What If Neither Of The Lesser of Two Evils Really Is Lesser Enough?

Bardel, Recchia, Grimm-- there's only one sane choice for NY-11

I'm over the whole concept of even voting for the lesser of two evils any longer. The lesser of two evils is, by definition, still evil, even if not as base as the greater of two evils. I voted for the Green Party candidate, Jill Stein in 2012, not because Obama isn't infinitely better in every way than Mitt Romney but because I am not making electoral decisions based on how someone stacks up against a worthless pile of stinking dog shit like Mitt Romney. Obama isn't terrible and he's had a tough time and history, I suspect, will judge him well. But he didn't have the character I was looking for to fight off the fascists. So I, in effect, cast a protest vote. "My candidate" came in fourth-- behind Obama (65,915,796-- 51.06%), Romney (60,933,500-- 47.20% and Libertarian Gary Johnson (1,275,971-- 0.99%)-- with 469,628-- 0.36%. She beat Constitution Party nominee Virgil Goode, Peace and Freedom's Roseanne Barr, Justice Party's Rocky Anderson and a couple of even fringier choices.

If I lived in Staten Island or the part of south Brooklyn that is included in NY-11, I'd be voting for Henry Bardel, the pro-peace independent candidate. The Republican incumbent, Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm, a former FBI agent gone bad, is a Gambino crime family thug who is hoping to use his reelection as a bargaining chip to stay out of federal prison. Last week, we went over the electoral case again when the Staten Island Advance endorsed their 20 times indicted hoodlum congressman. Yesterday, the New York Daily News was even more eloquent in their disdain for both candidates-- but especially for the ghastly Steve Israel recruit, Domenic Recchia, in an editorial entitled Very Grimm Choice-- One Is Bad, The Other Is Worse.

In Domenic Recchia, the Democrats have fielded a candidate so dumb, ill-informed, evasive and inarticulate that voting for a thuggish Republican who could wind up in a prison jumpsuit starts to make rational sense.

At least Michael Grimm can string three sentences together in arguing that he deserves the presumption of innocence on federal criminal charges stemming from his past operation of a restaurant.

Should he be convicted, Grimm has promised to resign, paving the way for a match between two fresh candidates. All the better.

Recchia, a former councilman, is clueless as to the issues. He accomplished the unprecedented feat of failing to give a single coherent answer when he was interviewed hoping for the Daily News endorsement.

He was equally incoherent in debates. Even in his best showing, on Tuesday night, he couldn’t give a straight answer as to whether he supports a $10.10 minimum wage. He said no, then yes, then who knows what.

Once, when asked about foreign policy credentials, he boasted of having run a student-exchange program.

In endorsing Grimm they called him "the only alternative when the mantra must be anyone but Recchia." Alas, Recchia is far from atypical of Steve Israel's recruits. He set out to find clueless, corrupt, conservative zombies-- and that explains, to some extent, why so many Democarts are sitting out the midterms this year. Other than Steve Israel, could any sentient Democrat seriously consider voting for garbage candidates like, for example, Pete Aguilar and Jennifer Garrison.

His Red to Blue List is-- with a few exceptions that slipped in when Israel was busy taking bribes on Wall Street and not paying attention-- very much a rogue's list of candidates who will never be in Congress and should never be in Congress. Monday Israel was again bragging how much money the DCCC had raised. That's great news for all the sleazy consultants he's connected to... they made millions. But for the House Democrats and for working families that count of the Democrats to protect them from the far right? Disaster!

We have outraised the NRCC by $41.1 million ($172 million to $130.9 million), despite being in the minority. The DCCC has built record support from individual and grassroots supporters and dominated the NRCC on candidate fundraising.

• DCCC had the best fundraising cycle ever – raising more than $172 million to date.

• Raised nearly $12 million directly for candidates this cycle to compete with SuperPACs’ spending by using lowest unit rates for television.

• 5 million grassroots low-dollar donors made 4.2 million contributions.

• Reached $110 million in grassroots contributions.

