DCCC Helps Blue Dogs, Of Course-- And Kicks Progressive Primary Winners To The Curb

The DCCC got the shitty candidate it wanted in Staten Island, lame Blue Dog Max Rose but, unfortunately for them, so did the GOP. Moderate incumbent Dan Donovan eviscerated jailbird and Mobster Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm (63.9% to 36.1%), who Rose would have had a chance to beat. Now the only chance Rose has is if an indiscriminate blue wave sweeps over Staten Island.

But within hours of Rose's primary win, the DCCC was up on the air with the ad up top. Someone made a good ad for them, using Donovan’s own words against him: "I’ve supported the president 90% of the time in my votes… I voted seven times to repeal Obamacare." That kind of crap worked in a primary where someone was after him from the right, but NY-11 is a swing district and that kind of extremism is a negative with independents and moderates.

Needless-to-say, the DCCC didn't have any ads up for any of the other primary candidates who won their races Tuesday. They still haven't added Kara Eastman to their red-to-blue program, still pissed off she beat they crap Blue Dog, Brad Ashford, happy to lose a winnable seat rather than help a progressive. Might be the same with Dana Balter in Syracuse (NY-24). They removed Juanita Perez Williams but are refusing to replace her with Balter, who beat Williams 62.6% to 37.4%, a massive defeat. That's how they run the show. They never learn. We're starting up the Abandoned By The DCCC ActBlue page again, for the primary winners, the DCCC is refusing to help. Take a look by tapping on the thermometer on the right. Wow-- all but one of the winning candidates they're ignoring, Mike Siegel, is Texas, is a woman! When will they ever learn? Pete Seeger:

Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the flowers gone?
Girls have picked them every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Tomorrow's Primary Day-- And Crowley Is A Villain Not Just In Queens And The Bronx, But In Staten Island And Brooklyn Too!

Today, the furthermost corner of NY-11 is at Avenue P and East 15th Street. When I was a pre-teen, my family had a house on 17th right off Avenue P. One of my friends, Anne, lived with her family on East 14th Street between Avenue P and Kings Highway. We both went to PS 197. Back then we were also in the same congressional district-- Manny Celler's. First elected in 1923, Celler's district was redrawn at least 4 times and back in the early '60s it was NY-11, as it is now-- albeit without Staten Island-- when Anne and I lived in it. Actually she still does. I didn't know that until this week. I hadn't heard from her since we went away to college. We hadn't been in touch. She e-mailed me, inspired to finally reach out by Fred Moguls' WNYC piece, and told me she reads DWT everyday. She told me something I didn't know anything about-- that Grimm called Rose "a pussy" in public, and that mister "courage to lead" said nothing in retort and went on to whine to multiple people about it. That's not a guy who's ready to take on Grimm in a general, and when there was a candidate forum in the very red South shore of Staten Island and it was confirmed Grimm would be there, Rose was a no-show coward. I called her and we caught up. We exchanged pictures. She said she would recognize me instantly. Something like sixty years have passed. I would never have recognized myself. Anyway, Anne said she agrees with everything I write... everything. I love her; no one else agrees with everything. No one. She's petrified the DCCC is going to wind up giving NY-11 back to Michael "Mikie Suits" Grimm by supporting a crummy Blue Dog, Max Rose. She had written a post about her fears but was nervous about sending it to me. Why, I asked, you were always a much better writer than I was. She used to help me with my homework. Here's her guest post. Please encourage her to write more.

The 2 bad guys in the NY-11 race-- Grimm and Rose

Please, Stop Michael Grimm... And The DCCC
-by Anne From Brooklyn

The Darwin awards for political ineptness have yet to be invented, but the DCCC is doing everything it can to win the coveted Most Embarrassing Congressional Election That Doesn't Have To Be Lost category in a landslide.

In 2015, it took the grand prize without breaking a sweat. Never content to settle, the D-trip now aims to break its already impressive record-- in the same district, against the same flawed Republican. It may very well work. But it may also fail spectacularly; particularly if The People have their way.

In 2015, they put up the most clownish Democrat they could think of to screw their hopes so shamefully that Candidate Recchia earned star status on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Recchia went on to raise more funds than any Congressional candidate in history, right before setting another record when he suffered an epically humiliating loss to Republican Michael Grimm. Grimm was not only under indictment at the time, but had just threatened (on live tv!) to break a reporter "in half-- like a little boy" and throw him "over this balcony." The balcony was DC's Congressional Rayburn Building and Grimm ultimately resigned his seat, pleaded guilty to felony tax fraud, and served an eight-month sentence.

Now that he's out and wants his seat back, he is Trumpily primarying the Trumpiest schlump representative, Dan Donovan (the DA who could indict a ham sandwich, but not the NYPD officer who caused the death of Eric Garner with an illegal chokehold).

The DCCC can glide to November victory with the most populist Democrat the district has known in decades by working to help elect Michael DeVito, a guy well-known for his deep integrity, empathy and non-partisan service throughout the district. He's mentored Donovan's own stepson, and, as a Marine, serves as the perfect foil to Grimm. The DCCC is far too masochistic to ever do anything so sensible, though. Instead, they dropped a Blue Dog elitist unknown into the mix to alienate every voter with Nancy Pelosi-isms and empty platitudes. Max Rose isn't just the perfect picture of a limousine Blue Dog, he's a plastic puppet devoid of substance who has in his remarkably short time living amongst the plebs of NY-11 already dropped enough Trumpian whoppers on voters to qualify as the hollowest of candidates, straight from the Build-A-Politician Factory located on K Street.

Max Rose is a compact package of arrogance, spitting out lines fed to him by his D.C. handlers, and while he does, obfuscating that fact at every turn, presenting himself as some sort of anti-establishment everyman. In the early days of his campaign (at least as it was announced; he's been secretly running for office for years) he launched a 100-day "listening tour," which is exactly what you do when you don't know anyone in and anything about the district you're trying to represent. At the beginning of this stunt, he issued his first public lie,"All too often politicians-- both Democrats and Republicans-- develop their policy platforms behind closed doors with lobbyists and truckloads of polling data guiding their decision making. That's not who I am and that's not what this campaign will be about..." Yet just seven days prior, he announced his campaign team, a roster full of D.C. troupers from the revolving door of the DCCC and its consultant class, with one exception: his campaign manager, Kevin Elkins. And if we are the company we keep, then Rose is already a dirty rat.

