Articles by: Jerry Krase

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    Saint Francis Comes to Brooklyn

    Last week I received a last-minute invitation from Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams and "The Committee for Frate Francesco” to attend the grand opening of the historic “Frate Francesco: Friar Francis: Traces, Words, Images “exhibition on Tuesday, December 12th.   The impressive four-page e-mail attachment declared it was “a non-transferrable, attendance strictly limited invitation” to which I promptly replied, explaining to my wife that I had to go it alone. However, when I got to Brooklyn Borough Hall early, as I usually am, I discovered that I was inexplicably “not on the list.” Having a lot of prior experience not being a V.I.P., I was not the least bit surprised; but also grateful that I was able to convince a somewhat befuddled staff member that “there must have been a mistake (which wasn’t mine).”

    Actually I’ve know the last two Brooklyn “Beeps" (BPs), Howard Golden and Marty Markowitz, pretty well and being accidentally left off an "invitees only" list was old hat for me. Other than letting me in without an invite, the security arrangements were unusually high tech. I had been given the once over with a beeping wand by a very friendly cop even before I got to the “sign in” table, and saw more police and security staff than ever before. Thanks to the wanding, I found some lost change and a few hearing aid batteries. After being admitted I was given a blue wristband that gave me entry to the guarded exhibit. I explained to the wristbander that the color blue (azzurro) was the Italian national color.
     

    Almost immediately after the formal program, I was greeted by the new, and First  African American, Beep, Eric L. Adams. As a major part of his job is being multicultural I reminded him that the last time I spoke to him was at the St. Patrick’s Day brunch of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick. On that day, he, Marty Markowitz, and I were honorarily Irish. During this very Brooklyn reception I met some old, and made some new friends. One of my newest friends is, Jocelyn A. Cooper, the daughter of Andrew W. Cooper. He was a journalist and founder of the City Sun, an Afro-American-oriented newspaper that he used to relentlessly campaign for racial justice.  In the 1960s Cooper filed a lawsuit against the Federal government challenging the racially biased Congressional District lines in Brooklyn.  This led to the creation of new districts and the election of Shirley Chisolm, the first Black female, to the U.S. Congress. Later, while grazing through the exquisitely presented Umbrian regional delicacies, I found my old friend Cav. Joseph Bova, Democratic District Leader, 49AD.  This includes the diverse communities of Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights and Sunset Park. He re-introduced me to Joseph Rizzo, whom I knew when he was a student at Brooklyn College. Joseph provided the Italian to English and English to Italian translations for both the crowd and the many dignitaries during the formal program.
     

    The Frate Francesco exhibition had its U.S. debut at the United Nations, and it was the first time outside of Italy. To paraphrase the late Brooklyn College President, Robert L. Hess “If you want to go far, all you have to do is come to Brooklyn.” While sampling some tasty farro I bumped into a Swedish tourism writer with whom I shared opinions on immigrants in Gothenburg and Stockholm, the Wallander television crime series, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo film. On another table, Umbrian wines were being Poured by a “Mediterranean-Looking,” young man. “Are you Italian?” I asked in Italian (Lei e Italiano?) and English. “No. I’m Croatian” he said. “Hvala”(thanks), I replied.  A decade after the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement I participated in some reconciliation workshops in Croatia (Dubrovnik) and Bosnia/Herzogovina (Konjic). NATO (IFOR) “peace keeping” forces were still there. He said he was born after the war in Banja Luka. The city was the site of some of the worst ethnic cleansing, concentration camps, and several massacres. With all the gentrification and displacement going on in Brooklyn it’s nice to know it is still a safe haven for some people. After filling my wine glass, a few times, I met a Polish travel agent with whom I used my limited (mowie troche po Polsku) Polish. I told her how much I loved my visits to Poland and especially my brief stint as a visiting professor at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow.  As we continued our conversation she brought me over and introduced me to her foreign tourist agent friends. Two were Italian and the other a Chinese woman (nie hao ma?) who claimed descent from the Chinese Imperial family. They talked excitedly about how Brooklyn had become a favored global tourist destination and how good it was for their business. “Brooklyn is the new Paris,” I said half-jokingly.
     

    Before I left I climbed the grand Borough Hall staircase to see the carefully planned exhibition of some of the oldest and most precious books, letters, and manuscripts relating to Saint Francis of Assisi and the order he founded. The illuminated manuscripts and correspondence were displayed inside glass cases placed upon wooden desks that simulated those used by the monks who carefully inscribed the documents. Mounted panels told the story of Saint Francis and the production of the numerous 12th and 13th-century documents, papal bulls and manuscripts. When I entered several guides were taking people around and explaining the works to adults, as well as a few well-behaved children who accompanied them. The scene, minus the blackened fingers and tongues of the monks, vaguely reminded me of the movie The Name of Rose based on Umberto Ecco’s novel.
     

                 After all the great (free) food and drinks and conviality, I have to say that for me at least the highlight of the evening was the reading during the opening ceremony by my fellow Brooklynite John Torturro of the “Prayer of Saint Francis.”

    Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;

    Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

    Where there is injury, pardon;

    Where there is discord, harmony;

    Where there is error, truth;

    Where there is doubt, faith;

    Where there is despair, hope;

    Where there is darkness, light;

    And where there is sadness, joy.

    O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek

    To be consoled as to console;

    To be understood as to understand;

    To be loved as to love.

    For it is in giving that we receive;

    It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

    And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
     

    By the way, did I mention that my Confirmation name was Francis?
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    Peacemaking in the City

    My good friend, and fellow half-Italian, Paul Moses recently published The Saint and the Sultan in which he wrote: “If the greatest Christian saint since the time of the apostles had opposed the Crusade and peacefully approached Muslims at a time when they were supposed to be mortal enemies, that action can inspire and instruct us today...

    The story of Francis of Assisi and Sultan Malik al-Kamil says there is a better way than resentment, suspicion and warfare. It opens the door to respect, trust and peace. It needs to be told anew.”

    The potential for violence

    The neighborhoods in which I lived as a child were noted for gang violence. Venturing out of the Red Hook low-income housing projects was dangerous as it was surrounded by Irish, Italian, Puerto Rican, and “mixed” gangs who, when not fighting each other, found kids from “the projects” an acceptable alternative to assaulting each other.

    When we moved to the edge of Bedford-Stuyvesant in the 1950s, African Americans were added to the multiethnic menu of gangs one had to avoid travelling beyond the block.
     

    The history of bias-related crimes in New York presents glaring evidence of inter-group fear, hostility and potential for violence. No ethnic group has been immune. An internet search of local newspapers for inter-ethnic violence incidents over the past two years give this partial listing of polarities: Asian-Black, Asian-Hispanic, Asian-White, Black- Jewish, Hispanic-Jewish, and Indian-White. Most recent additions are anti-Muslim.  