• Average grassroots gift was $25.80, with 95 percent of donations $50 or less.

• The DCCC tripled the NRCC’s low dollar contributions, according to the FEC. The DCCC raised $69 million from contributors who’ve given less than $200, compared to the NRCC’s $23 million.

• This cycle, Leader Pelosi completed 750 fundraising and campaign events in 115 cities, which have raised a record $101.3 million for Democrats, including $65.2 million for the DCCC directly.

...• The DCCC’s Independent Expenditure invested a record-breaking $67.25 million in 39 districts.

• In the 22 districts where the DCCC and NRCC both were on the air, the DCCC’s early reservations meant that the committee paid approximately 15 percent less for the same air time.

• The IE produced about 147 TV ads and 20 radio spots.

• The DCCC quadrupled our digital advertising, driving 28 million impressions that echoed our television message to as many as 88,000 voters per district.

Watch them rack up failure after failure after failure tonight. Israel is already jumping on the blame President Obama bandwagon and two weeks ago was whining that liberals didn't give the DCCC enough money. By the way, he's being removed as DCCC Chair but insists he be given another leadership post to make up for it (so he can use it to squeeze more money out of the crooks and lobbyists he deals with).

If Steve Israel Can't Even Beat A Thuggish Republican With 20 Criminal Indictments....

The Staten Island Advance is a lot like Staten Island-- and far more conservative and parochial than NY-11 as a whole, which also includes some relatively enlightened parts of Brooklyn (as well as some equally backward Mafia-oriented neighborhoods, particularly in Bay Ridge). And the district as a whole has been changing demographically as more immigrants move in. In 2008 McCain beat Obama in NY-11, 51-48%. Four years later, NY-11 went the other way, giving Obama a 52-47% win over Romney-- an identical margin the district gave their Mafia congressman, Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm, over a pathetic Democratic opponent, Mark Murphy, son of a former congressman who was sent to prison for 3 years in the Abscam scandal, after being taped taking a $50,000 bribe. This cycle, Steve Israel managed to find an even worse candidate, Domenic Recchia, thinking it wouldn't matter because of Grimm's myriad legal problems-- like 20 felony indictments.

Recchia is such a terrible canddiate-- another wretched mini-me of Israel-- that he's actually losing against a serial criminal likely to go to prison during the next term. Yesterday the Advance actually endorsed Grimm! They admit Grimm is a horrible choice-- but say Recchia is even worse!

There are, on occasion, electoral races in which both candidates are of high quality and high integrity and conduct a tough but fair campaign about the issues.

Fair-minded voters have a difficult choice, but they can know that, no matter who is elected, they'll be well represented by someone who won't embarrass their community.

The election for the House of Representatives seat in the 11th New York Congressional District is nothing like that.

A difficult choice

On one side is the sometimes hot-headed Republican incumbent who is facing a 20-count federal indictment. On the other is a career Brooklyn Democratic pol, who, term-limited out of his high-ranking post in the City Council, thought about other city offices before he settled on the idea of the job representing in Congress a borough he knows  little about, his claims of deep ties here notwithstanding.

That's the choice voters have. And that's the choice we have in making an endorsement in a race that could not be much uglier.

That choice for us is Michael Grimm. Surprisingly, if a choice is to be made, Mr. Grimm should be that choice, even under these circumstances.

Command of the issues

For one thing, he has command of the issues affecting the district, as well as those concerning foreign policy and national affairs.

Most people could do without his incessant parroting of lurid GOP attacks on the administration, but no one can say he doesn't know what he's talking about.

The same cannot be said for Mr. Recchia, whose campaign has consisted almost entirely of attacks on Mr. Grimm.

That's undoubtedly because he doesn't bring much else to the table. His campaign strength, it would seem, is to say he's not Michael Grimm.

When asked specific questions, Mr. Recchia offers canned catch-phrases on which he does not elaborate. He says merely that he believes in "working together" with other officials to "get things done," but never explains how.

Apologists say he is "down to earth," "not as slick as Mr. Grimm" but a "fierce negotiator passionate about who he represents."