Elkins' involvement as a Rose staffer didn't happen through old fashioned recruiting, but through a backroom deal akin to extortion that filters through the local county committee. Elkins, formerly the Executive Director of the County Committee, approached the Chairman, John Gulino, to inform him that he would primary the City Councilwoman, Debi Rose. Debi Rose was-- and remains-- the only woman of color elected to office in Staten Island history. With Elkins' notoriety as a dirty player, Gulino had to know the race would get ugly fast, and that the very popular and progressive Debi Rose would get dragged through the difficulty of a filthy campaign-- ostensibly risking the loss of the seat to a Republican in an already strongly-held Republican borough. Gulino offered Elkins the campaign manager slot on Max Rose's team as a way to keep him at bay. And it was this that led the tail to wag the dog, from before the Congressional campaign was announced to the present day.

Elkins is so reviled in Staten Island politics that after he was revealed to be the target of a $10,000 hit by Richard Luthmann (a Staten Island attorney who is himself notorious for suing for the right to a trial by combat), the dark joke throughout the borough was that the $10,000 plan to shoot Elkins failed because there were too many people willing to do it for free. Elkins would use the "hit" revelation for public sympathy, as is his modus operandi, morphing the story that there was a plot into,"I survived an assassination attempt." Elkins remains closely tied to Mike McMahon, having worked on his successful Congressional campaign (followed by his failed one, which he lost to Michael Grimm in 2010), and when Luthmann was remanded without bail, a propensity for violence was presented as grounds for remand, based on the story about Elkins. With McMahon's connections, and a personal aversion to Luthmann (McMahon's wife, Judge Judy McMahon, was a target of online bullying by Luthmann,) it is suspected that the bail revocation and "hit" story may not be entirely as it appears.

Kevin Elkins has a petty history as well in his nefariousness, having a years-long reputation for campaign lawn sign shenanigans, which was unable to be proven until he was caught-- himself-- on camera removing an opponent's lawn signs under cover of night in 2015. The race was for District Attorney, the opponent was Joan Illuzzi, and the candidate Elkins was working for-- Mike McMahon. Not content to end his lawn sign pettiness three years ago, he seems to be continuing his scheme on Max Rose's campaign, directing staff to engage in lawn sign destruction and removal, and planting his candidate's signs where they are not wanted or requested, in an effort to give the appearance his candidate is more popular than he is (lawn signs are a big deal on Staten Island.) With the dearth of local press coverage in the race, this all plays out on Facebook and Twitter, where voters air their grievances.

It is likely Kevin Elkins' language that Max Rose deploys when he issues his pretentiously folksy utterances of "you bet!" And "I'm running because I'm fed up!" and deploys a manufactured Brooklyn accent which doesn't exist in the elitist circles in which he grew up. It's all part of dumbing things down for the lowly voters. And it is Elkins' condescension and detachment from voters, combined with the typical DCCC arrogance and tone deafness that created the narrative of Rose's campaign that he has gleefully followed from Day One. By presenting himself as a soldier hero with the "Courage to Lead," co-opting the Army's motif and logo for his campaign, and talking about his purple heart and Afghanistan at every step, Rose and his ilk are counting on appealing to the militant right wing of the base for the General election, and to scrape through the primary by attempting to scare the bejesus out of anyone left of Reagan: if you don't vote for me, you'll get a convicted felon! I have more money than anyone!

Rose's entire persona is manufactured. Any fans he has parrot "his résumé" which includes a one-year stint at a couple of patronage jobs, respectively, that he touts as the experience needed to advocate for some 700,000+ constituents. He and his handlers have tried to avoid referencing his organic history, so the "elitist" label can be dodged, but his non-political biography reveals the holes of the conceit.

A product of the tony Park Slope section of Brooklyn with a sprinkling of the Hamptons, Rose did not have an association with CD-11 outside of his prep school education (Poly Prep, where his family's ties to the Board and connections with other affluent Brooklynites would provide a deep-pocketed fundraising base.) According to past acquaintances, he was looking for a district to move into run for Congress, and parts of New Jersey were contenders. One such prospect may have been Hoboken, where Leigh Marsanico-Byrne, who he introduced as his fiancee (and now his wife), resided or resides. According to neighbors in the luxury waterfront apartment building he moved into upon his transplantation into Staten Island, she has not lived there throughout their courtship or his campaign, and indeed she is rarely seen on the campaign trail. Further investigation revealed that she owns a property in Hoboken, New Jersey. She registered to vote at Rose's address on November 3, 2017, having never voted in an election (nor been registered to) before in New York or New Jersey. A "child stylist" by profession who runs in socialite circles, it is possible that her absence is a strategy as much as it is a byproduct of her residency.

Rose is sure to highlight his Wesleyan education with his Masters from the London School of Economics. But he quickly zooms to emphasize his work with those he presents as the poor and downtrodden-- lest we forget he actually has a little consideration for people of color and those in poverty (his public statements and answers to questions posed reveal him to believe they are one and the same.) There are three pieces of background he emphasizes repeatedly: his one-year-ish stint as Chief of Staff at Brightpoint Health, his job as "Special Assistant" to Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson, and his membership in Occupy the Block. Ken Thompson was a beloved district attorney who died in the course of his tenure. Rose does not reveal the length of his employment there, but touts his indispensable involvement in the "Begin Again" program which was designed to help clear low-level offenses. The program was launched in July 2015; Rose was working for Brightpoint by the following June. Despite an exhaustive online search to find Max Rose's name on anything associated with the program, he appears on a single piece of correspondence, in minutes of a meeting. As Brooklyn lost its cherished DA, checking the facts with him about Rose's "invaluable" role is impossible.

Rose was at a women's breakfast in Staten Island on Saturday... demonstrating his "stamina to lead?"

Rose repeats his talking points about his position at Brightpoint Health, that he "helped deliver" healthcare to low-income patients and those suffering with addiction and that he "helped bring a medical clinic and drug recovery center to the island." But there was ALREADY a clinic functioning before Brightpoint acquired it, and the grants reveal that funding was in place years before Rose was ever involved. In March 2016, ostensibly around or before the time Rose became involved with the organization, the collaboration between the existing entity, Community Health Action Staten Island ("CHASI") and Brightpoint was already in the works. In Brightpoint, Rose attempts to claim credit for accomplishments he didn't earn. Whether the healthcare "delivered" by Brightpoint is even altruistic at all is another question. Max makes hay of his dedicated volunteerism with Occupy the Block, a neighborhood watch-type initiative that sets up dedicated volunteerism with Occupy the Block, a neighborhood watch-type initiative that sets up twice weekly in the most challenged areas of Staten Island where violence can build. He uses his "Occupy" status in ample photo ops, campaign materials, and speeches. Many of the men of Occupy the Block will tell you they've never heard of him, or that they saw him a few times before he declared his run for office. Others will change the subject immediately to Michael DeVito, and how he's "the real" volunteer for Occupy the Block (a fact specifically cited in DeVito's induction into the NYS Senate Veterans' Hall of Fame.) They may tell you even more about DeVito, and they may tell you nothing else about Max Rose but shoot you a glance that tells you they are not happy with opportunists.