    Victims and victimizers

    Italian Americans have often been in the middle of these conflicts as both victims and victimizers. The most iconic, was the murder of Yusuf Hawkins, an African American youth, in Bensonhurst in 1989. Warren Strugatch’s “Bensonhurst: Cartoon Sociology Masquerades as Solid Reporting,” captured the essence of the global media’s view of the neighborhood “inhabited almost entirely” by unemployed 18 to 22 year old men dressed in “tank tops and T-shirts who were proud of their whiteness and don’t like blacks.” Also easily found were “…

    elderly ladies who sell sausages at church-sponsored street fairs and retired gentlemen who linger outside the local members-only social clubs before entering to sip cappuccino in the semi-darkness.”

    He asked: “Where were the people who could speak in complete sentences? Evidently, articulate community leaders were not on street corners, and so they were not interviewed.” (1989). As usual, the bigoted trombones attracted the most media attention. In any case, if you asked people to list the most prominent qualities of Italian Americans “peacemaker” and “children of God,” (Matthew 5:9) would not be on the top of the list.
     

    Hawkins’ Brooklyn murder almost marked the Centennial of when eleven Sicilians were lynched in New Orleans. Even as victims rather than perpetrators, the reputation of Italian Americans was less than stellar.

    Theodore Roosevelt considered their lynching “rather a good thing” and The New York Times agreed, “the Lynch Law was the only course open to the people of New Orleans.”

    However, to preserve American honor President Benjamin Harrison apologized to the Italian government for the slaughter of these and other Italians in America and gave a $25,000 indemnity to the families of 18 victims. A few years later Gaetano Russo’s monument was erected as part of New York’s 1892 Quadricentennial Columbus celebration.

    Doing the right things
    Much of the reason for seeing more Francis Albert Sinatra than Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone in Italian Americana is that people don’t know where to look. Assemblyman Frank Barbaro led Italian- American community leaders and an Italian American student group (FIERI) to meet with African-American protest marchers at the site of Yusuf Hawkins murder as part of a continuing dialogue.

    The American Italian Historical Association, Italian American Writers Association, and Italian Americans for a Multicultural United States (IAMUS) were also being active in this regard. In the more distant past, other Francis-like leaders in New York City have been Mother Frances X. Cabrini, Fiorello LaGuardia, Leonard Covello, and Vito Marcantonio. Mario and Matilda Cuomo have been a special couple promoting better inter-group relations.

    As exceptions often prove the rule, despite his unsaintly reputation, Mayor Rudy Giuliani applauded the efforts of Community Understanding for Racial and Ethnic Equality and the Coalition of Italian American Organizations (CIAO) to build bridges between groups. He stated: “You understand all of the things that make the Italian- American community unique, and make us all so proud of our culture, but you also realize that New York City is strong because of how people from different cultures and backgrounds come together and learn about each other.”
    (Mayor’s Press Office, 1998)

    CIAO’s founder Mary Sansone established the first Afro American-Hispanic-Italian coalition with Monsignor Geno Baroni and Bayard Rustin, and marched with Martin Luther King Jr. As to mediating problems people thought were based on religious, racial or ethnic discrimination she noted: “As with most conflicts or disagreements, they were based on simple misunderstandings or a lack of facts.” (2006) Like CIAO, which was established to serve needy Italian Americans, the American Italian Coalition of Organizations, that I helped to found in 1977, continues its mission of service today in Brooklyn but to others such as the Chinese elderly at its 59th Street Senior Citizen Center and the children of Afro American and Latino families at its Court Street Day Center.
     

     
    Two top Italian peacemakers
    If I had to choose two from among many Italian American New Yorkers who would look good wearing Franciscan robes it would be my Facebook friend Diane Savino and my ex-neighbor Mayor Bill de Blasio. New York State Senator Savino has been deftly managing ethnic divisions in rapidly changing Staten Island while leading the passage of The Compassionate Care Act making medical marijuana available especially needed by cancer patients. As to bridging ethnic, racial, and religious differences in New York City, De Blasio has been applauded for simultaneously combating anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. If that’s not enough for sainthood, I don’t know what is.  
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    Verrazzano and the Discovery of Staten Island


    If anyone were to take a stroll through almost any commercial section of New York City today and take in the many sights, smells, and sounds that surround them, they couldn’t help but to notice the impact of Italians on our fair city.


    From ubiquitous Pizza Parlors in virtually every neighborhood, including those in Orthodox Jewish areas such as Borough Park which are “Kosher” and those in Moslem communities which advertise that they are “Halal,” to rarefied accessory shops and boutiques on our most elegant avenues of Manhattan, “Italian” is a household name in New York. At a much deeper level, “America’s City,” or “Gotham” as it is also known, is also very Italian. As Frank J. Cavaioli, wrote in “American Colonial Italian American Historiography:” Italian Americans have had a lasting impact on the development of early America. Peter Sammartino (1904-1992), founder of Fairleigh Dickinson University and a strong advocate of Italian American History, advanced this point by stating, “If we take the sum total of the influences of philosophy, of government, and in jurisprudence, discoveries, exploration, the influence on literature, on music, on art, on architecture and on science, then America would not have been the country it is without the contributions of Italians, and this stretches from the thirteen to the nineteenth centuries.”



    We certainly must begin our historical journey in this volume with the story of how Staten Island came to be first sighted by Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524. In the early part of the Sixteenth Century, what we know of New England, and the Middle Atlantic States of the United States of America were hardly explored, by Europeans that is. Florida had been discovered by expeditions financed by Spain, and the more northern Atlantic regions were already frequented by the English and Portuguese. In fact these more northern areas were for more than a century well-known fishing and whaling areas. Some European monarchs and traders, thought perhaps that somewhere between the northern and southern realms of the New World there was more direct route to the East and sent out many expeditions to investigate.

     

    Once such monarch was Francis I of France. King Francis I did as so many others of the time had done; he chose an Italian, in this case the well-seasoned mariner Giovanni da Verrazzano to head the French-financed expedition to find a shorter western route to China and bring back its riches. Most historians believe that Giovanni Verrazzano was born in 1485 at his family's castle, Castello Verrazzano, near the city of Florence. Later, as a young man he traveled to France, learned the seafarer’s trade and became a successful captain.

