Guess who's coming to dinner?

 

The Jewish Voice

 Who says politics doesn’t make strange bedfellows? As was recently reported in the New York Post, only days after winning the NYC Democratic primary, Brooklyn Borough President and former NYPD Captain Eric Adams was spotted dining with a bevy of influential NYC Republicans.

Who says politics doesn’t make strange bedfellows? As was recently reported in the New York Post, only days after winning the NYC Democratic primary, Brooklyn Borough President and former NYPD Captain Eric Adams was spotted dining with a bevy of influential NYC Republicans.

Chowing down at the renowned Italian restaurant Rao’s in East Harlem, Adams was joined by GOP billionaire and supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis, his daughter Andrea, who is the chair of the Manhattan Republicans, former cop and media personality Richard “Bo” Dietl and a public relations official for Catsimatidis. Dietl once launched his own mayoral bid some years ago that resulted in campaign finance violations, according to the Post report.

On Friday, Dietl spoke to the Post and told them that the Thursday night dinner in which Adams was present was a last minute invite and was not pre-planned. He said that Adams was invited because some his hedge fund cronies who were expected to attend had to withdraw.Dietl told the Post, “I invited Eric and he showed up. We are social friends. This was not a planned event.”

The four politicos were photographed at the restaurant as dined together. The Post reported that the photo was sent to a New York Magazine reporter late Thursday and the photo went viral.

Catsimatidis, who not only owns the Gristedes supermarket chain in Manhattan but also is a media mogul of sorts as he is the owner of the conservative talk radio station WABC-770AM. It is at the radio station that Catsimatidis broadcasts his own radio program and it is the same radio station that Catsimatidis’ colleague Curtis Sliwa had a radio program for many years.

Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa won the NYC Republican primary for mayor on June 22^nd, when he handily defeated Fernando Mateo. Sliwa, who is running as a law and order candidate and one who wants to tackle the soaring crime problem in the Big Apple.

Another person at the table at Rao’s told the Post that, “We went to Rao’s for an enjoyable dinner and we were surprised to see Eric Adams.” A campaign spokesman said that Adams knew Catsimatidis would be there.

As for Catsimatidis’ opinion of Adams, he told the Post on Friday that the he has known the Democratic nominee for mayor for a long time.“Eric Adams is talking like he wants to do a good job,” Catsimatidis said.

Bill's new definition of "progressive"

From the NY Post:

Either Mayor de Blasio thinks Republicans are progressives — or he’s one lousy liar.

To answer charges he was selling City Hall access (at least) for donations to his shady Campaign for One New York, de Blasio said on NY1 last month, “We sought donations from people who had historically given to . . . progressive causes.”

Oops: Turns out, “more than a dozen” CONY givers had funneled hefty sums to conservative groups and candidates, like Donald Trump and Chris Christie, Politico New York reported Tuesday.

Stanley Chera’s real-estate firm, Crown Acquisitions, forked over $20,000 to CONY in 2015. Yet Chera also gave $30,000 to super PACs backing Christie and $50,000 to Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee. Chera’s now on Trump’s transition team. Is he a “progressive”?

Developer George Klein sent $50,000 to CONY. Yet he also pumped $216,600 to the RNC and $125,000 to a group backing Jeb Bush — who bashed de Blasio’s pre-K expansion, the original raison d’être for CONY.

Businessman John Catsimatidis ponied up $20,000 for CONY — the year after running for mayor in the GOP primary.

You might as well bribe

From the Daily News:

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. on Sunday slammed toothless laws that make it tough for state prosecutors to go after corrupt New York politicians.

They are “out of touch with the reality” compared with other states that make it easier to go after crooked officials, he said on John Catsimatidis’ radio show on AM 970.

“It’s more difficult in New York State to prosecute a politician or the briber for bribery than it is to prosecute a sports promoter for bribery,” he said. “We sort of have a carveout in New York State for political bribery, which makes it, I think, simply out of touch with the reality of statutes around the country.”

I'm sure the lawmakers will get right on correcting this.

World's Fair plans are a long way off

From the Times Ledger:

One of the main advocates of a new World’s Fair is John Catsimatidis, a longtime, successful, New York City businessman. He has a radio talk show on 970 AM every Sunday morning from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. involving politics and current events.

Catsimatidis points out that the means of travel were improved especially during the second World’s Fair in the city. There were improvements made in subways, highways and bridges and most other forms of public transportation.

He believes the fairs present a vision of what the future can be like. He would like to see a future fair concentrate on technology. It could bring into focus the possible achievements of the free enterprise system.