And as with every Blue Dog, that gets right to the root of it all: opportunism. Max Rose is neither a Democrat nor a Blue Dog for his principles. He certainly isn't the progressive he purports himself to be, nor does he have the "courage" he said he has to lead. He is credibly a pro-choice candidate, and that appears to be the sum of his authentic convictions, so the label "Democrat" seems convenient enough. The blind ambition within him makes him a natural choice for the Blue Dog team, and the zeal he has to perpetuate the Military-Industrial Complex at great taxpayer expense and huge profit to the Defense PACs which provide his benefaction makes him a perfect New Dem as well. A perfunctory amateur analysis of the Blue Dog/New Dem combo yielded a predicted "Trump Score" in legislation for of New Dem/Blue Dog cross-endorsed candidate of 43.44, meaning that Rose could be more of a Republican in a House voting record than the existing Congressman, Donovan, and even out-flank from the right Grimm's legislative voting history.

When challenged on his positions, the source of his funding, or to explain his actual experience, he quickly rushes to his combat veteran credentials. "Afghanistan" seems to be the safe word he and his consultants are counting on; that, and to sow enough fear for Democrats and discord between voters of Donovan and Grimm to split the vote and squeak into place. And while he sprinkles his GI Joe tales around, he often forgets his audience. The 11th District has a large population of Muslims of varying ethnicities and origins. It's not surprising to learn that the presentation of the candidate in combat fatigues talking about shooting people in the desert has not resonated pleasantly in congregations of Pakistani-Americans, at Muslim festival celebrations, and among memberships of organizations where peace is fervently pursued.

And then there is the money. Max Rose has only one notable opponent, the aforementioned DeVito. He has made it his business to hit Rose publicly about the sources of some of his funds. Rose had already publicly announced his "corporate PAC money pledge" and subsequently received the endorsement of End Citizens United, the AstroTurf organization that runs a circular conveyor belt with the DNC, Emily's List, and now VoteVets. Let it be stated for the record that this decoy was not deployed until after Rose's overlords were able to ensure they could funnel enough corporate money effectively through other Democratic "leadership" PACs such as the JOEPAC of his chief benefactor, Joe Crowley, and through the joint fundraising agreement Rose shares with Crowley.

On February 15th, the day after the Parkland massacre, a Twitter user later determined to be New York physician Matthew Brown tagged both Rose and Anthony Brindisi for the Blue Dog PAC's $20,000 in NRA cash since 2016 with, "you really want to be supported by blood money? Will you repudiate the NRA's dirty cash?" DeVito issued a scathing rebuke immediately, and apparently earned a reputation for being a shit-stirrer in the district-- something that Centrist Democrats didn't welcome. Rose's handling of the question, however, fared worse. Rose continued to get pressed on the matter on social media, yet never answered. A March for Our Lives group had formed locally with the leadership of a Parkland survivor's cousin, and when a town hall was requested to Donovan and rejected as is the norm, the "MFOL" group began to assemble one of their own, inviting all Congressional candidates to participate, including Grimm and the present Congressman. Max Rose attempted to reclaim his image as a guy against the NRA (some arguments from his surrogates included that it's only a little bit of NRA money in his PAC) and offered to pay for a town hall out of his campaign funds. Both the town hall organizers in Staten Island, and a smaller town hall organization that followed in Brooklyn (which he did not attend) refused his offer and privately expressed their disgust at the hypocrisy.

On April 7th, the "Town Hall for our Lives" proceeded at a Staten Island college, with recitations and tears and statements and elected officials, all surrounding the Parkland massacre and what legislative steps are necessary. Max Rose was able to get through the entire town hall without the question of the Blue Dog NRA funds until the end, when a woman was able to plead for a last question. She posed it, and he answered, "I'm so glad you asked this question," (as if anyone was stopping him from answering at any moment before.) "The Blue Dogs gave it back, and he went on to offer more platitudes and rehearsed sentences about the "F-U" rating he is going to get in Congress, but not before declaring that "an opponent on this stage with me" spread "this lie." With crocodile tears welling up that he had rented from Kevin Elkins, he proceeded to explain how hurtful it was to be damaged by "lies." "We have to be done with these lies" he whined, and declared himself "a proud Blue Dog" while the audience shuffled out.

The Blue Dog's NRA money no longer a focus, a debate was hosted by Swing Left on April 26th, and the subject of PAC money was raised-- once again by DeVito, but this time, with fire, as part of his closing remarks."The Blue Dog Democrats take money from corporations, from Big Pharma, from Monsanto... Max Rose has signed a fundraising agreement with Joe Crowley. THAT'S where the money comes from. You need to believe in your candidate." The moderator allows the microphone to return to Rose for an answer, and his retort was a pompous, "I have raised more money in this race than all of the candidates" [heckles and boos; an audience member shouts, "FROM WHERE?!" And a chant of "from where, from where" begins.] DeVito grabs another mic, "from the oligarchy, from corporate donors, that's from where," and Max Rose shuts down his comments for the rest of the evening, unable to face the criticisms of the voters.

If the notion of Rose's mendacity hadn't yet spread far from the debates and town halls, the trade unions have been tenacious in getting word out throughout the working class voters of the district that he has been particularly disloyal and dishonest regarding Local Union No. 3 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and their strike, which began in March 2017. Near the beginning of Rose's announced candidacy, he was already made aware of the strike that was in effect and published a cursory statement of cheer for the union. He did not join the strike line. Over the course of the following months as the strike continued, he would occasionally send out a tweet or post on social media in statement of support to the Local #3 workers. But on October 27th, he sat down for an interview with the network owned by Charter/Spectrum and said on air that he was proud not to take money from unions. Amongst workers, this caused an outrage. But it was a photo he posted on December 17th that sealed his dishonor among Local #3, and the wider population of trade unionists, "all the political pros told me not to worry about speaking with voters until 3 months before the election" he captioned it, with a fundraising list he purported to represent a voter list. Local #3 workers and family members, who have been using Twitter to publicize their plight during the media blackout about it, began slamming him about the Spectrum remote they spied on his table. He offered an empty "you bet" response to whether he would cancel his service, and claimed he had already called upon the Mayor to cancel Spectrum's franchise agreement in July. A scan of his tweets revealed that he had merely tagged the Mayor in a tweet and considered the matter handled. As a protege of Crowley, who directly accepts campaign funds from Charter/Spectrum as well as Related-- the company union busting at Hudson Yards-- he will soon see that "Union Strong" is a term that brings voting voices with it.