     

    For the costly and potentially dangerous search for the illusionary middle passage to the Orient, Verrazzano was outfitted with a total of four vessels by the King of France. Rather quickly two were quickly lost to the waves and another was sent back home with loot from raids made along the Spanish coast. The last of the four, his own flagship, La Dauphine, measured 100 tuns and had a crew of fifty men that included his mapmaker brother Girolamo da Verrazzano. It is important to note that it was Giovanni’s brother Girolamo’s 1529 Map of the World which, along with that of the Western Hemisphere by another mapmaker, Vesconte de Maggiolo, in 1527, that documented for posterity Verrazzano’s many discoveries.

     

                On this particular trip in search of a shorter western passage Giovanni Verrazzano made a few stops along what are today the Carolina coastlines on his way northward. As he sailed along the shorelines he passed by, without notice, several major bays and estuaries. At the time, the vast extent of the North American continent was not well known. Large bays and estuaries were seen as possible entrances into passages to the Orient. Verrazzano continued northward until he reached what we now know of as the coast of New Jersey.  It was at this point that he stumbled upon the vast outer Bay of New York into which he sailed. Where this larger bay narrowed he anchored La Dauphine which was just at the entrance to a well sheltered and very deep harbor.

     

    This is how he described his brief visit:

    “The people are almost like unto the others, and clad with feather of fowls of diverse colors. They came towards us very cheerfully, making great shouts of admiration, showing us where we might come to land most safely with our boat. We entered up the said river into the land about half a league, where it made a most pleasant lake [the Upper bay] about 3 leagues in compass; on the which they rowed from the one side to the other, to the number of 30 in their small boats, wherein were many people, which passed from one shore to the other to come and see us. And behold, upon the sudden (as it is wont to fall out in sailing) a contrary flaw of wind coming from the sea, we were enforced to return to our ship, leaving this land, to our great discontentment for the great commodity and pleasantness thereof, which we suppose is not without some riches, all the hills showing mineral matters in them. “ ( Morrison 1971)

     

                Verrazzano’s last voyage to explore the New World was in the year 1528 and it was during this trip that he came to his rather horrible demise. Having had mostly good experiences with the native Americans he encountered elsewhere on his several trips he was led to believe that he would receive much the same treatment after landing on an island in the Carribean. Instead of the predicted hospitality by friendly peoples, he and his crew encountered instead a violent reception by a hostile tribe that proceeded to capture and then kill him. As his brother Giralomo and the rest of the crew observed with horror from the deck of La Dauphine they also butchered him on shore. Even more gruesomely, they proceeded to roast some pieces of the renowned explorer over a fire and then consume them as they watched from the ship. Excerpted from: Chapter I, "Verrazano and the Discovery of Staten Island ",

    The Staten Island Italian American Experience, Staten Island: The DaVinci Society of Wagner College, 2007.
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    Andrew Cuomo: Tribulations and Perhaps Trials



    It seems that Andy, the least lovable child of Mario, is in deeper stuff than usual. The New Times reported recently that he “hobbled” (zoppicato) investigations by the powerful Moreland Commission he himself had established to root out corruption, when it got too close to home. According to Susanne Craig, William K. Rashbaum and Thomas Kaplan “ It was barely two months old when its investigators, hunting for violations of campaign-finance laws, issued a subpoena to a media-buying firm that had placed millions of dollars’ worth of advertisements for the New York State Democratic Party.” Unfortunately they didn’t know that Andy bought campaign airtime from them in 2010. When Cuomo’s most senior aide, Lawrence S. Schwarz found out he called one of the commission’s three co-chairs, William J. Fitzpatrick, the district attorney in Syracuse and directed him to “Pull it back.” Although Andy said “…he had every right to monitor and direct the work of a commission “ “many commissioners and investigators saw the demands as politically motivated interference that hamstrung an undertaking that the governor had publicly vowed would be independent.” Andy nixed the commission after nine of its eighteen-month shelf life.  As he gears up for a (hoped for) re-run in November, federal prosecutor Preeht Bharara is looking into his role in the shutdown and has taken up the commission’s unfinished business. To add more fuel to the ethics fire, Andy evidently intends to use New York State funds in case he faces criminal charges. Even worse (ancora peggio) than all these troubles, the New York Times denied him their expected endorsement in the upcoming (September 9th) Democratic Party Primary Election where he will face an, until recently, virtual unknown law professor (Zephyr Teachout).

    There are two different ways to think about the current troubles of Governor Cuomo II. The first is that he is an especially corrupt politician. The second is to think that Andy is, unlike his father, a “normal” politician who makes decisions based primarily on how it will affect his future as opposed to his saintly reputation (reputazione di santo). Having spent much of my long life both studying and being at times too involved in politics, my sense is that Andy is not especially ethically challenged. For example, ex-Kings County District Attorney Charles Joseph Hynes who is now under the ethics microscope for prosecutorial misconduct had such a squeaky clean reputation that he, like Andy’s father, headed several major and very sensitive statewide investigations. The idea that Andy would be unwilling to investigate, and possibly harm, those who helped him get elected is hardly shocking as it is SPOP (standard political operating procedure). The only politicians who go after their friends are those who have never been in office, or are out of the business.

    In the interest of journalistic integrity I should note that I did a lot of work in Mario Cuomo’s gubernatorial and Major Owens’ congressional campaigns in 1982. In fact I coordinated some of their local campaign efforts in Brooklyn. After they both won, for my troubles as a volunteer (volontario), I was asked if I wanted a “job.” My reply was “No thanks.” I already had a professor “job” which most nine-to-fivers consider a “no show” one. I did say that I would accept, if offered, a pro bono position in an area of my interests. Soon thereafter I received a letter of my gubernatorial appointment to the New York State Council for the Humanities on which I proudly served until George Pataki became governor at which point I resigned. I also campaigned for recently elected New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio. Shortly after he was elected I was asked to fill out an on-line form indicating how I might help his administration.  Thereupon I also registered my lack of interest in doing anything more than serving pro bono in areas such as civil or human rights (diritti civili o umani). I have yet to hear from Bill, so I guess he has more important things to worry about such as how toe at pizza with only his hands.

    Other political folks for whom I have done something for nothing much include then newly elected (1983) Congressman (now U.S. Senator) Chuck Schumer (Military Academy Candidate Review Board) are too numerous to mention. One elected official to whom I will be eternally grateful kept me out of Rikers Island Prison after a false arrest (falso arresto). Finally, in reference to political friends and enemies I must tell the story of a relative-in-law who was angry that he didn’t get a job for which he wasn’t qualified. He asked me to “look into it” for him. When I spoke to the patronage boss (capo di clientelare) I was told that my relative-in-law didn’t have the requirements for the position and that given the scrutiny of an earlier Moreland Commission the organization wanted to make sure that all appointments were solid. In politics the general patronage rule is that if there are two people qualified for the job and one is a friend, guess who gets it? PS: When friends don’t get what they think they deserve, they become your enemies.

