Trump gets support from unlikely corner

Long Island might host one of the more surprising endorsements of the political season.

Patricia Friedman -- the civic activist from Garden City South who for years has fought Donald Trump's controversial plan for a glitzy Jones Beach catering hall -- says she thinks the billionaire developer has what it takes to be president.

"I would wholeheartedly support his candidacy," she added. "I'm looking at this from the man's abilities financially as well as otherwise. . . . What future do we have if we don't get this spending under control? The way we're going, we're going to be owned by China."

Called for comment, Trump said through spokeswoman Rhonda Graff: "I am greatly honored by Ms. Friedman's statement and I appreciate it."

After years of court challenges, Friedman still holds to the claim that the state oversaw a "fraudulent" approval process toward allowing Trump and partner Steve Carl to build the facility on the beach's historic boardwalk.

And attorney Ronald Rosenberg, representing the civic activists, still argues that a variance requested by the builders would have sanctioned a dangerous structure for profit.

The "Trump on the Ocean" plan remains bogged down in litigation, in part over proposed inclusion of a basement in the coastal flood zone. And Trump has sued to get the state to pay him $500 million in damages he demanded in a lawsuit of his own to compensate for project delays.

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"Most of the issues are up in the Court of Appeals at the moment," said Trump's attorney on the case, Steve Schlesinger (who is, separately, counsel to the Nassau County Democrats).

If Trump pursues the White House, the Jones Beach boardwalk battle could become part of someone's national fodder -- like 1997 high-profile eminent-domain evictions on the Atlantic City boardwalk to expand a casino. For all the buzz and flutter so far, however, he hasn't declared.

And not all self-professed conservatives are on board. This week the right-leaning Club for Growth slammed Trump on a several fronts, including past endorsements of a universal health care plan and proposals to raise taxes on Chinese imports. Trump slashed back on a TV interview: "What is Club for Growth and who are they supporting?"

Then there's Nassau County Conservative Party activist Bob Pendleton. Like Friedman, he's involved in the Nassau County Civic Association, but held a different view of Trump on the Ocean.

Of the maybe-candidate, Pendleton said: "I don't know if he's a conservative, but he's saying things that have to be said. . . . We can't sustain the debt we have, it's crazy."

Trump was quoted as telling the Des Moines Register this week: "I am going to stop China from manipulating their currency so we buy all their products and they take all our jobs.

"I will fight OPEC so oil comes way, way down," he said. "I will create a tremendous economy. I will create a proud country."

"Tremendous" doesn't describe all his past business results. The ventures of developer Fred Trump's heir have been involved in four bankruptcies. That's aside from the recent "birther" lunacy.

For her part, Friedman, 75, a veteran of many civic issues, said she'd like to meet Trump "and tell him he's fired, but that I'm now willing to help him."

The Jones Beach fight, she said, "wasn't a personal thing for me, really. It was just the wrong thing that we give up our historic park."