In an atmosphere that is ripe with disgust over corporate greed and politicians who lie; at a time when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is challenging Joe Crowley in a primary that she just may win, the DCCC needs a mandate this year to send them packing and hand the business of being a Democrat back to the voters. The Ivory Tower has proven itself haughty and clueless for long enough, and this season, when a comedian asks, "How the fuck does that happen?!" about CD-11, let's hope it's about how a working-class Marine veteran outraised by nearly a million dollars got a Blue Dog to lie down.

UPDATE: Curtains For Grimm?

There's been a lot of bullshit journalism out in NY-11 about how folks in Staten Island see Mkey Suits as Jesus-reincarnated. Maybe that's because the "journalists" involved were only interviewing his rabid, mentally ill supporters. Yesterday, a Remington Research poll came out and it told a very different story. Interviewing likely 2018 Republican primary voters, they found 83% with favorable attitudes towards Trumpanzee, 55% with favorable attitudes towards incumbent Dan Donovan and just 45% (remember, of Republicans not of normal people) with favorable attitudes towards Grimm. 47% of these Republicans said they will vote for Donovan in tomorrow's primary, 40% said they'll vote for Grimm and 13% are still undecided. Republicans in the Staten Island part of the district say they'll vote for Donovan 47-39% and in the Brooklyn part of the district they'll vote for Donovan 59-26%.

Is The Employee Free Choice Act Being Discussed In This Electoral Cycle? It Is In Brooklyn And Staten Island-- Meet Michael DeVito

NY-11 is all of Staten Island and the Trumpiest part of south Brooklyn. In fact, the district, the most Italian district in America, has a PVI of R+3. Although Obama beat Romney there in 2012-- 51.6% to 47.3%-- in 2016 it was Trump country. He beat Hillary 53.6% to 43.8%. The GOP establishment is happy to run incumbent Dan Donovan but former Congressman Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm is our of prison and trying to get back into Congress again as a Trumpist. Trump, at the urging of Giuliani, Ryan and McCarthy, endorsed Donovan.

Meanwhile the DCCC and right-of-center shitbag, Joe Crowley, are pushing carpetbagger and Blue Dog Max Rose, who has nothing whatsoever to do with the district. Blue America has endorsed Michael DeVito and I asked him to introduce himself with a guest post. Please consider contributing to his campaign by tapping on the ActBlue 2018 congressional thermometer on the right. The primary, by the way, is 3 weeks from yesterday.



"We Are A Working-Class District. We Are Union"
by Michael DeVito

“How do you join a union, Mister?” Manny, one of my student interns, is eager to know. I’m struck suddenly by the impact of being asked two questions about unions in one day, and wonder if it’s a sign the conversation is gaining traction, especially among those in the next generation.

 In my work as a teacher and youth advocate, there is never any shortage of moments when intersectionality punches you in the face.

Manny is asking this question as we walk in a procession chanting, “No More Guns, No More Guns. Stop the Violence, Stop the Violence.” We are on the North Shore of Staten Island, and we’re walking to celebrate the life of a young man I mentored five years ago: Cesar Sanchez.  Cesar was murdered by a two-time killer in the Berry Homes (a NYCHA Housing Development) on September 24th 2014. Delano Hubert had shot and killed another kid a few hundred feet away years earlier. Hubert served just six years for that murder, because the D.A. accepted a plea of attempted manslaughter. That D.A. is the current Congressman of New York’s CD11, Dan Donovan. Hubert was released to no prospects for a job, continued education, or mental health services. He was on parole and often not showing up for probation.

Manny is asking me about unions because before we started our Walk Against Gun Violence, I gave a speech about standing united in solidarity for what you believe in and that, now more than ever, we need to stand together to fight for our civil rights and our economic freedom.

We tell the kids every year that we could have prevented Cesar’s death with better laws, and if we really looked out for each other; if we made sure we worked together to make our community strong and vibrant.

After Cesar’s death, I started a scholarship fund with his mother and each year we host a run/walk called “A Race Against Gun Violence.”  We usually do our walk down on the beach. This year, we are walking around the housing complex where Cesar lived, because next week, the NYC Parks Department-- having accepted my application-- will formally name the basketball courts there in honor of Cesar.

As we walk around the complex this time, Manny tells everyone he just dropped a track on SoundCloud. He says, “I gotta make some bank so I can fund my music career. I gotta get into a union to do it.”

Just a few hours before the walk, I was at a Democratic Party debate.

The question there: what legislation would you introduce into Congress to make it easier for those who want to unionize to have their union recognized by their employer?

The South Shore of Staten Island, the scene of the debate, is reputed to be a Republican stronghold. The reality is more nuanced, and the district in its entirety is actually a microcosm of America. Even throughout the infamously Conservative South Shore, there is an immense concentration of civil servants, and trades workers: firefighters, cops, electricians, teachers, plumbers, construction workers, nurses, bus drivers, signalmen, etc. We are a working-class district. We are union. We are a district which has largely been voting Republican for the last 30 years (although Obama was elected and re-elected right here), even as there are 1.75 times the number of registered Democrats as Republicans. More remarkably: there are about as many unaffiliated registered voters as Republicans.

NY-11 went 20 points for Trump in 2016. If we are paying attention, the message is clear: the Establishment is not welcome in this district.

We want change. We need a champion.

We know why people here voted for Trump, and really: this question is plucked right out of the minds of the middle class, which is rapidly becoming the new poor in America-- the poor who are being imprisoned by debt and lack of opportunity.

My answer is the Employee Free Choice Act.

Since Taft-Hartley, unions have been up against the ropes. As we are forced into the blinding light of the gig economy, (what Chris Hedges calls, “the new term for serfdom”) we are faced with the apparent possibility that the only way to save America is with a Labor Movement larger than the Civil Rights Movement of the sixties. In 2005, The Employee Free Choice Act was presented for the first time. According to labor leaders far and wide, it was destined to pass in 2009 when Democrats controlled all three parts of the government.

It failed.

It failed because of corporate Blue Dog Democrats who were more beholden to their CEO masters and the donor class demagogues than the working people of our country.

It failed the American Worker.

Corporate Democrats failed the American Worker.

The EFCA does three things:

1. It empowers workers to unionize without the requirement of an additional secret ballot.
2. It mandates that if an agreement were not reached after 90 days of collective bargaining, mandated mediation and then arbitration would be required.
3. It penalizes corporations should they attempt to subject workers to detriments for participating in union activities. 

This is the kind of clear message we need to send to corporations. We are standing with our workers, and we can only do so if we send people like me to Congress who are unbought.

This is what I am fighting for in NY-11 and across the country.

Right now, we have 1,800 IBEW Local 3 union families striking for 14 months against Charter/ Spectrum in New York City. They are being starved. They are losing their homes. They are being stripped of their dignity, all because Charter doesn’t want to honor the contract they acquired through the purchase of Time-Warner.