    Andy’s troubles might also be the Post-FDR curse (maladetto) placed on all New York State governors who even think of becoming President. Nelson Rockefeller failed three times (1964, 68, 72) Mario went nowhere even after the best speech ever heard at a Democratic Party National Convention (1984).  For George Pataki, Elliot Spitzer, and David Patterson the office, for various other, and infinitely better, reasons, was also a dead end. It is also possible that Andy’s troubles are partly a consequence of the sins of his father (peccati di suo padre) Mario. All politics is not only local it is also very personal and both Mario and son Andy made lots of enemies along their oft-shared pathways to higher office.  The rap against Mario was that he thought he was smarter than everyone else (which he was) and the rap against Andrew is that he thinks he is. Perhaps Andrew learned at least one lesson from his father and is trying not to piss off his friends and thereby make more enemies.

               According to unnamed (sensa nome) sources Andy has never been a particularly popular guy. His positive qualities have always been draped around his competence and his no-nonsense, clean-as-a-whistle doggedness, so his current troubles have made him much more vulnerable than anyone expected in his second term election campaign. As noted,     Zephyr Teachout has been attracting increasing support in her challenge to him in the Democratic Party Primary.  Andy failed in his attempt to keep her off the ballot and, although she might not even come close to winning the battle, the war on Andrew's governorship and especially his higher office (Presidential?) aspirations is certain to continue.

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    Rather Grimm Fairytales


    Ex-New York City Council Member Dominic M. Recchia (D) is running hard to fill the somewhat dirty shoes of incumbent Congressman Michael Grimm (R) with the avid support of State Senator Diane Savino (D) and Assemblyman Matthew Titone (D). However, I must warn all of the “Ds” that strange things have happened to those unlucky enough to be elected to represent Staten Islanders (and South Brooklyner’s) in Congress ever since la famiglia Molinari) decided they had better things to do with their time. It’s like someone has cast an evil eye (malocchio) on the most conservative seat in New York City.

     

    Recently The New York Times Editorial Board with a rare, almost FoxNewsian, sense of black humor noted that the “Republicans Have a Grimm Problem”

    “Representative Michael Grimm, the only Republican in New York City’s congressional delegation, was indicted last week on charges of tax fraud. He insists he is innocent, but these charges come at a particularly bad time for his fellow Republicans. A former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent, Mr. Grimm was already in trouble with many voters after he was shown on television threatening to throw a NY1 reporter off a balcony. Now he is accused of operating a restaurant illegally.”

    Once upon a time in the good old days of Statenislandia, Republican Party Stalwart Guy Molinari represented it in the U.S. Congress (1983-1989) when he left voluntarily to become Staten Island Borough President. As if by magic, he was replaced in a “special election” by his daughter Susan who, in turn, resigned from office in1997, just after giving the keynote speech at the Republican National Convention. She left to co-host CBS’s Saturday Morning Live. Subsequently she became Google’s top lobbyist and one of Elle’s 10 most influential D.C. women. However, for those who have filled her accursed shoes it’s been all downhill.

    When Susan left her dad helped his protégé, Vito Fossella (D, C, RTL), to replace his fair-haired daughter in another “special” election. Vito ran and won as a regular “family values” guy, voting for example to impeach Bill Clinton for his moral turpitude and for the Marriage Protection Act. After four terms mostly agreeing with Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition, Fossella was arreasted while driving drunk on the way to visit his gumada (mistress) and their three-year old child. As to other lapses, Fossella was accused of misusing campaign funds for personal expenses and family vacations, to which he replied honesty “Mistakes have been made.” Advised by his ex-mentor Molinari one might assume, Vito decided not to run for re-election in 2008.


    The embarrassed and disgraced Fosella was followed into the ill-fated office by DINO (Democrat in Name Only) Michael McMahon (D?) who spent only one term in Washington (2009-11). Ironically, the Times had endorsed Mike as a “Less-Liberal Democrat” who supported capital punishment as well as offshore drilling. While in office McMahon completed his right-leaning shape-shift and, among other things Republican, voted against what Democrats praise as the “Affordable Obama Care Act,” and Mike’s new friends condemn as “Obamacare.” As The Staten island Advance reported it just before his losing reelection bid: “At first blush, Rep. Michael McMahon said he's yet to see anything in President Barack Obama's revamped health care plan that would make him vote for it. ‘I haven't seen enough to have me come off my 'no' vote,’ ‘I don't see anything that would make me change my position.’" Democrats therefore saw little reason to support him in 2011 and the right-leaning McMahon was followed by a real right-winger and RINO (Republican In Name Only) Michael Grimm.  

    As another Molinari protégé, Grimm was the perfect conservative candidate to take back the seat. A decorated ex-marine, U.S. Marshall, and FBI undercover agent, he was backed by Sarah Palin, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, and Tea Party folks. Grimm was victorious over McMahon only to be hoisted by his own Law and Order petard (petardo) by being accused of under-paying his Healthalicious restaurant workers off the books and, even worse, lying about it to Federal officials. 

    Right now, Grimm’s most likely challenger, Dominic Recchia, is making all the right (centrist) noises on his campaign website:

    As a nation, I can’t think of a more important time to have representation in Congress that knows how to come to the table, work with both sides, and get things done. I am a parent to three wonderful daughters and like a lot of parents out there I worry about what will happen if Congress continues to kick the can down the road on the major challenges facing our country. Whether it's the federal deficit, or transforming America's competitive advantage in the world, or rebuilding the middle class, I will use my experience and skillset to be part of the solutions that will shape our future. 

    Recchia seems to have a good chance of defeating Grimm (or a possible Republican Party replacement) in this coming fall's General Election, but given the fates of the past three “winners” perhaps he should think thrice about it.

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    The Routes of Success for a Few Italian American Politicians

    In my last column I noted the excess of successful Italian American politicians in the New York metropolitan area. Since I’ve already spent too much time on Big Apple Mayor Bill De Blasio, I shall turn my attention to the personal qualities and ethnic ties of Westchester County Executive and Empire State Gubernatorial wannabe Robert Astorino, Empire State Governor and Presidential wannabe Andrew Cuomo, and Garden State Governor and Presidential wannabe Chris Christie.