At some point, however, it's fair to ask if these claims of his supposed "simplicity" are not just a cover. No one's asking for slick, just knowledgeable.

Exclusive focus on Grimm's troubles

We're not alone in suspecting that his grasp of the issues is uncertain, at best, which is why his campaign handlers have focused almost entirely on Mr. Grimm's legal troubles.

That's good enough for Democratic partisans, some still seething that Mr. Grimm "stole" the House seat from the party's rising star, Michael McMahon, in 2010. But it's not enough for most Staten Islanders. Mr. Grimm may not be as genial as the challenger, but his record in terms of constituent service-- most notably after Hurricane Sandy but in other respects as well-- has been good.

In tune with Staten Island voters

What's more, there's no question that he is in tune with the needs of his district, and while we may not always agree with his positions, especially the kind that light up the cable news networks, his mostly moderate conservative views well represent those of a majority of Staten Islanders.

Witness his forthright statement that the Republican presidential primaries produce nominees who come out of the process too much in political debt to far-right forces to be electable.

We are not overlooking Mr. Grimm's considerable legal woes, of course. To have Staten Island's congressman under federal indictment has been a black mark on this borough and has made it the laughingstock of the nation. Unfortunately, his opponent's astonishing incoherence in public statements only adds to the ridiculousness.

Mr. Grimm has indeed been indicted, but contrary to the definitive condemnations of partisan critics, he has not been convicted of anything; in this country, that matters.

Indicted five years later?

In addition, rumors had it that Mr. Grimm's fundraising tactics were under investigation. But his indictment is for counts including tax evasion, obstruction and perjury, all in connection with his operation of a Manhattan health-food restaurant, before he ran for Congress.

Frankly, the long lag time between the alleged commission of these crimes and the indictment for them makes the indictment suspect in our eyes, especially given the highly charged political atmosphere and the degree to which his seat is coveted by the Democrats.

That said, however, Mr. Grimm has been far too cute about what will happen if he is convicted, saying only, "If I wasn't able to serve, of course I'll step down."

If Mr. Grimm is convicted, he must step down.

But who decides if he is "able to serve"? Mr. Grimm himself?

He has to go one better. If Mr. Grimm is reelected, and then convicted of any crime, even if he's not sentenced to prison as his detractors insist he will be, he must step down. And the people of Staten Island must hold him to that.

Stories about Mr. Grimm's extra-curricaular activities are numerous.

We learned that he spent considerable time in the ladies' room of a Brooklyn tavern with a female friend, who he claimed to be counseling.  We heard he pulled a gun during a melee in a dance club in Manhattan. We heard him threaten to throw a reporter off a balcony because he didn't like a question posed.

We know a female friend, said to have had a relationship with Mr. Grimm, pleaded guilty of channeling illegal campaign contributions to Mr. Grimm's campaign-- something Mr. Grimm denies all knowledge of.

We have said several times in this space that Staten deserves better than this.

As distasteful as this contest may be on a number of levels, we have a choice to make, as do the voters.

On Tuesday, Mr. Grimm is still the best practical choice for Staten Island.

Our system of justice calls for us to wait until February, when he faces trial, to discover the rightness or wrongness of that decision.

Unlike the crackpot editors of The Advance, even the national Republican Party is too embarrassed to back Grimm, a Gambino crime family stalwart. The NRCC has spent exactly zero in this race. The DCCC and the House Majority PAC put in another $1,961,599 just this week, bringing their total for the cycle to an astronomical $3,641,465. And for what? Another corrupt sack of shit who will be too scared to vote with Democrats most of the time and will probably lose his seat in 2016 anyway. Have we mentioned that Steve Israel is the worst DCCC chairman since 1866?

UPDATE: Grimm Will Beat Recchia-- By A Lot

As anyone could have predicted-- and many Outside the Beltway did-- Israel's pathetic recruit, Domenic Recchia is falling flat on his face. A few minutes ago, Siena posted their last poll of the district and it shows Grimm with a stupendous 19-point lead over Recchia! Only SteveIsrael could have ever come up with this kind of a scenario. It's beyond belief.