The mandated mediation/arbitration clause in the EFCA would have had these folks back to work 11 months ago.

When Bernie was defending the EFCA, he said, “Big Business does not want to ensure that workers make a decent wage.” Local 3’s fight is the perfect example.

We used to cheer at the number of Americans that climbed into the middle class in our country. Now we are mourning as droves of people fall into the pit of poverty.

Most of the young people I work with have fallen behind in high school. Some made bad choices, while many have had to make tough choices, and all of them are subject to a school system that is failing them because of a lack of vision and equity. Most of my kids are headed toward the perilous gig economy-- towards serfdom. The majority of them are not college-bound and will wind up in the service industry.

I tell Manny that we have an OSHA 30 training this coming week. I tell him he can join two unions if he wants: the carpenters union and the musicians’ union.

The first step is to be on time for OSHA training this weekend.

He says, “Word? No Doubt.”

We shake hands with the thumb snap at the end.

My commitment to my community is thirteen years renewed, after eight-plus years as a U.S. Marine in peacetime, and six more years as a graduate student/ contractor/ expat father in Okinawa.  When I got back to my hometown in 2005, I hit the ground running – right into service. Every day I get up and go to work to help just one kid succeed because I know that helping one kid is helping a whole family, and every family affects a community.

Their fight is my fight, because I have skin in this game too.

I fight for my own child who, as a newly-minted Court Stenographer, is making her way in the gig economy. Miya is working hard to pay back her school debt and is contributing to the greater good of America. She pays her dues to the National Court Reporters Association, and she’s working towards joining the Association of Surrogate’s and Supreme Court Reporters.

All my kids want an America that is going to be there for them. I believe it is up to people like me to ensure we make it so.

The Leakiest Ship Ever-- And Mikey Suits Probably Will Have Trouble Sleeping Tonight

Is Señor Trumpanzee going to install a boxing ring in front of his desk in the Oval Office. Like he's always said, his style of management includes having his employees fight with each other. Collegiality is not a trait is encourages. Back-stabbing is. He's a sick cookie... always has been. But what would you expect from someone whose father was a KKK thug and whose grandfather ran a whorehouse? Sunday afternoon, Axios' Jonathan Swan posted a really hilarious Age of Trump leak: Stunning Oval Office leak: Aides fight in front of Trump-- about leaks.

Shortly after word leaked that Kelly Sadler had taken a nasty shot at John McCain, President Trump convened a meeting in the Oval Office for a tiny group of communications staffers, according to sources familiar with the gathering. Sadler, Mercedes Schlapp, Raj Shah, and John Kelly all gathered in front of the Resolute Desk for a conversation with Trump about the leaking problem. They were the only people in the room, though the door to the outer Oval was open.

The president told Sadler she wouldn’t be fired for her remark. He added, separately in the conversation, that he’s no fan of McCain. Then Trump, who had grown obsessed with the leaking problem, told Sadler he wanted to know who the leakers were. Sadler then stunned the room: To be completely honest, she said, she thought one of the worst leakers was Schlapp, her boss.

Schlapp fought back like a mad dog and Sadler ratted out several other White House staffers for leaking as well. Eventually someone leaked the whole mess to Axios, the best place to go with White House gossip that will instantly be read by everyone in DC. Several people with enough connections to be listened to seriously have told me that Trump himself is getting all this crap leaked. Does that illustration above look more like a White House leaking or more like a White House crying?

You can't count this as a leak, per se, but a crazy pair of Trump tweets this evening seems to have sunk felon Mikey Suits' campaign to reclaim his old congressional seat in Staten Island and south Brooklyn (NY-11). There's plenty of speculation that either Paul Ryan, Kevin McCarthy or Rudy Giuliani talked Trump into endorsing Dan Donovan over Grimm.

Grimm tweeted back: "All the endorsements in the world can’t change the facts: Donovan has failed to pass even one substantive bill into law, and has voted against President Trump every time it’s mattered-- from failing to repeal Obamacare, to banning sanctuary cities, and even against tax cuts," the tax cuts that Donovan voted against despite the moron-in-chief claiming otherwise ... in his Adderall-fueled tweet.

Dan Donovan tweeted too:

Mikey Suits Can Win The GOP Primary... But Can He Win The General? Perhaps?

Staten Island is the most Mafia-friendly place in America. And the other portion of NY-11, south Brooklyn-- just happens to be the most Russian Mafia-friendly place in America. Put them together and you have a new poll the DCCC just released showing that Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm, a Mafioso himself, is way ahead of incumbent Republican Dan Donovan in the Republican primary. "Things," wrote New York Daily News reporter Jillian Jorgensen over the weekend, "are looking Grimm for Rep. Daniel Donovan. Ex-congressman-- and ex-con-- Michael Grimm leads Donovan by 10 percentage points in the Republican primary in the district that covers Staten Island and part of southern Brooklyn, says a new poll." The Mafia wants Grimm back in Congress to protect their interests.

That makes the DCCC very happy. They feel their handpicked-- screw the primary-- Blue Dog candidate, Max Rose, will have a much easier time beating the ex-con than the incumbent.

Grimm is at 49% and Donovan at 39% among GOP voters, according to a poll by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which hopes to flip the seat.

Grimm’s ex-GOP constituents on Staten Island are especially willing to overlook his criminal record-- they favor him over Donovan by 11 points, the Democrats’ poll says.

The poll is “consistent with our own internal analysis,” Grimm said.

Donovan’s camp ripped the results. “Of course the DCCC is desperate for Michael Grimm because they know he has zero shot of winning in November,” said campaign spokeswoman Jessica Proud.

Grimm, an ex-FBI agent, cruised to reelection in 2014 even as he faced a 20-count federal indictment for mail, wire and health care fraud, among other charges.

He ended up serving seven months on tax fraud charges related to his operation of a Manhattan health food restaurant.

The Feds let him off easy in return for him not spilling the beans on FBI wrong-doing. Now Grimm, who's mainstream conservtaive voting record, is basically identical with Donovan's mainstream conservative voting record. Both are tacking right and trying to identify with Trump, although Grimm is doing better with attaching himself to Trump core voters. Trump beat Hillary in only one NYC congressional district-- NY-11. He beat Hillary 53.6% to 43.8%. Grimm wants those voters and sought, and received an endorsement from Steve Bannon. Donovan is stuck with an endorsement from unpopular lame duck Paul Ryan. Jorgensen reported that Grimm "rips Donovan as not enough of a conservative or friend to President Trump."

Republican voters like his message, the Democrats’ poll shows. A whopping 67% of voters approve of Grimm’s job performance as congressman, and just 18% disapprove, the poll found.