    Astorino, Christie, and Cuomo have recently garnered much good and, even more, bad press. Comedian David Steinberg’s explanation is the “Three Stooges Theory of Politics” he presented in 1976 on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show. Of the three (Moe, Larry, and Curly) the leader Moe and second-in-command Larry are most relevant because Moe is in charge and Larry wants his job. As Men’s Health editor Ron Geraci noted, psychologists say all men are Moes, Larrys or Curlys. “If you're a Moe, you're a hot-tempered guy who intimidates people with ‘verbal slaps and managerial eye pokes.’ Temperamental, bossy, paternalistic and hard-driving at work, Moes aren't any smarter than other folks but bang through life being furious at everyone,” It would be unkind to connect specific Three Stooges traits to individuals, but some more and less unkind direct comparisons can be made between the Italian American Moes and Larrys as to their positions on important issues.

    Affordable Care Act: Astorino and Christie, no; Cuomo, si.
    The Dream Act: Christie, no; Cuomo, si; Astorino, si and no.
    Living Wages: Christie, Cuomo, Astorino, no.
    Women’s Right to Choose and Gay Marriage: Christie, no, no; Cuomo, yes, yes; Astorino, hell no, hell no.

    On issues like fracking, Cuomo is on the Democratic Party’s right wing, just left of Christie who hugged Obama after Hurricane Sandy to position himself in the Republican Party’s center. Astorino is to the right of Christie on most of the few issues he is willing to talk about. As to public persona, Astorino has the best voice, speaks Spanish fleuntly, and has the least hair. Cuomo is the sexiest but tends to screech nasally, whereas Christie tends to snarl and, despite bariatric surgery, is the heaviest. As a Catholic radio host and program director, Astorino is the most Catholic and Cuomo the least. Sometimes Christie is a better Catholic than Cuomo but not often. As to mental problems, Christie suffers from a rare form of amnesia. Even though he and Andy jointly run the Port Authority, Andy remembers even less about the George Washington Bridge traffic jams. Also, according to the Nation, “The two governors allowed aides to float a proposal for a much higher toll increase, after which the governors stepped in like knights on white horses to propose a smaller increase—even though that had been the original level they wanted all along.”

    Since they seem not to appeal to Italian Americans for their shared italianità, I wondered what it is about Italian Americans that appeals to non-Italian Americans. Leading scholars agree on several common traits. Richard Gambino (author of Blood of My Blood) remarked that beyond the extended family and close friends they saw “all other social institutions” “within a spectrum of attitudes ranging from indifference to scorn.” Fred Gardaphe’s “Signs of Italianita” are omertà (secrecy) and bella figura (good appearance). Combining these insights it seems that Italian Americans don’t trust anybody very much but want to look good at it. What’s not to like? Although they run the gamut of ideologies they increasingly fall on the right—like Italian American voters. When I asked people why they vote for them, one non-Italian woman, seeing the good side of bullying, said she likes Chris Christie because “He tells people where to get off.” Astorino’s, Christie’s, and Cuomo’s most common “positive” qualities were being down to earth, tough, and (of course) passionate. Finally, both tactically, and because none are the sharpest tacks in the box, Astorino, Christie, and Cuomo don’t pretend to be “fuzzy- headed intellectuals” or “policy wonks.”

    I wrote this on Saint Patrick’s Day, or should I say Il Giorno di San Patrizio, given that Paddy was a Roman monk. Last week MSNBC’s Chris Matthews kwelled about the phenomenal climb of the Irish from peasantry to aristocracy in American politics. Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote that their keys to success were “indifference to Yankee proprieties,” “regarding the formal government as illegitimate,” and “[being] alive to the possibilities of politics (and the) effective technique(s) of political bureaucracy.” Italian Americans have done pretty well with only the first two. The third, which translates as “working together for the common good,” is as Italian as Irish soda bread.

    According to Azi Paybarah in Capital New York at the Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick’s dinner Cardinal Timothy Dolan joked: “…I’m happy to see Rob Astorino, the county executive. Rob, you think the odds are against you? You should have been in my place in the conclave in the Sistine Chapel this time last year, when folks thought I had a chance. You think you have trouble with name recognition? When I was going through the entrance way coming here somebody yelled out ‘Look honey, Governor Christie!”

    He also quipped: “You got to admit a little nostalgia, don’tcha? Remember when the Irish ran all the politics in New York City, remember that? What do we got now? We got Astorino. We got Cuomo. We got de Blasio. We’ve gone from Tammany Hall to Mama Leone’s. Good lord, we Irish used to argue about jobs and rent and immigration and these three guys argue about whose mom’s lasagna recipe is the best.”

    The Cardinal neglected to mention Astorino’s, Christie’s and Cuomo’s Irish connections. Both Astorino and Christie claim Irish heritage on their father’s side, and all three of them married Irish women. Chris married Mary Pat Foster, Rob married Sheila McCloskey, and Andy’s ex-wife is Kerry Kennedy. Even De Blasio’s wife Chirlane McCray could have distant Irish roots. Given their rather unremarkable personal attributes and charisma, perhaps part of their success is due to “marrying up.”
  • Op-Eds

    The Irish Routes of Success for a few Italian American Politicians


    Everyone seems to agree that there is an excess of successful Italian American politicians in the New York Metropolitan Area. Since I’ve already spent too much time on Big Apple Mayor Bill De Blasio, I shall turn my attention to the personal qualities and ethnic ties of Westchester County Executive and Empire State Gubernatorial wannabe, Robert Astorino, Empire State Governor and Presidential wannabe, Andrew Cuomo, and Garden State Governor and Presidential wannabe, Chris Christie.


    Astorino, Christie, and Cuomo have recently garnered much good and, even more, bad press. Their antics are best explained by comedian David Steinberg’s “Three Stooges Theory of Politics,” which he presented in 1976 on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show. Of the three (Moe, Larry, and Curly) the leader Moe and second-in-command Larry are most relevant because Moe is in charge and Larry wants his job. Christie and Cuomo want to be President and Astorino wants to be governor. According to Men’s Health Senior Editor Ron Geraci, psychologists think all men are variations of Moe, Larry or Curly. “If you're a Moe, you're a hot-tempered guy who intimidates people with "verbal slaps and managerial eye pokes." Temperamental, bossy, paternalistic and hard-driving at work, Moes aren't any smarter than other folks but bang through life being furious at everyone, Geraci writes. But it's good to be Moe, at least in the office; many Moes end up as bosses.” Larry’s (Rob, Chris and Andy) are Moe wannabes.


    It would be unkind to connect specific Three Stooges traits to individuals, but some more and less unkind direct comparisons can be made between the Italian American Moes and Larrys as to their positions on issues that are important to me.

    Affordable Care Act: Astorino and Christie (Obamacare) no;

    Cuomo Si.The Dream Act: Christie no; Cuomo si; Astorino si and no.

    Living Wages: Christie no; Cuomo no; Astorino no.

