They're "hack-ing" away in NY-6

From City and State:

A spokesman for Assemblywoman Grace Meng’s congressional campaign confirmed this morning that its main campaign consultant, Michael Nussbaum, urged a Jewish state committeeman in Queens to run for the same congressional seat as Meng.

The Meng spokesman, Michael Tobman, confirmed that Nussbaum had suggested to Matthew Silverstein that he join the then three-way Democratic primary in northeast Queens, but insisted that the suggestion was not serious. Silverstein ultimately passed on running for the seat.

The revelation comes as a new candidate, 70-year old Board of Elections employee Jeff Gottlieb, has jumped into the NY-6 race. Lancman’s campaign issued a statement yesterday condemning Gottlieb’s candidacy as a ploy by the Queens Democratic Party to split the Jewish vote in the district. Lancman, who is Jewish, asserts that Gottlieb, who is also Jewish, was only tapped to run for Congress after Silverstein decided to take a pass.

The Meng campaign’s admission came after three sources had told City & State of the conversation between Nussbaum and Silverstein. The sources characterized the meeting as an effort by Nussbaum, who runs the Queens political consulting firm Multi-Media, to place a Jewish candidate in the congressional race in order to split the Jewish vote in the four-way primary.

Silverstein told Lancman himself about the conversation with Nussbaum in some detail at a Community Board 7 meeting last evening, two sources said.

But Tobman insists that Nussbaum’s intention was not to siphon off votes from Lancman.

From the NY Observer:

“Today, the Meng campaign has been caught red-handed in one of the most malicious schemes any of us have ever seen: an outrageous ploy to deceive Jewish voters with a fraudulent candidate designed to manipulate the electoral process in her favor,” Mr. Lancman’s campaign manager Mark Benoit said in a statement. “Based on today’s revelations, Grace Meng owes the voters an apology for concocting this sham, and Grace Meng should fire her main campaign operative Michael Nussbaum for his role in perpetrating this fraud.”

From Room Eight:

This story, from 2002, and several others I've found in my research, has made me revise my take on Queens hack Jeff Gottlieb's laughable, boss-blessed run for Congress.

For over a decade now, Gottlieb has thrown his hat into the ring for every race for an open seat in Queens, even when the seat was going to disappear, or wasn't really open.

Each time, he made some noise, but ultimately, he always faded when the Party bosses asked him to, knowing he's get his reward if he just waited his turn.

Unfortunately, that reward turned out to be a job at the Board of Elections.

A Queens Activist writes:

“Gottlieb was on the board of Bowne House when the Jacob Titus Bowne collection of historical papers disappeared and the Jamaica Town Records were put on the open market without the knowledge or consent of the membership. Everytime Jeff runs for something, the rumblings about this start and then he drops out and keeps a low profile for awhile. Then the cycle restarts.”

Hmmm...What's this about?

From Queens Politics:

Less than three weeks ago, political insiders were abuzz with different theories on why state Sen. Toby Stavisky’s Chief of Staff, Avi Fink would manage Liz Crowley’s campaign for Congress even after Grace Meng received the County nod.

QueensCrap was the first to point out Fink in the photos after Liz Crowley announced her bid for Assembly underneath the Unisphere.

Examining the pictures, insiders and pundits suggested that since Stavisky had longstanding ties to the County organization, there must have been some behind the scenes agreement to bolster Crowley with Toby’s seasoned staffer.

But those people were mistaken as the deal wasn’t made with Toby, it was made with Fink. Toby was set up to get the short end of the stick.

Over time, word had spread. Fink was unhappy; he wanted to leave Toby’s office and his colleagues were waiting for the right opportunity to give him the chance.

Enter Liz Crowley.

When push comes to shove, Crowley’s longstanding ties to County supersede those of the Stavisky faction, including her son’s Lobbying firm the Parkside Group.

Queens County Democrats were discontented. Toby and Evan have been making the Party look bad for far too long. “The Parkside thugs are not Queens County no matter what they appear to be,” said a party official.

According to an inside source, Fink did not show up to work for twenty-four hours after Crowley’s announcement. He went AWOL and when he returned unannounced, Toby went nuts after Fink admitted he took a job with the Crowley campaign.

In summation, County made Fink an offer he couldn’t refuse: leave Toby now and we’ll get you back on the Hill.

Oh, so county DID set up the Liz Crowley campaign, then? Otherwise, it would have made more sense for Fink to work for Meng. Thanks for clarifying!