That’s better than Donovan, of whom 47% of Republican voters approve and 27% disapprove.

The DCCC is pushing candidate Max Rose, who like Grimm is a combat veteran.

Despite Grimm’s popularity with GOP voters, Democrats would rather run against him and his felony record in the November election.

The poll surveyed 404 likely 2018 Republican primary voters from April 9 to April 11. The margin of error is 4.9%.

Remember when the Democratic Establishment really, really, really wanted Hillary to run against Trump rather than Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio? How that worked out for them? And us?

Does The Mafia Get Its Own Member Of Congress Again?

If the DCCC gets its way and Blue Dog Max Rose captures the Democratic nomination to run against Michael Grimm in November in the Staten Island/south Brooklyn district (NY-11) that is widely considered the most Mafia-friendly congressional district in America, Rose will have an immediate head start-- a website, The Grimm Reality. The site was put up over the weekend by Grimm's opponent, incumbent Congressman Dan Donovan (R). Donovan doesn't pull any punches, making Grimm sound a lot like Señor Trumpanzee:

Michael Grimm is a serial liar and con man who will do or say anything to get what he wants. He’s even gone so far as to lie under oath, which got him convicted of felony perjury charges. But his lies and excuses go way beyond his criminal convictions.

Since voters can’t trust a word Michael Grimm says, this website will set the record straight about his disturbing record as one of the most liberal Republicans in Congress and the numerous ethics scandals he’s embroiled in. We just can’t trust Michael Grimm.

The NY Post had a good ole time with it on Monday: "'It’s tax day in America, and while everyone has filed their taxes and paid their hard-earned money to the government, Michael Grimm still thinks he’s above the law,' the anti-Grimm website says. 'Even after serving prison time for hiding nearly $1 million in income from the IRS, Michael Grimm still owes approximately $900,000 in back taxes to New York State. 'He owes huge debts to the tax department, his campaign, and the people who paid off his criminal legal bills, but that hasn’t stopped him from driving around in a Lexus sports car. For Michael Grimm, the rules apply to everyone except him.'" Most of the website is devoted to 9 urls putting Grimm in a bad light. A DCCC contact laughed and told me they have "10 times more-- and much more damaging"-- oppo on Grimm than Donovan is using.



The Post was just as happy to publish Grimm's response: "Not surprising that Desperate Dan resorts to slander to distract from his own failed stint in Congress. Everyone knows I hired a few delivery boys off the books and was politically prosecuted by the Obama Justice Department for a violation other business owners get fined for, but that doesn’t change the fact that I was a much more effective member of Congress. I’ll be happy to release my tax returns when Dan has his first substantive bill signed into law or starts supporting our President when it actually matters."

NY-11 was the only New York City congressional district Trump won. Although Obama beat Romney there, Trump thrashed Hillary 53.6% to 43.8%. The PVI is R+3. Staten Island is filled with Italians and the Brooklyn part of the district is filled with Trump-loving Russians. June 25 in primary day. Donovan has been endorsed by the Staten Island GOP, the Staten Island Independence Party, the New York state Conservative Party, the New York state Reform Party and the entire Republican Beltway establishment. Grimm has been endorsed by... Steve Bannon.

Although Grimm-- as well as Donovan-- try painting themselves as a Trump fanatics now, both have virtually identical voting records: mainstream Republican. As of the March 31 FEC filing deadline, Donovan had raised $1,171,589 and had $739,476 cash on hand. Grimm had raised $366,460 and had $359,607 in cash.

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall Who's The Trumpiest GOP Imbecile Of Them All? On Staten Island

Now where, oh where, could Grimm have ever gotten the idea to tar Donovan?

You expect crazy shit coming out of Staten Island-- but not crazy shit the effects anyplace else. Staten Island is its own world-- we leave them alone; they leave us alone. At least that’s the way it’s always been. However… as we said a few days ago, the relatively sane mainstream Republican congressman, Dan Donovan, a law and order guy, is in a fight to the death GOP primary with Mafia thug and former congressman and recently-released prison inmate, Michael “Mikey Suits” Grimm. As we said Wednesday, Donovan was exposed for fixing a heroin bust for the son of his… his… girlfriend’s son. Donovan’s defense? He didn’t do squat and Mikey Suits was behind the ethics complaint claiming that Donovan intervened in the arrest of Timothy O’Connell, the son of Donovan’s domestic partner, Serena Stonick.

“All these charges are false,” Donovan said. “I was never involved in the arrest stage. I wasn’t involved in whatever happened at the precinct. I never went to the precinct. I never called anyone. I was never involved in whatever decision the police department made on whatever charges they were going to charge him with. I was never involved in the whether or not he was going to receive a DAT. I was never involved in any of his court proceedings.”

Donovan said he wants OCE to move as quickly as possible on the case, and he called on the ethics watchdog to release those findings when its probe is complete.

In a statement, Grimm didn’t directly address whether he was behind the ethics complaint against Donovan.

However, Grimm called on Donovan, his aides and Stonick to release their cell phone records to determine if there was any contact with O’Connell or anyone else the day of the arrest.

“Dan Donovan’s desperate blame game and politicization of this scandal helps no one-- not his campaign, not his loved ones, not the thousands in our community suffering from the opioid epidemic that blossomed under his watch,” Grimm said. “I have no comment on this story other than to question how a felony distribution case magically turned into a misdemeanor, as O’Connell’s own lawyer admitted to the New York Post.

Grimm is trying to make an unprecedented comeback to Congress. He served seven months in federal prison after pleading guilty in 2014 to tax evasion. The former FBI agent wants to reclaim his old Staten Island seat by ousting Donovan.

In an increasingly ugly battle, both men have tried to portray themselves as the true Trumpian candidate in the race, although President Donald Trump himself has stayed out of it so far.

House GOP leaders, including Speaker Paul Ryan, badly want Donovan to win and have endorsed the ex-prosecutor and held fundraisers to buttress his campaign war chest.

And believe me, this gets even crazier-- and intrudes into all our lives. To prove that he’s the biggest Trumpist in the fight, Donovan rushed to introduce a bill that would mandate a picture of Señor Trumpanzee and his homophobic partner Pence, side by side, in every post office-- not just the ones in Staten Island And the Russian part of Brooklyn, but in post offices all over America. Donovan claims that a constituent complained to him that a local post office put up photos of Obama and Biden, but didn’t display photos of Señor T and Pence. Like this;

Crawling Through The Wreckage Of This Year's Republican Party Primaries

Although Dana Rohrabacher is a special case we can look at below, basically there are no Republicans in Congress who are being primaried because they are too Trumped-up. The most Trumpified lunatics in the House-- take Matt Gaetz (FL) or Devin Nunes (CA) as perfect examples-- have no mainstream Republicans trying to take them out. Mainstream Republicans are either a figment of our imaginations or being mighty quiet this year. Instead, Trumpists are savaging GOP incumbents who they claim aren’t sufficiently servile to Señor Trumpanzee. Even without Bannon running a purity jihad from the White House, right-wing extremists and on the attack.