    Women’s Right to Choose and Gay Marriage: Christie no, no; Cuomo yes, yes; Astorino hell no, hell no.

     

    On most issues, such as fracking, Andrew Cuomo is on the right wing of the Democratic Party, just to the left of Christie who, after hugging Obama after Hurricane Sandy, has positioned himself in the middle of the Republican Party. Astorino is on the right of the middle wing of the Republican Party on most of the few issues he is willing to talk about. As to public appearances Astorino has the best voice, is fluent in Spanish and has the least hair. Cuomo is the sexiest but screeches nasally whereas Christie tends to snarl, and despite bariatric surgery, is the heaviest. As a Catholic radio host and program director, Astorino is the most Catholic and Cuomo is the least. Sometimes Christie is a better Catholic than Cuomo but not often. As to mental problems, Christie suffers from a rare form of amnesia, and even though he and Andy are co-equals as heads of the Port Authority, Andy remembers even less about who caused the George Washington Bridge traffic jams and, according to the Nation,  “The two governors allowed aides to float a proposal for a much higher toll increase, after which the governors stepped in like knights on white horses to propose a smaller increase—even though that had been the original level they wanted all along.”

     

    It is important to consider what it is about Italian Americans that appeals to non-Italian Americans as they don’t seem to appeal to Italian Americans, at least for their Italianita.

    Leading Italian American scholars have agreed on several accounts. Richard Gambino (author of Blood of My Blood) remarked that beyond the extended family and close friends “all other social institutions were seen within a spectrum of attitudes ranging from indifference to scorn.” Fred Gardaphe’s “Signs of Italianita” are omerta (secrecy) and bella figura (good appearance). Combining their insights it seems that Italian Americans don’t trust much but want to look good at it. Although Italian American politicians run the gamut of ideologies they fall increasingly on the right -- like Italian American voters. When I asked people why people vote for Italian Americans, one non-Italian woman, seeing the good side of bullying, said she likes Chris Christie because “he tells people where to get off.” The most common of Astorino’s, Christie’s, and Cuomo’s  “positive” qualities were being down to earth, tough, and passionate.  Finally, both tactically, and because none are the sharpest tacks in the box, neither Astorino, Christie, nor Cuomo are perceived as fuzzy-headed intellectuals or policy wonks.

     

    I wrote this piece on Saint Patrick’s Day; or should I say Il Giorno di San Patrizio given that Paddy was a Roman monk. Last week MSNBC’s Chris Matthews was kwelling about the phenomenal climb of the Irish from peasantry to aristocracy in American politics. For Daniel Patrick Moynihan the keys to their success were “indifference to Yankee proprieties,” “regarding the formal government as illegitimate,” and “alive to the possibilities of politics” and “effective technique(s) of political bureaucracy.” Italian Americans have done pretty well with only the first two. The third, which translates as “working together for the common good,” is as Italian as Irish soda bread.

     

    According to Azi Paybarah in Capital New York at the Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick’s annual bash Cardinal Timothy Dolan joked:

     

    “…I’m happy to see Rob Astorino, the county executive. Rob, you think the odds are against you? You should have been in my place in the conclave in the Sistine Chapel this time last year, when folks thought I had a chance. You think you have trouble with name recognition? When I was going through the entrance way coming here somebody yelled out ‘Look honey, Governor Christie!”

     

    He also quipped:  

    “You got to admit a little nostalgia, don’tcha? Remember when the Irish ran all the politics in New York City, remember that? What do we got now? We got Astorino. We got Cuomo. We got de Blasio. We’ve gone from Tammany Hall to Mama Leone’s. Good lord, we Irish used to argue about jobs and rent and immigration and these three guys argue about whose mom’s lasagna recipe is the best.”

     

    The Cardinal neglected to mention Astorino, Christie and Cuomo’s Irish connections. Both Astorino and Christie claim Irish heritage on their father’s side, and all three of them married Irish women. Chris married Mary Pat Foster.  Rob married Sheila McCloskey, and Andy’s ex-wife is Kerry Kennedy. Even De Blasio’s wife Chirlane McCray could have distant Irish roots. Given their rather unremarkable personal attributes and charisma, perhaps part of their success is due to “marrying up.”
  • Op-Eds

    Pizzagate According to Me (Pizzagate secondo me)


    Like the original “Fill-in-the-Blank-Scandal-Gate,” for me at least, Pizzagate started small; as a ripple on Facebook as I visited my fbf (Facebook Friend) Diane Savino’s page and watched a video of Bill De Blasio’s commensal visit to Goodfella’s Pizza. It had a link to the Staten Island Advance’s coverage of the (for SI at least) momentous occasion.  From there I was carried adrift by the swelling wave that swamped all the New York City Dailies, New York Magazine, Huffington Post, The Daily Show, and the Entire Blogoshere. Then it crossed the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea to crash upon the shores of La Bell’Italia where it soaked the pages of La Stampa and La Repubblica until the backwash of righteously bogus indignation finally seeped into Maureen Dowd’s “Tynes that Tempt Men’s Souls”.

     

    Some of my more intellectual Facebook friends responded to the New York press corps’ waste of valuable public space by lamenting the absence of actually informed sources such as Murray Kempton. Being less cerebral, I wondered how Wayne Barrett, Jimmy Breslin or even Woodward and Bernstein would have dealt with the story. To the Italian and other foreign media that monolinguals ignore, the American press doesn’t know anything about pizza or Italy. Italians have always railed against the uninformedly biased coverage of cose italiane but for them this was the last dirty dish.


    I’m sure Jimmy Breslin would have compared Blazin Billy’s culinary predelictions to those of Un Occhio, or perhaps, in regard to his upscale dinner table affections, to Society Carey. Wayne Barrett, I am certain, would have penned a thousand-word digression into the loss of the cutlery industry in The Big Apple. To mimic Woodward and Bernstein: “One of the eight men (+ two women) secretly videographed Friday evening in the attempt to consume several pizzas and related antipasti at Goodfella’s in Staten Island last week is the recently elected Mayor of the City of New York, Bill De Blasio. The suspect, aka Wilhelm Warren Jr., 53, also shovels his own sidewalk after significant snowfalls, NYC OEM Commissioner Joe Bruno said yesterday… In a statement issued by Mario Batali, De Blasio and the others caught on camera at the pizza venue “were not operating either in my behalf or with my consent” in the alleged partaking.  Not eating pizza the way real new Yorkers do was probably due to his Boston roots.


