Politics as usual

Daily Point

The growing world of Zeldin fundraising

The money machine is revving up for GOP gubernatorial hopeful Lee Zeldin.

There’s the big fundraiser scheduled for August 10 at The Vineyards and Baiting Hollow golf clubs. With donations destined for the Shirley congressman’s state campaign committee, whose rules are much less strict than for federal campaigns, the take could be pretty big: "Masters Sponsors" are asked to give or raise $25,000. Dinner alone — which includes a sushi and raw bar, Pace’s steak sandwiches and more, according to an invitation — goes for $250 a person.

Then there’s merchandising.

"One of the best ways to spread the word about campaigns is a yard sign proudly displaying your support for all to see," said an emailed missive from the Zeldin campaign on Thursday, adding that "our first shipment of Zeldin for Governor yard signs is now available!"

There’s a price, of course: 2 signs for $25.

Perhaps you also want some swag for that expensive golf outing to make sure the candidate knows you’re behind him and you’ll have his ear? Look no further than the Zeldin for Governor beverage koozie (set of 2) for $15.00. Or the Zeldin-branded set of polos, or flags, or hats on the "Golf Outing" section of his fundraising website page.

Some of the merch for sale includes the messages Zeldin is testing, such as "Vote Lee Don’t Flee" or an updated version of SOS — "Save Our State."

We should have our first full look at Zeldin’s state campaign finance haul in the July periodic filing, due July 15. But expect a chunk of those fundraising dollars to be spent on advertising this year, some of which has already begun — see Zeldin’s Facebook ads running this week criticizing Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and asking voters what issues are important to them.

Those two ads are being shown to New Yorkers, according to Facebook’s ad archive analytics. But a third active Zeldin ad is targeted to people from lots of other states including California, Texas, Florida and Michigan.

"Who do you think is the WORST Governor in America?" the ad asks. "Gov. Newsom, Gov. Cuomo, Gov. Whitmer or someone else?"

The ad directs viewers to a one-question poll on that subject, helpfully located on a page hosted by WinRed, the fundraising platform, because run or win or lose in 2022, there’s plenty of money to tap and profile for Zeldin to raise by bashing the prominent New York Democrat, from sea to shining sea.

— Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano

Talking Point

Giuliani ally sues de Blasio for Trump

When the Trump Organization sued New York City this week for revoking its lucrative Bronx golf-course license, a well-known litigator handled the filing: Kenneth A. Caruso, a longtime ally and colleague of Rudy Giuliani.

Giuliani is in the news Thursday for having his license to practice law suspended by a state appellate court. The judges cited the ex-mayor’s "demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large" in spreading ex-President Donald Trump’s false election fraud claims.

Despite their longtime personal connection, Giuliani’s woes are unrelated to Caruso’s reputation or his actions this week. The golf-course case might in the long run have more public impact, since it weds red-hot national politics to matter-of-fact municipal operations.

A key piece of the filing: Mayor Bill de Blasio said on TV of Trump in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection: "From the point of view of common sense, he should be disqualified by any business, any government. He shouldn't have any right to do business.

"But look," de Blasio added, "I turned to our lawyers when this happened and I said, what does this mean legally? And they said, this is disqualifying. And we have a right under the contract to cancel the contract if something like this happens."

Caruso, whose association with Giuliani goes all the way back to pre-mayoral days in the Reagan Justice Department, contests the propriety of de Blasio’s cancellation of the golf operating license.

"Mayor de Blasio had a politically-based predisposition to terminate Trump-related contracts, and the City used the events of January 6, 2021 as a pretext to do so," says Caruso’s petition, dated Monday and filed in Manhattan State Supreme Court. Another Trump-de Blasio flashpoint was the Wollman Rink, which the Trump Organization has not run since March.

On and after Jan. 7, Caruso notes, "the Mayor denounced President Trump in the most inflammatory terms" including "racist," "Nazi," "fascist," "criminal," "treason," "sedition," "white supremacist," "white nationalist," and "delusional."

No, this isn’t your garden-variety dispute over the licensing and management of public space. But in making its claim, the Trump organization also recounts its widely acknowledged success with the golf course, especially given the dismal background and history of Ferry Point Park, near the Whitestone Bridge, a former landfill.

"The City’s attempts to develop Ferry Point Park were futile and costly," Caruso’s petition states. "In May 2000, the City entered into a license agreement with an inexperienced developer whose actions only exacerbated Ferry Point’s environmental problems. Amid overspending, and allegations of fraud and corruption, the project, scheduled for completion by January 2003, foundered, costing taxpayers more than $120 million. The City terminated that failed license agreement in late 2006."

Unfortunately, the Giuliani administration created that fiasco — which the Bloomberg administration helped to redeem by signing the Trump deal.

Funny how these connections sometimes work.

— Dan Janison @Danjanison

Pencil Point

Hoax

For more cartoons, visit www.newsday.com/nationalcartoons

Final Point

Sini says NY needs feds on guns

A former federal prosecutor and police commissioner, Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini has also spent two years on the National Crime Gun Intelligence Governing Board, which uses the experience of federal, state, and local experts to provide the ATF with input on national programs related to crime and gun Intelligence.

So what does Sini think of President Joe Biden’s initiative, announced this week, to combat skyrocketing gun violence and gun homicide rates?

"There is absolutely a role for the kinds of community initiatives the president announced," Sini told The Point, "but there are hardened criminals out there who are going to hurt people, and stopping them demands we really focus on the long-term and short-term investigations Biden also said they’ll bolster," he said. Sini said the effort will help identify problem gun dealers so they can be prosecuted.

Biden has proposed both hard and soft approaches to the problem, from summer jobs and enrichment programs for young people to cracking down on rogue gun dealers via strike forces focused on New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington, D.C.

But Sini said the problems go deep, from criminal gun statutes riddled with loopholes — unusual in federal law — to an underfunded and overworked ATF, to states that don’t forward to the feds the information necessary to identify and trace guns used in crimes and prosecute criminals buying and selling the weapons.

And he says it’s a problem in New York that has to be solved nationally.

"The guns people commit crimes with here, they are so often trafficked," Sini said. "They come in from out of state. We do wiretaps, we do undercover investigations, we work with our federal partners and we try to track and trace crime guns …. but if other states don’t upload information or properly investigate gun crimes, if the ATF and other federal law enforcement agencies don’t have the resources they need, it adds challenges for local law enforcement."

— Lane Filler @lanefiller

Did you miss an issue of The Point? Browse past newsletters here.