NC-09 stretches along the southern border of the state, from the eastern and southern Charlotte metro, through Monroe, Wadesboro, Laurinburg, and Lumberton into eastern Fayetteville. The PVI is R+8. Obama lost it both times and the district went for Trump last year 54.4% to 42.8%. The incumbent is Republican Robert Pittenger, who has a solidly conservative voting record but been a target of Tea Party extremists since 2014 when he said he wouldn't support shutting down the government over an attempt to destroy Obamacare. They ran crackpot Michael Steinberg, who wasn’t able to get much traction. Pittenger won with 67%. Last cycle he had two GOP primary challengers from the right, Mark Harris and Todd Johnson, which proved to be a very tough primary for him:

Now that’s a close call for an incumbent-- 134 votes! This year the DCCC is running a Republican-lite Blue Dog, Dan McCready and as of the December 31 FEC reporting deadline, McCready had outraged Pittenger $1,221,979 to $780,250. Making matters worse for Pittenger, Mark Harris is primarying him again-- and raised some decent money-- $406,222-- forcing Pittenger to spend all his dough on the primary. A couple of weeks ago the biggest newspaper in the district covered the May 8th primary by running a PolitiFact smackdown with this provocative headline: GOP rival says Pittenger is among the 'most liberal' Republicans in Congress. False.

To close the voting gap before the May 8 primary, Harris is questioning Pittenger’s conservative credentials.

Pittenger has represented North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District since 2013, when he succeeded retiring Republican Sue Myrick. A Charlotte resident, Pittenger previously served in the state Senate and in 2008 ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor.

In a recent newsletter, Harris criticized Pittenger for supporting a spending bill that raised the debt ceiling.

“Robert Pittenger showed us yet again why he is constantly rated as one of the most liberal Republicans in Congress,” the newsletter says.

There are 535 voting members of Congress (the House of Representatives and the Senate). Republicans control Congress with nearly 300 seats: 238 in the House and 51 seats in the Senate.

The term "most liberal" is somewhat subjective. But we at PolitiFact North Carolina wondered whether conservative watchdog groups have consistently singled out Pittenger as liberal.

We contacted the Harris campaign to see what ratings systems he’s referencing in the newsletter.


The primary source for the statement is a rating by Conservative Review, according to Harris campaign spokesman Andy Yates. Conservative Review is a website edited by Mark Levin, a talk radio host who has referred to Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell as a "dummy" and "failure."

"Pittenger has a 55% F grade with them. It is the second worst grade of any NC Republican House member (McHenry is the worst)," Yates said in an email, referring to Rep. Patrick McHenry, who represents Western North Carolina. "Pittenger has consistently graded out as an F with this group which marks him as one of the most liberal Republicans in Congress."

Yates is right about Pittenger's standing among the 10 North Carolina Republicans in the House. Whether that puts him among the most liberal Republicans in these rankings depends on how one defines "most liberal."

According to Conservative Review’s scorecard, there are about 90 House Republicans-- about 36 percent-- who have lower "Liberty Scores" than Pittenger. Among those with lower scores than Pittenger: House Speaker Paul Ryan and majority whip Steve Scalise.

Yates also cited Pittenger’s 2018 rating with FreedomWorks, which is zero. FreedomWorks is a libertarian-leaning advocacy group. The scorecard mostly covers fiscal policy, civil liberties and regulatory issues, said Jason Pye, vice president of legislative affairs at FreedomWorks.

Pye referred to Pittenger as "unreliable" when it comes to reining in spending. Pittenger "generally votes with leadership, and they like to bust spending caps and bust the budget-- things we’re opposed to," Pye said. 
Pittenger has a "Lifetime Score" of 70 with the FreedomWorks. There are about 114 House members with lower lifetime scores than Pittenger. Pittenger's score places him slightly to the right of California Republican Devin Nunes and slightly to the left of U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, also of North Carolina.

Pittenger's Conservative Review rating and his lifetime rating on FreedomWorks aren’t extremely liberal (or conservative) compared to other congressional Republicans… Pittenger votes out-of-step with the majority of Republicans 5.5 percent of the time, according to ProPublica. The group says that’s close to the average for Republicans in Congress.

He has a score of 90 percent with Heritage Action for America, a watchdog group and think tank that says it “turns conservative ideas into reality on Capitol Hill.” The average score for House Republicans is 68 percent.

According to a vote tracker on FiveThirtyEight.com, Pittenger’s votes are aligned with Trump 96.9 percent of the time. And there are dozens of Republican House members who vote in-step with Trump less than Pittenger.


…PolitiFact ruling

Harris said Pittenger is "constantly rated as one of the most liberal Republicans in Congress." We can’t find the results to back that up. So we rate this claim False.

Pittenger has been handing out a campaign document to media: “Rep. Robert Pittenger: Unapologetically Pro Trump,” which detailed the “over 200” media appearances, six rallies, nine town halls and other instances in which Pittenger has offered robust defenses” of Señor Trumpanzee. Club for Growth, always looking to elect extremists and neo-fascists, is backing Harris. As in GOOP primaries around the country, the one in NC-09 has support for Señor T big factor for the dumbed-down Republican electorate, with both sides accusing the opponent of disloyalty to the fascist regime. The latest poll shows Pittenger absolutely crushing Harris so far, up 32 points over him.

Another mainstream conservative in the South, Alabama’s Martha Roby, is under attack for not being pro-Trump enough. Her district, AL-02-- the southeast corner of the state, including part of Montgomery, all of Greenville and Dothan-- has an R+16 PVI that has given Democrats about a third of its vote. Trump beat Hillary 65% to 33%. There are 5 Republicans primarying Roby, one being former Blue Dog Democrat Bobby Bright, who she beat in 2012, and is now a born-again Trumpist. Noe-fascist state Rep. State Rep. Barry Moore is even further right. Everyone is claiming to be Trumpier than Roby, who denounced Trump after the Access Hollywood tape. Another candidate attacking Roby from the (far) right is Rich Hobson, Roy Moore’s campaign manager.

Bright was exactly the kind of Blue Dog the DCCC is recruiting now. He describes himself to Alabama Republicans as having been more Republican in Congress “than several dozen Republican counterparts” and says he was “pro-life, pro-Second Amendment and does not believe in same-sex marriage.” Thank God, he’s admitting he’s a Republican now or Lujan and Pelosi would be trying to lure him back to Congress as a Democrat. “Everything that you might think a Democrat believes, I wasn’t there,” he told the local media recently. The primary is June 5 and Bright can’t repeat often enough that he will help “President” Donald Trump any way he could in pushing the “president’s” America-first agenda.