    My most favorite ever journalist, Murray Kempton would have been embarrassed by the entire pizza mishegas. When in 1979 he reviewed books on an actual problem he wrote: “Investigative reporting is the best, probably the only, excuse for journalism; but, welcome as its renaissance is, we ought to recognize that it is an extractive and not a refining process.” Richard Severo’s 1997 obit, “Murray Kempton, 79, a Newspaperman Of Honor and Elegant Vinegar, Is Dead,” is more than enough for contemporary contrast.

    In my opinion, Pizzagate and the explosion of copious copy reflecting having too much time on one’s hands, or better things to do, is explained by the sudden appearance of a (for now) too-accessible Mayor. It was difficult for City Hall reporters to look over Bloomberg’s shoulder as he dined during one of his top-secret weekend excursions to the other outer island of New York City –Bermuda, where Michael Barbaro once caught him “At Greg’s Steakhouse, the power lunch spot on this sun-soaked island,” at which Himself “…is such a regular that he has his own booth, with a view of the Parliament building. The waiters have memorized his order: coffee-rubbed New York strip steak.” 


    The rapidity at which “the how not to eat pizza in front of reporters who don’t know any better” story went viral, is more unfortunate proof of the decreasing distance between the deservedly maligned twittering/tweeting, Blogosphere and the allegedly Legitimate Press. As to other things that might concern reporters about Staten Island, first on my list would be the past, present, and future neglected scandals over the lack of attention to the plight of residents and businesses in Richmond County’s enormous littoral zone where they never should have been found, where they were swamped by Sandy, and where they wait righteously impatiently for promised relief by Federal, State, and Municipal authorities. Another good story might be the wages of fast food workers and the regressively super abundance of Lhota voters there. In the meanwhile, I await the outrage by those sharing Wilhelm’s Teutonic roots over Blazin’ Bill’s uncoerced confession about pouring beer over ice cubes.

     

    For an Italian view of 'Pizza-gate' per De Blasio, la mangia con le posate A Ny non si fa, valanga di critiche sul sindaco italo-americano.



    Note: This article first appeared in YourFreePress.com which is edited by old friend, and "Bane of four Mayors," Rafael Alequin Martinez who was a pioneering alternative journalist in NYC.

  • Op-Eds

    A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Gracie Mansion



    In the first three days of the Bill De Blasio New York City Mayoral Dynasty it appears to me that he has received more negative press attention than Michael Bloomberg did during his three terms (12 years). Much of this chatter concerns Bill’s less than perfect New Year's Day Inauguration extravaganza on the always slippery (sempre scivoloso) steps of City Hall. I kinda new something bad was going to happen when I wasn’t invited to attend the historic inauguration of the second half-Italian Mayor ever in history. In contrast, I had been invited to all three of Bloomberg’s and was even thanked three times by him, along with some A.I.P.s (Actually Important People) in his printed inauguration programs for the use of my photos of diverse city neighborhoods. I wondered whether Bill might recycle them like the Bloomberg staffers he is retaining, I think, because he hardly expected to win. Had Bill Thompson or Christine Quinn won, every open position would have been filled the day after the election by what’s left of the Democratic Party patronage machine. The toothless county Bosses would have lined up at least three (more or less qualified) candidates for each show and/or no show jobs. Being out of power for twenty years makes for hungry political club members.

    However, I did receive an invitation for the Gracie Mansion Inauguration Open House and went with my wife and two of my five grandchildren. My friend Michael stood in line for three and half hours in the freezing drizzle with his two grandsons before getting photographed with Bill. Michael also got one; like the one he got when Bloomberg left City Hall. Michael and I were pleased to see so many black and brown faces at Gracie, obscured as they were by hats, scarves, and earmuffs. I spent much of my foul weather ordeal conversing with an Indian (from India) American architect Staten Islander who said that Staten islanders are very "opinionated." I told him he should be proud to be one of the three people who voted for Bill on l’Isola Bella. As my wife, grandsons, and I have better things to do during the NFL Playoffs, we voted (4-0) to leave after an hour on line and a cup of hot apple cider.

    There have been so many complaints about Bill De Blasio’s inauguration in the right-wing (di destra) mass media and apologies in the left-wing (di sinistra) mass media that I thought I should take a look/listen at his speech. My friend, and mega-Bill supporter, James Anthony, who I trust more than both Chris Hayes and Matthews, was there and came away disappointed, having expected expressions of unity, not division. To be honest, not only hadn’t I been invited to the inauguration, I didn’t listen to De Blasio’s speech or even read it until asked to do so for this column. Having been treated to Bill’s rhetorical flourishes and oratorical prowess on several pre-victory occasions he would not be on my “oldies but goodies” i-Pod playlist.

    As I spent three years in the U.S. Army Security Agency, before both Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning were born, I figured I’d put my training to good use and decipher Bill De Blasio’s inauguration address as might The New York Times’s Charles Blow. First of all, his talk lasted a little less than twenty minutes and the written text was 1888 words long. For the analysis, I watched and listened to it in its entirely on The New York Times webpage while making notes of what sounded like more emphatic phrasings as well as expressive facial and bodily movements that might give special meaning to the words. Given his rather ligneous (legnoso) performance, this yielded rather little additional intelligence. For most of the text, I did a simple content and contextual analysis, looking especially at the most frequent words used and grouping them together when appropriate into meaningful categories. These were then placed in descending order of frequency. For example the most frequent expected category was “ethnic.” And, among “Ethnic Things: Latino” there were 24 words but all but one were in his reasonably well-uttered Spanish translation of his thanks to his New York brothers and sisters. The second most, “Ethnic Things: Italian” received 13, but these included the names of his children Chiara and Dante as well as LaGuardia and Cuomo. So we should conclude it was not especially ethnic speech. Politicians like to present their ideas as “New” and as might be predicted it was used 14 times; but most were in reference to “The” city or newspapers, so it wasn’t especially “new” either.

    Work and derivatives of the term were used 9 times, followed by Family (8), and of course Progressive at 6. Children and Neighbor(hood) got 5 mentions while People and Taxes both got 4. One of the 3 Parents mentioned were “grand,” and Justice was pronounced twice along with Bloomberg and Cuomo. The rest were equivocated once: American and Mother without the Apple Pie; God got as many as each of the Clintons on the stage with equal billing for Wall Street, One Percent, (middle) Class, Tale of Two Cities, and Stop and Frisk. Jews, Muslims, Catholics, and Protestants were indirectly intoned as "Rabbi," "Imam," "Monsignor," and "Rev.", so only Hindus, Buddhists, et alia., should feel slighted as well as Agnostics and, God Forbid (Dio non voglia) – Atheists (most of whom probably voted for De Blasio).

