Brooklyn, N.Y. — Two Months late, following a delayed recanvass, court challenge and a hand recount, Republican candidate, David Storobin won the highly contested, NY State Senate seat by a margin of 16 votes. Storobin will represent the heavy Jewish Orthodox district until Jan 2013.
In conceding defeat, Democratic candidate, Councilman Lew Fidler offering congratulations to his rival David Storobin. And pledged “to work with him for the benefit of our community whenever and wherever we can find common ground.”
Fidler didn’t take defeat lightly hearted. “Of course, I am disappointed in the overall result and the many messages it may be sending about politics in our community and our borough,” he wrote in his public statement. “I am also very troubled by a clear fallacy of the Election Law which enabled Mr. Storobin’s campaign to violate the law without repercussion. The court made clear that the Storobin campaign engaged in activity that was in violation of the law. New York State law simply does not permit early mail-in voting unless voters are legally qualified to vote early.”
What is more noteworthy, is Lew Fidler’s comment defining the choice, early on in the race. At a meeting of the Brooklyn Young Democrats in January, Fidler offered a broader analysis to the race, larger than the two candidates. It’s a race to disprove the increasingly dominant narrative that Southern Brooklyn is beginning to slide Republican, he said. “What’s coming on March 20 is a lot more important than me,” Fidler was quoted on camera. “If I lose this race, the Republicans are coming for Steve Cymbrowitz, Helene Weinstein, Bill Colton and Alec Brook-Krasny and every single one of us here in Southern Brooklyn.
“This election is going to make a big difference. This is where we draw the line in the sand. This is where we break up the firewall,” he added. “They are not going to turn Brooklyn red.”
Brooklyn, to his dismay,did turn Red, for the second time in one year, in two special elections. The reason was best put, by Congressman Bob Turner, who shocked the political world and Washington DC with his stunning Victory in September, winning a long held Democratic seat. “Brooklyn and Republican is no longer a non sequitur,” Turner said in his statement released shortly after Storobin was announced the winner. “With the election of David Storobin there are now five elected Republicans in Kings County, and there is a principal reason why: Voters are demanding fiscal accountability from their leaders and Republicans are providing it,” He added.
Indeed, the Republican party in Brooklyn has risen to the occasion over the past few years, with the help of her dedicated chairman Craig Eaton, who tirelessly worked behind the scenes to recruit credible candidates and help them get on the ballot, which tells you why for the first time in history, Brooklyn now has two Republican State Senators, and two Congressman. as a matter of fact, Brooklyn has 5 Republican elected officials for the first time since 1974 when Brooklyn had four Republican Assemblyman (Vito Battista, Vincent Puccio, Dominick DiCarlo, and Bob Kelly), and State Senator Bill Conklin.
Also, for the first time in Brooklyn and New York City’s history that an assembly district has two Republican State Senator’s and a Congressman representing it (45th, 47th, and 48th AD’s.), according to the insiders known with the facts.
“You don’t need to be an expert on politics, or experienced in government,” Craig Eaton writes on the Official Brooklyn GOP site. “You need to care about the direction our state and country are heading, and be willing to do something about it.”
The Republican party in Brooklyn is about values and belief in the values that made our country so unique. The message that voters are sending is, we are willing to give up on our alliance with the Democratic power brokers, with a one party power headed by liberal politicians and out of touch personalities, that have not delivered what working families and struggling patriots expect from their public representatives, and have not seized the opportunity granted to them without any challenge, upon holding oath of office.