Tag Archive: Joe Lhota

Opaaaa!

Liar! Liar! Pants on fire!

Queens-Politics surveyed many insiders and came up with the 10 biggest lies told in Queens.

1. LIE: Tony Avella is a reformer. FACT: Tony Avella is the protégé of Leonard and Toby Stavisky. He gets a reputation as a reformist because he inherited the same bitchy attitude as the Stavisky clan and was unable to get along with many of his colleagues in the City Council. The fact is Tony is tied to the hip with the Parkside Group and their core members (if you don’t believe me look at his voting record). It makes you wonder, does he care more about Parkside clients than North Queens residents? And in Albany when he is not catering to Stavisky’s clients he is often seen walking around bashing Queens good government watchdog Adam Lombardi.
2. LIE: Christine Quinn is a riot around the water cooler. FACT: The madam speaker is a nasty, vindictive, power hungry, Christian bashing lunatic who is a misery to be around. If you noticed the only ones who really like her are lobbyists who need something from city government and politicos who want a job if she becomes Mayor.
3. LIE: Parkside is a world class consulting firm. FACT: They only win elections when there’s no opposition. Parkside only takes clients that get the County nomination. To be fair, let’s see them win an election on a Republican line or as an independent insurgent then they can stand with the best. If you look at their website and their list of clients, many of them never had any real opposition. Their biggest race in years was Bob Turner vs. David Weprin, which they lost, and turned the Queens Democratic Party into a national embarrassment. Even President Obama was shaking his head.
4. LIE: Council candidate Costa Constantinides is liked by the Greek Community. FACT: Costa is the protégé of Senator Mike Giannaris. Giannaris is known with his Parkside coconspirators to shake down Greek-American businessmen without delivering anything they promise as well as disclosing that their values are more progressive than the Greek-American community. Mike Gianaris had a phony run for Attorney General so he would have an excuse to garner checks from the Greek-American community. What makes this more repulsive is that their special friend Parkside owner, Harry Giannoulis is the Treasurer of a Greek-Orthodox senior center and is rumored to use those lists to shake down elderly religious Greek Americans without disclosing that they are among some the most nasty  pro-abortion demagogues in New York state.
5. LIE: Austin Shafran could beat Councilman Dan Halloran. FACT: Austin Shafran is a 31-year-old neophyte who has no history of community service or business experience. Aside from that, Dan Halloran is a beloved figure in the community and has made strong ties with conservative leaning Democrats throughout the district. It will take a lot of money, a brand name, and a history of community service to even think about unseating him. Can anyone think of any candidate with those credentials?
6. LIE: John Castimitides can’t win the Mayoralty. FACT: If he gets through the primary, he will give anyone of the Democratic candidate’s a run for their money. Not only can he self-fund, he’s known to be genuine and candid in a way we haven’t seen since Ed Koch.
7. LIE: Joe Lhota can’t raise money. FACT: If he is able to put together the old Giuliani machine he will be able to raise just as much money as the Democratic candidates without selling his soul to every special interest group in New York City.
8. LIE: The Public Advocate is a do nothing job. FACT: No, wait a second. My bad. It is a do nothing job other than being a publicly funded platform for future Mayoral candidates.
9. LIE: The Board of Elections is the last outpost of patronage in NYC.  FACT: Every political job is a patronage job and those that are hired are actually appointees. Following the extensive coverage regarding the illegally appointed commissioners, people might be left with the impression that 126-6 Queens Blvd is the last bastion of the spoils system. No way no how. There’s nepotism in every political hiring decision especially staff in the elect’s office. For example some appointees are hired from a state Assembly office and magically reappear in a Congressional office, others are grandfathered in, for instance, say  if the office changes hands during an election (usually part of some horse-trading deal), then you have the family members that are hired and the phone calls where strings are pulled. At the end of the day the downside is that political appointees are not hired because they are the most qualified for the job, they are there because of politics. Hey, this is just a friendly reminder; it’s common practice. In terms of the BOE, whatever the outcome, it’s not likely the Board will be cleaned out completely. They could decapitate and do business with what’s left theoretically, but the coup will not likely survive court proceedings. Perhaps above all else, you don’t want to kick a hornet’s nest filled with the politically pissed off and then set them loose especially with an election looming. 
10. LIE: The Queens GOP is Dead. FACT: There are a lot of young, ambitious public servants that are getting involved. Once the infighting is over. we can expect their resurgence and the do nothing Marge Marckeys of the world may actually have to fight to protect their seats.

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