Imagine the year is 1940. The dark clouds of intolerance are spreading around the world. And the leader of the New York State Democratic Party comes out and says “You know, I voted for FDR twice and I’ll do it again, but maybe that Hitler fella has a point about those Jewish bankers.”
And so, in the 2021 election, not only did the head of the New York Democratic Party embrace the calumny about bail reform and stoke fear in the electorate, Jay Jacobs played into the hands of the Republicans and probably cost the Democrats control of the House. So fearful of the voters, he deigned not to lead them but to scare them.
Nah, we’re not in favor of “defunding the police” around here! Buddy, when your police force is as well remunerated as Long Island’s, you’re living in the one place on Earth where you definitely need to “defund the police.”
Then there was former Nassau County Executive Laura Curran’s attempt to placate the PBA by shoveling MORE money at them and opening up a precinct we didn’t need with the connivance of the supervisor and some Munsey Park Princelings. The result? Every single PBA not only endorsed Nassau Republican Bruce Blakeman for county executive, but George Santos as well, including Great Neck Estates, Hempstead, Lynbrook, Old Brookville, Old Westbury and the Port Washington PBAs. How’s that for gratitude?
And here’s the narrative Long Island’s Democratic “leadership” embraced.
“Santos is committed to stopping the dangerous environment created by radical cashless bail laws. He has prioritized leading the charge to make commonsense improvements to the state’s flawed bail reform law, particularly getting repeat offenders off the streets.”
Santos has compiled endorsements from numerous law enforcement agencies across Nassau County and New York City, including the NYC DA Investigators PBA, NYC Retired Transit Police Association, NYPD Captains Endowment Association, NYPD Detectives Endowment Association, NYPD Lieutenant Endowment Association, NYPD Sergeants Benevolent Association, the Nassau County PBA, Nassau County Detectives’ Association, Nassau County Superior Officers Association, and the Nassau County Correctional Officers Association. He also has the support of the Suffolk County PBA.”
That’s from Santos’ campaign website. But Jacobs could have written it himself.
Best of all in the farce of Long Island politics, even the detectives’ PBAs endorsed the criminal. Great sleuthing, Sherlocks! How come HE’S out on bail? Moreover, even I called him out as an obvious fraud in this very newspaper before the election.
The result? Crime is UP in Nassau County while declining most everywhere else in the country, now that the Trump Crime Wave, sparked by the pandemic, is ebbing.
But it goes back to Long Island Democrats being ashamed of being Democrats.
Know this: your party has principles, and if you’re not willing to follow them, get out. But the party leadership only respects money and connections, not voters. The party is not a sinecure for multi-level marketing. It is a tool of public policy for the betterment of people’s lives.
There are three reasons Jacobs didn’t pick Anna Kaplan, who, to my amazement actually made a respectable job of being a State Senator in a clown show of a legislature.
- Kaplan isn’t Jacobs’ business partner.
- She wasn’t stupid enough to blow a million dollars of her own money for something as useless as a Senate seat, only to lose.
- She didn’t leverage her office to benefit her personal wealth, a key requirement her predecessors followed.
All of this made her unfit in Jacobs eyes, because he has no respect for integrity, but only privilege. And now we’re stuck with Tom Suozzi, a Manchin-like candidate.
But Jacobs can take solace when he’s compared to Nassau Republican Party Chairman Joe Cairo, who singlehandedly made the 3rd Congressional District a global laughingstock. No problem and no shame. After all, he still collects $198k a year “running” the OTB. Long Island is so demented, Cairo makes Jacobs look like Ben-Gurion.
So what does the GOP do? They promote him!
The Nassau GOP is beneath contempt and beyond redemption. It will be up to Democrats to take a stab at honest and effective government. Shelley Silver is dead. Tom DiNapoli is probably on his last term. The hour is at hand.
It’s time to get serious about competent, honest governance in this state, before only people like Jacobs are left living here.
We need new leadership. And we need it now. The time for reform is here.
Donald Davret
Roslyn
