DownWithTyranny!: Not All Republican Politicians Are Criminals… But There Is A Certain Tendency

There isn't much good the Democrats can say about Domenic Recchia, their "business-oriented" candidate to replace Staten Island mafia figure Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm. The 20 criminal indictments against Grimm have caused the national Republican Establishment to abandon him and write off his seat. But Staten Island Republicans don't know what all the fuss is about. And, truth be known, these indictments are nothing compared to the myriad criminal charges that could and should (and may) be brought against Grimm for his Mafia activities that don't involve his tax-evasion and money-laundering little restaurant. They barely scratched the surface of a life rooted in sociopathic crime.

But this is Staten Island and the idea of reelecting a criminal has a certain allure to many of the angry, incoherent voters there. It is not inconceivable that Grimm winds up winning reelection from a prison cell. Its certainly what I'm hoping for-- and it fits the Staten Island personality.

The DCCC ad above doesn't mention Recchia; it's just a million dollar attack on Grimm that began today.

"You have to make Grimm the favorite," said Hank Sheinkopf, a prominent New York campaign and public affairs consultant. "It's hard to elect a non-Staten Islander on Staten Island. Staten Islanders are very serious about that."

Sheinkopf said attack ads will aim to remind district voters that Recchia is a serious candidate and to persuade national Republicans to stick to their guns on refusing to fill Grimm's campaign coffers.

Grimm is due in federal court in Brooklyn for a hearing next week. His trial is set to start in October. That would be unfortunate timing for the incumbent, who faces voters Nov. 4.

NY Republicans elected one kind of criminal but across the country even Republicans couldn't quite stomach another one. Glenn Champ was a GOP candidate for governor in the Golden State. He lost out to some other crackpot. A few days ago he was arrested for shooting his neighbor and killing his neighbor's horse. Aside from being a Republican politician, Champ is a registered sex offender, a notorious NRA gun nut and a murderer who served time in prison for manslaughter. Yes, probably as awful as Mikey Suits.

The Republican Party of California has refused to return the financial contributions Champ has given it last year and this year. Last year's contribution listed his occupation as "God," which, apparently, was just fine for the GOP, which had him address their state party convention. He was arrested at a traffic stop near Goshen.

A constituents of libertarian nut Tom McClintock, Champ espouses the same fringy ideology (and has also contributed money to Ron Paul campaigns over the years).

Witnesses and victims reported a "neighbor dispute" over work being done on a road in the Prather area that led to the shooting, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said. On Thursday afternoon, Champ first approached a 13-year-old boy.

"Champ was angry at the 13-year-old and slashed the tires on the ATV that the child was riding," Mims said. "The parents came to the scene and confronted Champ and that's when the father was shot, then other witnesses-- including the victim and the 13-year-old-- ran away as more shots were being fired at them from Champ."

A horse in a nearby pasture was hit by gunfire and killed.

Mims said Champ was "shooting pretty indiscriminately... it's fortunate no one else was hit."

The 40-year-old father was shot in the stomach and underwent surgery at Community Regional Medical Center. He was in serious condition on Friday afternoon but his wounds are not life-threatening, Mims said.

Of the 18 people in the jungle primary. Champ came in 5th with 76,066 votes. Yes, you read that correctly, over 76,000 Republican primary voters picked the convicted murderer, sex offender and gun loon. He got more votes than the Green Party candidate and more votes than Cindy Sheehan, who ran on the Peace and Freedom Party line. He also beat out Republicans Alma Marie Winston and Richard Aguirre. So don't be so certain that Grimm isn't going to be reelected. After all, no evidence has been presented yet that he murdered anyone.

As for Recchia, he's not nearly as crooked as Grimm. He's just a garden variety corrupt piece of crap like Steve Israel, who recruited him to run for Congress. Laura Nahmias and Sally Goldenberg broke the latest Recchia news this morning for Capital New York.

A nonprofit group that has received substantial funding from former councilman and current Democratic congressional candidate Domenic Recchia is being investigated by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office, a source told Capital.

The South Brooklyn Youth Consortium, which on its 2010 federal tax return listed its purpose as providing "supplemental educational services," has been subpoenaed for information about its finances, the source familiar with the matter said.

The consortium's 2013 federal tax return shows it took in $46,800 in revenue last year and spent all of it on salaries, rent, postage and “other expenses.”

…According to forms filed with the state attorney general’s charities bureau, the South Brooklyn Youth Consortium began operating in 2002. Tax filings show grants to the nonprofit have dwindled over time. In 2008, it was receiving $588,000 a year in government-funded grants from the State Senate, the State Assembly and the City Council.

But after New York State began to reform its member items process the next year under then-Governor David Paterson, Recchia, who was the City Council’s finance chairman and in whose district the consortium operated, became the group’s biggest sponsor.

In Fiscal Year 2009, he gave the consortium $72,000 in discretionary City Council grants, including $4,000 for a dance program and $68,000 for a summer learning institute, city records show.

That year, the SBYC received $273,000 in total funding from various government sources, according to the group's tax returns. It spent $157,000 on salaries and compensation/employee benefits, and $48,000 on rent, utilities and maintenance on the Coney Island building and $6,000 on printing, publications, postage and shipping, leaving about $62,000 for actual services which weren't itemized.

Listed on the returns are three employees-- Robertson, Maria McNeill and Lizette Blanco-- who were paid $35,000, $24,000 and $24,000, respectively.

By 2010, Recchia was the group’s sole funding source, providing money through the City Council's discretionary grant program. That year, he gave the consortium $163,000-- grants of $60,000 and $15,000 for after-school programming and summer learning academies for both middle and high school students and senior citizen services as well as an $88,000 grant for other help for seniors and retirees.

On the group’s 2010 state tax return, it claimed it received $153,000 from Recchia's discretionary fund. That money, the group said, went to pay staff salaries and benefits and “other expenses” which were not itemized. But Robertson, who is listed as the group’s only key employee, claimed on the return that she received no salary.

In Fiscal Year 2011, Recchia gave the group still more—two discretionary grants worth $40,000 and $35,000 for after school programming and senior programs, and another for $79,200 for naturally-occurring retirement community plans.

The nonprofit’s tax returns for Fiscal Year 2011 reported only the latter grant of $79,200 (which was reported on the form as $72,900). The group spent everything it received, the forms show, and spent $14,007 on compensation for Robertson, as well as $13,993 for the group’s program coordinator, who is identified as Fawyizzah Tjelo.

A spokeswoman for Recchia’s office declined to comment.