COURIER L 12 IFE, AUGUST 21-27, 2020
OPINION
AOC stands for ‘All Out Crazy’ on crime
The end of my political career in
the Brooklyn Democratic Party
There are a few different
ways political careers
in New York end. More
end by roughly the politician’s
choice--a term limit
or retirement or a resignation
to take a new job--than
by probably any other way,
though it’s not a majority.
Some die in office and others
lose their re-election
campaign to an opponent.
Some get indicted and resign;
some get convicted and
are removed from office. I’m
the first politician in this
state that I know of whose
career (so far) has ended in
a different manner than any
of the ways I’ve previously
laid out.
I was removed from the
ballot without facing an opponent,
because of objections
to the petitions I gathered
during the early days of
the coronavirus outbreak.
My position is technically
vacant, to be filled by
appointment in a month,
but the new female district
leader has made it clear she
will not be appointing me,
because I supported her opponent
for election. Supporting
her opponent, my colleague
of the last six years
who I generally do not agree
with ideologically, turned
out to be an enormous mistake
on my part. Everyone
in my political base feels totally
betrayed by me, and it
also turns out that my former
colleague would have
betrayed me even had she
won.
I’m a particular sucker
because my elected career
was confined to Democratic
Party politics, and as a result
I was never paid for any
of the positions I’ve held in
the last decade. My title for
another few weeks is both
male Democratic district
leader and Democratic state
committeeman for the 50th
Assembly District. When
I first ran six years ago, I
faced four opponents in sequence.
I never faced another
opponent for the next
six years, and as a result
my name after 2014 never
appeared on the ballot as a
candidate for district leader.
So it’s a bit of a misnomer to
say I was removed from the
ballot this year, since due
to my opponent-less status
I was never going to be appearing
on the ballot in the
first place. After being removed,
my supporters didn’t
even have anywhere on the
ballot to write me in.
For six years I tried to
stand up for the grassroots
of the party, and I feel I received
very little support.
The former boss of the
county party, Frank Seddio,
was more outwardly hostile
to me than to any other district
leader; he repeatedly
threatened to challenge my
petitions, as eventually happened;
I believe the challenge
to my petitions could
not have succeeded without
the support of Seddio’s consigliere,
county law chair
and prominent Brooklyn attorney
Frank Carone.
But I felt mostly hostility
from “my” side, as well. I’ve
been a member of New Kings
Democrats for 12 years and
Democratic Socialists of
America for four; I’ve never
felt well-supported by either
organization.
Politics is petty; I’ve recently
lost a number of
friends.
Two years ago, I was the
sole “no” vote against Frank
Seddio continuing as county
chair. “My vote will make
anyone ‘they’ run against
me easy to label a machine
stooge,” I thought to myself
at the time. “That’s a
hard sell in my district, so
they can’t get rid of me for
a while.”
If only I hadn’t been so
mistaken about the need for
elections.
Nick Rizzo is a Democratic
District Leader representing
the 50th Assembly
District and a political consultant
who lives in Greenpoint.
Follow him on Twitter
@NickRizzo.
WORDS OF
RIZZDOM
Nick Rizzo
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio
Cortez — commonly
known as AOC — clearly
embodies how far left today’s
Democratic Party has drifted.
When the freshman Congresswoman
was specifi cally
asked in Queens last weekend
to condemn Seattle Black
Lives Matter “protesters” that
marched through and terrorized
a neighborhood to demand
that white residents give up
their homes, she just couldn’t
do it. Instead, AOC said that we
need to “establish just policies
and address the core issues of
brutality in order for us to come
together.”
Videos show these protesters
shouting at white families
to “give Black people back their
homes.”
Like other Democrats, AOC
can’t bring herself to condemn
this, or any of the violence
plaguing many cities as a result
of rioters. To quote another local
Member of Congress, Jerry
Nadler, it is all just “a myth.”
In Chicago last week, dozens
of families with sick children
had to cower in fear as
looters smashed the windows
and front door of a Ronald Mc-
Donald House while they were
inside.
According to AOC, Nadler,
and the rest of the Democrats,
all of this criminality and destruction
are just fi gments of
our imagination. Democrats
are afraid to say or do anything
that can be perceived as
attacking their far-left radical
base, which is becoming more
criminal by the day.
Demonstrating how frustrated
cops feel, the New York
City Police Benevolent Association
(PBA) just endorsed
President Donald Trump.
PBA leader Pat Lynch said,
“I have 36 years on this job …
I cannot remember when we
have ever endorsed for the offi
ce of President of the United
States until now. That’s how
important this is … we’re
fi ghting for our lives out there.
We don’t want this to spread to
the rest of the country.”
Last week, shootings in
New York City continued to
spiral out of control. Citywide,
there were 76 shooting victims
between Aug. 10 and Aug. 16,
according to NYPD data. This
is about two-and-a-half times
the amount of shootings citywide
the same week last year.
Lynch is right — we should
not want the violence in New
York, Chicago, Seattle, Portland,
Seattle, and other Democratic
cities to spread throughout
our country.
Of course, AOC criticized
the PBA’s endorsement, tweeting,
“NYPD union endorsed
Trump. I’m sure this is part
of their neighborhood outreach
plan.” What AOC and
other city Democrats do not
get is that it is hard for police
to do outreach in communities
when they are greeted
with thrown bottles and other
debris while attempting to do
their jobs to protect law-abiding
residents.
How many more shootings
and body bags do we need in
New York City for AOC and
the Democrats to see that
their efforts at “reform” have
emboldened criminals and
caused us to feel less safe. Is it
any wonder that New Yorkers
are now fl ocking to buy bulletproof
vests?
Bob Capano has worked
for Brooklyn Republican and
Democrat elected offi cials,
and has been an adjunct political
science professor for over
15 years. Follow him on twitter
@bobcapano
THE RIGHT
VIEW
Bob Capano