Incumbent Republican Representative Michael Grimm has opened a wide, 19-point lead over Democratic challenger Domenic Recchia. Grimm leads Recchia 53-34 percent, up significantly from a narrow 44-40 percent lead seven weeks ago, according to a NY 1 News/Capital New York/Siena College Research Institute poll of likely 11th C.D. voters. Green Party candidate Henry Bardel has the support of five percent of voters. Grimm has gained this lead by solidifying his Republican base and turning a 14-point lead with independents into a 37-point lead.

“Early on, this race looked like it was going to be one of the closest in the state-- a former Democratic City Council member taking on an embattled incumbent Republican under Federal indictment in a district that is-- at least by enrollment-- dominated by Democrats,” said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg. “That no longer seems to be the case, as Grimm has taken a commanding 19-point lead into the final days of the campaign.

“Recchia’s seven-point September lead in Brooklyn has been cut to a narrow three-point lead, while Grimm has extended his lead in Staten Island, which accounts for more than two-thirds of voters, from nine to 28 points. Grimm has the support of 83 percent of Republicans, up from 73 percent. He also has the support of 31 percent of Democrats and has a better than five-to-two lead with independents,” Greenberg said.

“Last month, Grimm led by 11 points with men, even as the candidates were virtually tied with women,” Greenberg said. “Today, Grimm leads by 19 points with men and women.”

“In mid-September, Grimm had a negative 39-49 percent favorability rating. In a complete reversal, today he had a positive 48-43 percent favorability rating. Recchia has gone in the opposite direction, as the percentage of voters viewing him unfavorably has doubled.  He now has a negative 31-46 percent favorability rating,” Greenberg said.

“Grimm’s favorability rating is essentially unchanged with Democrats, however, his positive rating from Republicans has jumped from two-to-one to better than three-to-one.  And independents, who had previously viewed Grimm unfavorably by an 11-point margin, now view him favorably by a 13-point margin,” Greenberg said. “Recchia’s favorability rating tanked with Republicans and independents.”

Severe Establishment Disruption Among New York's Grubby Ruling Elite?

The DCCC usually makes mediocre ads-- or worse. They hire over-paid, overly-cautious consultants who only care about one thing: the next job they can get. The video above, however… that's a decent ad. And the DCCC started running it today-- part of a $950,000 investment in anti-Grimm broadcast ads on Staten Island and the parts of south Brooklyn that are part of NY-11 (Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights, Bath Beach, Sheepshead Bay, Gravesend, right up to the border of Midwood). I grew exactly 2 blocks from the far corner of Grimm's district-- Avenue P and East 15th Street-- and this area is nothing like the parts of the district on Staten Island and in Bay Ridge where people see the Mafia as folk heroes who will protect them from the coloreds. My sister lives on Staten Island. She told me that among her neighbors, Grimm's multiple indictments have made him more popular!

In 2012, it was the new NY-11 precincts in the northwest part of the district, my old neighborhood, that swung the congressional district in a very blue direction-- from a district that supported McCain 51-48% to a district that supported Obama 52-47%, one of the biggest pro-Obama swings anywhere in the country.

Grimm's campaign, though, is flailing. The GOP Establishment has cut him off as an embarrassment. He can't raise money, can't respond to DCCC attacks and is getting no help at all from the NRCC, which has written off the seat.

Mr. Grimm has been unable to respond with television advertisements of his own, after his indictments ended the flow of cash to his campaign from national Republicans. He has few paid campaign staffers-- though Mr. Molinari, 85, who helped launch Mr. Grimm’s first campaign, has said they meet regularly to discuss the race. In the last monthly filing period that campaign contributions were available to the public, Mr. Recchia raised 11 times more than Mr. Grimm, who had pulled in just $23,430, most of it from just 18 donors.