                 Grouped together, the core keywords of Bill’s, less than stirring but solidly hopefull, positive, and forward-looking (Progressive?) oration concerned Family and Neighbors and emphasized what we owe to each other as fellow New Yorkers. Who, other than Hannity & Co. and arayan Ayn Rand Paul could be nauseated (nauseato) by that sentiment? His tenderest tones and most genuine smiles were reserved for his wife and the least of those affectations for his ex-Mayor, but all this is to be expected. Had the other Bill on the dais given De Blasio’s speech, it wouldn’t have received a better rating even as we slave on alongside Letitia James, hand and hand with Dasani, Harry Belafante, and the Rev. Frederick A. Lucas, Jr. on the Dickensian plantation of Gotham.

    To live or relive the whole William Warren, Jr. Bill De Blasio Inauguration.
  • Op-Eds

    A Day, or so, in the Life of Jerry Krase, De Blasio Campaign Volunteer

    Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn began Ivan’s bitterly cold and dark day as a forced laborer in a Gulag camp, mine began a bit more leisurely on a brilliantly warm and sunny Tuesday morning in Super-gentrified Park Slope, and there the similarity almost ends. The day before the election, The New York Post used its front page to super-impose Bill De Blasio’s smiling face on the brilliant red flag of the USSR, as it shamelessly continued its Red-Baiting anti-De Blasio as not-so-closeted Communist campaign.

    Bill had attracted quite a number of otherwise rabid "fans" such as Pamela Geller who had earlier, and amazingly, legally vented her spleen by posting her Islamophobic messages on New York City’s subway stations. Now she was threatening to “Stop Red Bill” with ads that featured women in hijab holding a “Muslims for De Blasio” sign and claiming that he will end NYPD counterterrorism surveillance. It had never been easy being Multicultural Bill and his Tale of Two New York Cities. After winning the primary, he was advised to calm the 1%ers, who own all the papers, by finding good things to say about Bloomberg and rich people in general. This has been made even more difficult after Patrick McGeehan wrote in The New York Times: "Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said in an interview published on Saturday that Bill de Blasio, one of the leading candidates to succeed him, had run a “racist” campaign.   By promoting his mixed race family…."As might be expected the New York Post joined the chorus of nattering nabobs of negativism.

    The, compared-to-Bill, really far-left French daily newspaper Liberation (founded by Jean-Paul Sartre) didn’t help matters with “New York: un favori très à gauche pour la mairie. Élection.” Le démocrate De Blasio, qui veut taxer les riches, pourrait remporter le scrutin, le 5 novembre (A far-left favorite for Mayor. The Democrat De Blasio, who will tax the rich could win the vote). Even though none of the New York dailies endorsed him in the primary election because he was too radical for their tastes, all but one (guess which?) more or less endorsed him in the general election with the hope that he was only kidding about being progressive. When according to the polls he was about to become Mayor by a landslide, they starting publishing articles about how he wasn’t really so bad after all. I believe it is the Mayor’s Office that controls who gets press credentials. A half-hearted endorsement was also published in the Staten Island Advance which serves Gotham's "Tea Party Country.":

    "Do we pretend to agree with all of Mr. de Blasio’s policies? No. We think stop-and-frisk on some level can be good policing and has made our city safer. Mr. de Blasio would be wise to seriously evaluate the effectiveness of the program before throwing it out completely. We also disagree with his plan to install an independent inspector general to oversee the Police Department. If Mr. de Blasio cannot trust his police commissioner, he has hired the wrong police commissioner.” As we might have expected, this last counted for little, especially among Italian American voters.

    It was easy getting out the vote in De Blasio Country. About a third of the registered voters in Park Slope had already indicated support for Bill, and those who were still at home Election Day morning, and hadn’t yet gone to polls, reassured me that he “had nothing to worry about.” Only one person slammed the door on me and uttered an obscenity. As per my rigorous training, I apologized and wished her well. It was one of the few houses that didn’t have working intercoms and she had come down from the third floor to answer the door. I don’t blame her. I knew enough not to mention Bill De Blasio’s name as soon as I saw her snarly face. I must admit that a few of my less-than-progressive Park Slope friends to whom I sent my I-Italy “Bill De Blasio: A Progressive Mayor for All New Yorkers” were not impressed with his scant "accomplishments" while serving as Public Advocate. I countered that the only function of the Public Advocates is to prepare oneself to run for higher office, but they still thought I was only doing this to get a no-show job. 

    It was much worse a few days earlier making phone calls for Bill to Staten Island seniors. Staten Island never was, and never will be, “De Blasio Country.” I got three kinds of responses to the name “De Blasio” during the phone calls.   Silence and a click was the most frequent. Many of the women who answered after I identified myself said things like “I don’t have to tell you anything. It’s my right.” Most women are kind enough not to tell you what they know you don’t want to hear. But the men are different: “Hello, may I speak with Anthony Italian-Sounding-Name?” “Who wants to know?”   “I’m calling for De Blasio ...” “I wouldn’t vote for him in a million years.”   “How about a thousand Anthony?” One woman whispered that she would vote for him but didn’t want her friends, whom I could hear in the background, to know. A day later, Andrea Bernstein on WNYC radio interviewed an alleged “election expert” who predicted that the Island (La Isola) would, for the first time in ages, go for a Democratic Party Mayor. Staten Island money was flowing into his campaign coffers from donors there because of the commanding (75%-25%) lead he had in the citywide polls.

    Both Bill and Joe had marched in the Columbus Day Parade with hardly a concern about the Native American New Yorker voting bloc. The Daily News reported that as to his "humble origins," Lhota described his maternal grandfather, Joseph Tinnaro, as “very Italian,” who grew up in Brooklyn and drove a Checker cab. Tinnaro lived across the street from St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, where Lhota’s grandmother, Edith Steinberg, worked as a nurse’s aide. De Blasio better fits my own bill for future political candidates of Italian descent and the Italian American Democratic Leadership Council agreed by endorsing him early on: “Bill is very proud of his Italian heritage-- his family is from east of Naples. Bill’s maternal grandmothers and her sisters emigrated to the U.S. from Italy in the early 1900's and started a dress shop in midtown. He has taken his family back to his grandfather’s hometown in Italy - Sant'Agata dei Goti. De Blasio speaks Italian.” But being more of an Italian than Lhota didn’t help very much with Italian American voters. The Italian names of his son Dante and his daughter Chiara seemed also not to generate ethnic solidarity. Luckily, Bill didn’t count on a wave of Italian American votes. His "landslide" citywide victory (74% vs. 24%) in the mayoral election over Joe Lhota did not include La Bella Isola where he lost 42% vs. 53%; in virtually every identifiable Italian American precinct there, and elsewhere in the Grande Mela, it was more like a 80% vs. 20% Lhota landslide.

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