Catsimatidis indicated that a new World’s Fair would bring many thousands of jobs to the city in addition to helping the retail sales operation increase the amount of business in stores, restaurants and places of entertainment.

It will be a long time before a new World’s Fair can be put into operation, however. Estimates run as high as 10 years from now. Catsimatidis has been in touch with the governor’s staff about setting up a committee to study the possibility of a future World’s Fair.

Catsimatidis willing to pay to restore NYS Pavilion

From the Daily News:

Billionaire World’s Fair buff John Catsimatidis said he is willing to crack open his checkbook and help the crumbling New York State Pavilion for the right “visionary” project.

“I’ve certainly been there ready and able to write a check,” Catsimatidis, a former Republican mayoral candidate and supermarket magnate, told The News on Friday. “I can make it happen. But you need people who have dreams.”

Catsimatidis, who wore a tie featuring the iconic image of the Unisphere, made his comments at the Queens Museum after a press conference Friday to announce a line-up of activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1964 World’s Fair and 75th anniversary of the 1939 World’s Fair.

No surprise here: Trib endorsed only Multimedia candidates

From the New York World:

Months after the New York World first highlighted the practice, a pair of Queens community newspapers persisted in handing out endorsements to political candidates who are paying clients of the papers’ affiliated political consulting firm, a review of campaign filings reveals.

In 2013, in competitive primary and general electoral races, all candidates who hired the firm, Multi-Media Advertising, and spent more money than rivals on consulting services and ads in the Queens Tribune and PRESS of Southeast Queens received an endorsement in at least one of the two newspapers.

The endorsements did not disclose the business transactions to readers.

In all, the endorsed candidates and their outside supporters spent a total of more than $268,000 on Multi-Media during the 2013 election cycle. The largest sum came from Republican mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis, who paid Multi-Media $135,000 for consulting services, printing and postage for his campaign.

Five days before the primary, the Tribune’s editorial page endorsed Catsimatidis for the Republican mayoral primary: “Catsimatidis is an approachable billionaire,” it raved. “He loves people and he loves this City…he will bring into his administration bright people.” The other candidates on the Republican ballot, Joe Lhota and George McDonald, were not Multi-Media clients.

Catsimatidis was not available for comment.

The Tribune and PRESS of Southeast Queens endorsed candidates in 19 competitive races on the ballot in Queens. In all nine contests in which a Multi-Media client was in the running, the papers’ editorial pages endorsed the candidate who did the most business with Multi-Media and the publications. (If that candidate was defeated in the primary, the Tribune and the PRESS in some cases endorsed for the general election a candidate with smaller or no business ties with the firm.)

Among the Tribune’s endorsements was one for Reshma Saujani in the public advocate primary. Saujani spent $5,400 on ads in the Tribune and PRESS of Southeast Queens. Rival Daniel Squadron had spent $340 to have Multi-Media print his primary ballot petitions, but nothing on advertising with the paper.

When the World reported the connection between the papers and consultancy last year, the newspapers and the political consulting firm were both owned by Tribco LLC. They continue to share the same address in Whitestone, the Tribune’s website, the PRESS’ website, and a recent ad for Multi-Media show.

The Tribune and PRESS’ editor-in-chief, Steven Ferrari, declined to comment when reached over the phone and by email. Their publisher, Michael Nussbaum, who is also Multi-Media’s president, did not respond to an email and a phone call; The New York World visited the office but was told that Nussbaum was not available to meet.

Hornak replaces Tabone on Catsimitidis team

From the NY Post:

A political operative who recently left his job at the city Board of Elections was late to work so often that he was in jeopardy of being fired — before he landed a job with mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis.

Robert Hornak was late to his city job 171 times over the past 14 months, according to a time and attendance sheet obtained by The Post.

Only seven of those late arrivals were excused by his bosses in the Queens office, the document shows.

His tardiness spanned his employment on the board, from Jan. 23, 2012, to April 5, 2013, when he resigned to work for Catsimatidis directing his campaign’s Queens field operation.

He earned $60,871 and was facing a disciplinary hearing when he quit, sources said. His final check included six days of unused vacation and sick time, a board official confirmed.

Hornak blamed his tardiness on “a medical disability that contributed to my being a few minutes late on a number of occasions. I requested and received a reasonable accommodation to my work schedule, and after that was granted, I did not have another unexcused lateness the rest of my tenure.”

But one Board of Elections official who requested anonymity said Hornak was often hours late to work.

“Sometimes two hours, an hour and a half,” the official said.

A spokesman for Catsimatidis declined comment.

