THE STATEN ISLAND DISTRICT ATTORNEY (S)ELECTION: THE METS LOST BECAUSE OF ERRORS - AND SO DID JOAN ILLUZZI

UP FRONT News   November 5, 2015

"The paper that won't be bought and can't be sold."

Published by Tom Weiss
Andrew Mazzone - Media Representative and Economics Advisor
Steven Gradman - Political Consultant
Allen Smith - Economics Reporter
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THE STATEN ISLAND DISTRICT ATTORNEY (S)ELECTION: THE METS LOST BECAUSE OF ERRORS - AND SO DID JOAN ILLUZZI

     Key errors by some extravagantly "compensated" New York Mets contributed in a major way to their loss to the Kansas City Royals in the recent World Series. The analogy with the "contest" for Staten Island District Attorney between Democrats Machine candidate Michael McMahon and Republican Machine candidate Joan Illuzzi, however, goes no further because the Royals were more qualified professionally for the championship than was election winner McMahon for his new job.
    Some UP FRONT News political predictions actually do come to pass. Whereas the Staten Island Advance predicted a close race in the 2014 race for Congress between Democrat Domenic Recchia and Republican Michael Grimm, in the wake of articles in the Daily News and UP FRONT News reporting Recchia's favor to a convicted mobster and his unsatisfactory voting record on human rights issues in the New York City Council, I predicted that Grimm would win easily. It was a near landslide. And when it comes to landslides I predicted that my (Temple Emanu-el, Staten Island) acquaintance, the amiable Democrat Gary Carsel, one of a number of "liberal" Democrats ("The Reticence of the Jews" in UP FRONT News) who have chosen to remain silent about major corruption and Mob (Robert Cataldo/SenatorDiane Savino) influence in the S.I. Democratic Party, would lose the 2014 Senate race to Republican Andrew Lanza (whom I endorsed) by an even greater margin than happened 2012. The results: Lanza 81%, Carsel 19%.
   Several weeks ago I had a friendly meeting with Ms. Illuzzi in her New Dorp campaign headquarters and discussed with her my problems with Mike McMahon and suggested that she consider addressing the Eric Garner killing by publicly calling upon P.O. Daniel Pantaleo, video-witnessed fatally choke holding Eric Garner, to come clean with the public and issue a statement as to what took place that day in Tompkinsvile. Certainly Pantaleo is in a position to comment not onlyy about his reported use of a "seat belt maneuver" to bring down Mr. Garner but also whether Mr. Garner was in fact selling untaxed cigarettes on that occasion. Ms. Illluzzi told me that she'd think about it.
  I filled her in on then NYC Council member Mike McMahon's demonization of the late African-American activist Sonny Carson and also about the very dangerous mobster Robert Cataldo, the Chief of Staff to Senator Savino, Cataldo being identified as a "member of the Sicilian Mob" by a quite prominent and somehat less than "reticent" Jew, Mendy Mirocznik, who is a major official in the S.I. Democratic Party and also the President of the Council of Jewish Organizations of S.I.
  I also suggested that Ms. illuzzi would do well to reach out to the African-American communuity in North Shore neighborhood as Stapleton, Clifton,
Tompkinsville, Port Richmond, Mariners Harbor ,New Brighton, et. al.  I recall a recent conversation I had with Council of Jewish Organizations member Rabbi Gerald Sussman of Temple Emanu-el in Port Richmond - who tends to be more outspoken on, for example, antisemitism and human rights violations overseas than he is about similar problems in Staten Island - and he confessed to me that he didn't even know about Joan Illuzzi. It is also true that Rabbi Sussman understandably has a low regard for the political reporting in what Rev. Dr. Demetrius S. Carolina, Sr. of the largely African-American First Central Baptist Church describes as the "controlled" Staten Island Advance.
 In several emails I sent to Ms. Illuzzi I suggested that her campaigning with Rudy Giuliani would shore up right wing Republican votes she would get anyway but would have the effect of alienating, among others, black voters.
  One of her campaign workers, ex-Mike Grimm staffer Joe Shikhman, assured me that I would get an emailed reply to my suggestions. I didn't. I never vote for a candidate who makes promises and reneges.
  Ms. Illuzzi ignored the Eric Garner killing civil rights issue. She ignored the Mike McMahon vs. Sonny Carson issue, She ignored the Democratic Machine Mob issue. She ignored the identified ethnically diverse North Shore neighborhoods of the 61st Assembly District - and that's where McMahon's Democratic Party Machine pulled the most votes.
  Mets pitcher Matt Harvey over-extended himself in the ninth inning in game five against the Kansas City Royals. Joan illuzzi overextended herself with Rudy Giuliani and under-extended herself in Staten Island's North Shore. They both paid the price.

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