The Staten Island/Brooklyn district (NY-11) that elected former D.A. Dan Donovan (R) after Mafia thug Michael “Mikey Suits” Grimm was sent to federal prison, may be ready to send Grimm, now out of prison, back to Congress. The district’s PVI is R+3. It was the only district in NYC Trump won, beating Hillary 53.6% to 43.8%, a district Obama won in 2012 by over 4 points. The DCCC recruited a very conservative Blue Dog, Max Rose, who would be a complete long shot except for this wave. But Donovan has a bigger problem now-- winning the primary, especially after he was exposed over the weekend in a shockingly sordid affair, perhaps typical for Staten Island but… well, not something voters are likely to forget. The NY Post scooped everyone about how Donovan used his official position to get his baby mama’s son out of a heroin arrest on Staten Island.

Donovan, a former district attorney who now represents Staten Island and part of South Brooklyn, stepped in after his domestic partner’s son was arrested with a friend for “criminal sale and possession of a controlled substance (heroin),” according to an allegation filed with the Office of Congressional Ethics last week.

Timothy O’Connell, son of Serena Stonick, was detained with the female friend after the bust, the allegation states. The friend’s name is being withheld by The Post.

“Later that evening, Donovan, while serving in Congress and as a former District Attorney, visited the 122 Precinct and used his position to illegally request that officers issue O’Connell and [the friend] a ‘desk appearance ticket’ instead of proceeding with normal arrest protocols,” the allegation says. “This intervention allowed the detained to be immediately released from custody, as well as the records to be sealed.”

A desk appearance ticket lets an arrested person show up in court at a later date to answer a summons and avoid being sent to central booking, jailed or arraigned.

…[Donovan spokesman Pat] Ryan noted that when Donovan first began dating Stonick in 2011, she told him that her daughter also struggled with addiction and was in drug-treatment court. As the DA at the time, Donovan requested and was granted a special prosecutor in that case.

Donovan and Stonick now have a young daughter together.

“This is a disgusting, vicious and false attack on a young man’s struggle with addiction to score political points two months before an election,” Ryan said, referring to June’s GOP congressional primary in which Donovan will face ex-con former Rep. Michael Grimm.

Ryan pointed to O’Connell’s arrest report, which shows the young man did not make a phone call after being collared.

O’Connell’s attorney, Joe Mure, said his client was charged with seventh-degree criminal drug possession, not sale. The misdemeanor is punishable by up to a year in jail. The charge was dismissed in March 2016.

Mure claimed four glassine bags of heroin were found in the woman’s wallet when police pulled her and O’Connell over and that marijuana was later found in her shoe at the station house. But the arrest report indicates O’Connell was seen buying heroin.

Ryan said, “We’re not saying [O’Connell] was charged without any cause.”

O’Connell denied doing drugs.

“No marijuana, no heroin. I don’t even drink . . . I go to church every Sunday,” he said.

He denied Donovan helped him get out of trouble. His friend would not comment on the case.

The tipster who made the allegation to the Office of Congressional Ethics said “multiple sources” contributed to the account, including a retired cop and an active detective on Staten Island, elected officials and someone close to the female friend.

The source close to the friend said the woman was driving O’Connell when he asked to go to a house in Great Kills. The source was told that “he went in, he came out. They continued driving. They were pulled over. They were found with drugs.”

The source said that if Donovan did quash the arrests, he made the wrong decision.

“I thought if these kids went through the system and you get a taste of prison... That’s going to scare you some, and maybe it was a chance to keep these kids off drugs,” the person said.

Ironically, when Grimm was in Congress he had the same kind of mainstream conservative record as Donovan does. But now Grimm is attacking Donovan for it and running as an extreme, off-the-cliff Trumpist. Democrats generally feel they can flip the seat more easily if Grimm wins the primary. No one seriously though he could until this weekend.



Todd Rokita is an unaccomplished Indiana member of Congress currently embroiled in a tough primary against Luke Messer, another unaccomplished Indiana Rep. They’re both running for a Senate nomination. Rokita’s new ad doesn’t mention anything remotely connected to issues or policy-- just that he’s the Trumpiest Republican in the race. Writing for the Washington Post today, Aaron Blake noted that the ad encapsulates the all-consuming tribalism of Trump’s Republican Party. “The ad,” he wrote, “titled ‘MAGA,’ is a remarkable little window into how at least one candidate thinks you win in today's GOP, and Rokita hopes it's his ticket to the Republican nomination to face Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN) next month… [Trump] has turned a Republican Party that was all about conservative purity earlier this decade into one that is more about Trump purity. It's a party built on personality whose base has stood by Trump, even as he has shrugged off an antagonistic foreign power's incursion into U.S. elections. It's a party that almost instantly and universally dismisses every Trump-inspired controversy as unimportant and a media creation-- even ‘fake news.’… The problem with being the most ‘with Trump,’ though, is that what it requires can change depending on the day. Trump isn't just a political novice-- he's a chameleon. That may sound harsh and negative, but it's objectively true and even a testament to Trump's ability to hold his base almost by sheer force of personality. The prevailing ethos of Trump's presidency isn't conservative policies so much as ‘Trump will take care of it, and don't worry about the details. There's no question as to why candidates such as Rokita want to be associated with Trump. But just at its core, Rokita isn't subscribing to any specific policies; he's subscribing to supporting a president who might do all kinds of things he never expected. Yet Rokita has wagered that the most important thing is that he assures people he'll be along for the ride.”

And that brings us to Dana Rohrabacher in the coastal Orange County district (CA-48). Hillary narrowly beat Trump there and Rohrabacher has been successful exposed as a Putin puppet. California has open primaries and there’s aq slight chance Rohrabacher won’t even make it into the general election. New Dem Harley Rouda is favored to win among Democrats-- and he would for sure except for the support the DCCC is surrepticuousl funneling to another New Dem, Hans Keirstead, a candidate who looks good on paper but who has been a complete bust in the flesh. Rohabacher’s other problem in the primary, though, is former Assemblyman and former Orange County GOP chairman Scott Baugh. Now Baugh, a former Rohrabacher ally, is attacking him as a Putin puppet, likely to help Rouda if Rohrabacher makes the general. Trump’s unpopular in the district and he’s not really as much of a factor as he is in GOP primaries in the rest of the country-- unless Putin = Trump in the minds of Republican primary voters in South Brooklyn which is lousy with pro-Putin (and pro-Trump) Russian immigrants who are extremely disloyal to the U.S. and ought to be all deported as dangerous aliens.