Queens GOP gets big booster

From Crain's:

Supermarket billionaire John Catsimatidis is continuing his pattern of offering financial support to those willing to support his mayoral bid: His just-posted campaign filing shows $23,000 in payments to the Queens Republican Party's housekeeping account on March 1, which came after the Queens Republican Party officially endorsed his candidacy.

In December, Mr. Catsimatidis bluntly told Crain's that his donations to political parties "depends on who is supporting me."

Regardless of the payment, it's not surprising that the Queens Republicans would back Mr. Catsimatidis. He has had a long relationship with the party leadership. And its executive vice-chairman, Vincent Tabone, is a paid consultant on Mr. Catsimatidis' campaign. Mr. Tabone also works for Ms. Catsimatidis' Red Apple Group. In general, Mr. Catsimatidis' generosity over the years had helped endear him to the various county chairmen.

Lots of Republicans running for mayor

From the Village Voice:

Day by day, the wide open upcoming race to replace Mayor Michael Bloomberg is getting more entertaining, and morphing into a new year's gift for reporters, political junkies, and maybe the public.

Last week, Mayor Giuliani's former deputy mayor, Joseph Lhota, a man not known for conversational subtlety, confirmed he was running as a Republican. This week, we learned that supermarket mogul John Catsimatides, an old-fashioned boot strap guy turned billionaire, put up $1 million of his own money to start building a campaign operation. Local newspaper publisher Tom Allon has raised $234,000. Doe Fund founder George McDonald has declared, but has yet to report any fundraising numbers.

Driscoll leaves Parkside

From the Queens Campaigner:

A founding partner of the Parkside Group who has been involved in Queens politics for decades has left the political consulting and lobbying firm for Gotham Government Relations, a Long Island-based lobbying firm.

Bill Driscoll, one of three founding partners of the Parkside Group, which runs a number of campaigns for Queens political candidates, was the former chief of staff to the late Tom Manton, a congressman and Queens Democratic Party chairman, and was counsel to Manton’s successor, U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Jackson Heights).

Driscoll’s departure comes as Parkside is gearing up for its busiest political season, [Evan] Stavisky said.

He said Parkside is handling former City Councilman Tony Avella’s campaign to unseat state Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose) and other Senate candidates stretching from western New York to Long Island.

Stavisky said Driscoll had been focused on the lobbying side of Parkside’s business during his latest years at the firm.

Driscoll is one of three lobbyists joining Gotham Government Relations, which has addresses in Manhattan, Albany and Washington, D.C., along with Mark Lieberman and Tiffany Raspberry, who also formerly worked for Parkside.

Unlike Parkside, Gotham does not do political consulting. Its clients include insurance giants Allstate and Geico, the New York Tobacconist Association and John Catsimatidis’ Red Apple Group and Gristedes supermarket chain, according to its website.

Driscoll, an attorney, also once served as counsel to the Queens County clerk’s office and chief of staff to members of the City Council and state Assembly.

And if that doesn't work out for him, he can always become a Deputy Queens Borough President.

We may need a scorecard for this

From the Daily News:

Last week's indictment of one of Mayor Bloomberg's top reelection operatives has set the political rumor mill on fire, putting scrutiny on both the prosecutor and the prosecuted - all seen through the prism of everyone's particular biases.

John Haggerty was charged with stealing $1.1 million of Bloomberg's money by planning an Election Day poll-watching effort but never actually doing it.

It's a case with slam-dunk elements, like the $833,000 that ended up in Haggerty's hands right before he bought out his brother's share of the family home.

It's also a case with shades of gray, like whether Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. can prove that Haggerty didn't just do a sloppy job on a handshake deal, especially since the Bloomberg campaign never complained.

People on Team Bloomberg insist the mayor was ripped off, and would rather not have it show up in court - especially with Bloomberg likely to be called to testify.

They have grumbled for months that Vance is pursuing the case hard because he's a pal of legendary former DA Robert Morgenthau - who left office nursing grudges against the mayor.

Among Haggerty's friends, though, the suspicion is that Vance is cracking down on him to curry favor with a powerful mayor while their relationship is still new - and to satisfy Haggerty's enemies in the Queens Republican Party.

Haggerty and his brother Bart have battled for control of the party for years against another faction that includes Chairman Phil Ragusa and Vice Chairman Vince Tabone.

Here's where it gets complicated: Tabone - who wouldn't comment - has a day job as an attorney for John Catsimatidis, the billionaire owner of Gristede's supermarkets and many other businesses.

Catsimatidis gave $17,500 to Vance's campaign and is hosting a fund-raiser Tuesday to pay off Vance's outstanding $227,176 campaign debt.

The Haggerty theory holds that Vance is cracking down on Tabone's enemy to win donations from Catsimatidis.