sephardic community, abstain. I wrote a piece criticizing Doeuk and it got a response which clearly had come from a source close to him. Picking up the ball, I then wrote a piece calling upon Douek to resign. The piece implied that pressure could be brought to serve that end.
A “Rabbi” (who apparently graduated from “The Beadie Markowitz Memorial Yeshiva”) who is quite friendly to the cause of exposing Newman/Fulani evil, nonetheless thought the column was a bit over the top, and recommended medication. He also thought that Markowitz deserved less criticism than Bloomberg. Of course he had a point; Bloomberg is far more blameworthy, and the column is a piece of madness, but there was a method to that madness. In "Rules for Radicals", Saul Alinsky said "Pick the Target, Freeze it, Personalize it, and Polarize it". That's what I'd done.
The continued funneling of taxpayer dollars to this hate group is the Mayor’s doing, and he deserves harsh criticism, some of which has been administered by me in my Douek columns, as well as the others pieces in my multi-part “FUCK THE INDEPENDENCE PARTY” series. The other parts are:
http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/the_independence_party_is_neither.html
http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/the_lunatics_are_back_running_the_asylum_or_the_lonesome_discomfort_of_frank_mckay.html
http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/finally_a_reason_for_the_independence_party_to_exist.html
and my all-time personal favorite piece:
http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/the_aristocrats_with_thanks_to_penn_jillette.html.
But let’s faces facts; none of Bloomie's handpicked entourage is going to resign over this. As far as I can tell they are keen on deploying Newman/Fulani’s nationwide network of pods in their ballot access efforts for Bloomberg’s independent race for the presidency. YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST! Ballot access is practically all the Nappies are good for, and it's pretty difficult in most states (the myths about New York's preeminence in restrictive election laws notwhithstanding). Mark my word, Bloomberg's too good a businessman for this money to be entirely construed as being for services already rendered.
However, the comment posted on behalf of Douek indicates that he just might cave under pressure (he's done it once; under pressure from Markowitz). Moreover, Markowitz, who switched his position on gay marriage after he’d been caught providing free space to a group organizing anti-Gay activities in Israel, is also a potential pushover to any form of pressure.
A resignation by Douek, spurred by this issue, would make a great story, one enemies of Newman/Fulani like Dennis King and Lew Fidler could run with. You don't attack a powerful enemy at its most well-guarded fortress; you pick the soft underbelly, and there is no underbelly softer than Markowitz. The real Marty Markowitz is a perpetually depressed Pagliacci humming to himself the "The Tracks of My Tears” and "Tears of the Clown" at one of his "Motown Night" concerts. He's insecure. He's the neediest man in the world. He wants to be loved, and would rather talk with an ideological adversary who hugs him than a compatriot who offers constructive criticism. He's an approval junkie with a glass jaw, and Douek clearly has no taste for any negative fallout. You take your victories where you can get them. Why not take this one? It's eminently achievable if you keep up the pressure.
As such I’m asking every writer and reader on “Room 8” to join in the protest. In an effort to send a message I initially considered asking that every post on Room 8 and every comment end with the words: JOE DOUEK MUST RESIGN until he actually does. However, that’s aesthetically displeasing, and will surely grow tiresome after awhile. But, I do implore every Room 8 reader and writer to contact Markowitz at AskMarty@brooklynbp.nyc.gov, and demand that he publicly apologize for caving to the Mayor on the “All Stars” vote. Ask him for a public explanation, ask for a public apology, ask him to hold a rally on the Borough Hall steps where he publicly urges a boycott of the Independence Party line. Marty Markowitz wants to run citywide in 2009; the last thing he needs is publicity accusing him of craven cowardice in the face of anti-Semitism. Let him know that such is the consequence of his inaction.
Until Markowitz commits a public act of atonement for his grievous lack of spine, all concerned citizens must demand that:
JOE DOUEK MUST RESIGN!