Still, the congressman is a skilled retail politician who has been shaking hands and taking selfies a slew of local events all summer long, and he remains popular with many in his district. He has dismissed the charges against him as a plot by Democrats and President Barack Obama to rid the city of its lone Republican in Congress, and has offered a refrain in his social media messages to his supporters: “I’ve got your back.” That could resonate in a district that often feels at worst targeted for unfair policies like high tolls, and at best forgotten by government.

So far the DCCC has spent $332,076-- not counting the money to run the ad up top. The NRCC has spent zero. Since it's Labor Day, let me just mention that the Mafia-controlled building trades unions in NY haven't given up on Grimm this year. The NRCC is embarrassed. The building trades bosses aren't. They've given him $199,000 so far-- $10,000 each, for example, from the Plumbers/Pipefitters Union, the Painters & Allied Trades Union, the Operating Engineers Union, the Carpenters & Joiners Union. Normal, non-Mafia affiliated unions have given Democrat Domenic Recchia $59,500.

My favorite possible outcome of the NY-11 race would be for Grimm to win-- from a prison cell. He's likely to go to jail on the charges but Staten Island definitely deserves to go down in history for having reelected a Mafia stooge who was already in prison. Recchia is as worthless as Grimm and there's no reason on earth for anyone to vote for him. But NY-11 isn't the only place where New York's grotesquely corrupt political Establishment is suffering from paroxysms of discontent and dislocation. This morning Fred Dicker reported in the Post that Cuomo is weighing dumping his handpicked right-wing running mate, Kathy Hochul. First watch this video:



The NY Times endorsed Tim Wu, which not even someone as remote from the street as Cuomo can ignore. Dicker isn't some kind of ridiculous Post scandal monger. He's the paper's state political editor and is very well-connected and knows what he's talking about. This is what he's talking about:

Gov. Cuomo’s political operatives are eyeing a "painful scenario" to dump Kathy Hochul, a moderate upstater, as the governor’s running mate for lieutenant governor amid growing signs that leftist law professor Tim Wu is picking up momentum in the Sept. 9 Democratic primary.

Such an action could be needed because a Wu victory would result in a Cuomo/Wu ticket on the Democratic line in the November election but potentially disastrous Cuomo/Hochul tickets on the Working Families, Independence, and Women’s Equality lines, where no primaries are slated.

Under the state Election Law, votes for a Cuomo/Hochul ticket in November would not be added to the tally for the Cuomo/Wu ticket, potentially costing Cuomo hundreds of thousands of votes.

Cuomo would have until Sept. 16 under the election law to swap Wu for Hochul, using a technique that would allow the former Buffalo-area congresswoman and lawyer to be nominated instead for a judgeship, according to an expert on legislative election law.

"This is the painful scenario being reviewed by the Cuomo people, who realize that there is an outside possibility that Wu could win the primary," said a source close to the Cuomo campaign.

Wu won the surprise endorsement of the New York Times as well as other left-of-center groups last week as they criticized Hochul’s past opposition to state aid for illegal aliens and her 100 percent rating from the National Rifle Association.

…Cuomo campaign operatives, nervous about the Sept. 9 primary, privately concede that he would suffer considerable national political damage if Fordham University Professor Zephyr Teachout, the governor’s hard-charging "progressive" challenger and Wu’s running mate, gets more than about 30 percent of the vote.

"About 30 percent will be a huge embarrassment to Cuomo on the national scene and would reinforce the sense that progressives don’t like or trust him," said a prominent Democratic activist.

Several activists told The Post they believed that Teachout, who has been endorsed by the state’s second-largest public employee union, would hit 30 percent.

UPDATE: No Prison Time For Grimm Before Nov.

My dream of seeing Staten Island reelect a Mafia hoodlum while he's in prison was shattered today when U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen announced that jury selection in the first of Grimm's many trials will begin Dec. 1. This trial is for the 20 indictments on all the baby-charges-- tax evasion, fraud and conspiracy… that kind of stuff. The more intense criminal stuff is still being investigated by the FBI.

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.

Republican Party role models Glenn Champ (CA) and Mikey Suits (NY)