The New Power of the Asian American Vote: More Evident than Ever

We have witnessed firsthand how Mike Bloomberg during his re-election bid has courted the immigrant vote. Perhaps the group he maintains has become the most influential and the most sought after is the Asian Americans. This is a clear indication that the Asian Americans have become a strong influential voting bloc not only in Flushing but in City Politics.

A prime example is a young Chinese American Councilman John Liu who catapulted himself from obscurity to become the lead candidate for citywide office, taking an early lead over veteran politicians including the powerful Weprin family and Melinda Katz a protégé of the Hevesi camp.

This year we will see a group of candidates fighting it out in Flushing in a Democratic Primary only to face off against a well respected and well financed Republican in Peter Koo. It is clear that this year seems to be the time when Asian Americans flex their Political Muscle in City Politics.

Isaac Sasson Time to Stand up and Denounce your Democratic Race Mongering Opponent Yen Chou

Sometimes we expect those who wish to lead to stand up and lead! I am shocked, outraged and yes even disappointed that the despicable racial overtones of the Chou campaign have not been addressed by any of the candidates in the September primary. I am especially disappointed in the lack of courage of a man I have held in high regard, Isaac Sasson. Not a peep out of his campaign! He never even acknowledged our Post and our trying to “out” a Political agenda that is harmful to the diversity of our local political landscape.

Yen Chou statements in her press conference and in the Chinese Media are harmful for race relations and hurtful for all those who wish to live in peaceful coexistence. We thought our Political leaders had learned from Julia Harrison that hurtful vengeful race baiting is unacceptable.

We will offer space on this blog to any of the candidates in the Primary who have the moral courage to respond.

Glenhead Barbie Feels the Heat

From the Queens Campaigner
http://www.yournabe.com/blogs/queenscampaigner/?p=905
by Nathan Duke

Carrozza moves back to Bayside amid GOP calls for investigation.

The Queens County Republican Party has called for an investigation of state Assemblywoman Ann-Margaret Carrozza (D-Bayside) after she admitted in late June that she had been living out of the district since March. But the assemblywoman said Tuesday that she had moved back to Bayside last week.

Queens GOP Chairman Phil Ragusa said the party wants Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and the state Ethics Board to determine whether Carrozza misled her constituents by living in a Glen Head property known as “The Crossways” that she and her husband, William Duke, purchased for $1.8 million in June 2008.

“In this time, when Albany dysfunction is at an all-time high and government spending is out of control at every level of government, we need to be extremely diligent in demanding real reform from our elected officials,” Ragusa said. “And the most basic reform we should demand is that officials truly live in the districts they are elected to represent, as required by law.”

Carrozza said state law did not prohibit her from temporarily living in the Long Island house. But she said this week that she was once again living in Bayside.

“I’m back in Bayside as of last week,” she said. “This smacks of early campaigning. I think all of our efforts are best focused on issues in Albany. I view this as a waste of taxpayer resources. We’ve seen in the past when politicians misdirect resources into baseless investigations. During this time of economic hardship for so many families, that money could be better spent.”

Randolph Yunker, a spokesman for the Nassau County Assessment Department, said Carrozza’s husband applied in December 2008 for a STAR exemption on the Glen Head property.

One of Carrozza’s Bayside homes had also received the exemption and would have saved the couple $232 on their 2009-2010 tax bill in Queens, city Finance Department records show. But a spokesman for that department said a request had been made by one of the property’s owners this week to remove the School Tax Relief Program exemption. The home will not receive the benefit for the fiscal year which began July 1, he said.

The application for the Long Island property had been approved, but the Nassau department froze it when it discovered that the Bayside home already had an exemption.
STAR, which is overseen by the state’s Office of Real Property Services, gives married couples a tax break on their primary residence. But state rules stipulate that a husband and wife can have an exemption for only one residence unless they are legally separated.

The deed for Carrozza’s Bayside home lists both her and her husband’s name, a Finance Department spokesman said. But the department could not verify who applied for a STAR exemption for the home.

Mortgage papers for the Glen Head home obligate the owner to “occupy the property and use the property as [their] principal residence within 60 days.” It also requires the owner to “continue to occupy the property and use the property for at least one year.”

Yunker said the couple would only be allowed to have one home with a STAR exemption.

“Our interest is not in who applied for it, but that there was a STAR on another piece of property,” he said. “We don’t check with other municipalities when someone applies. We take people at their word when they show us proof that they are living in a home.”

The Long Island property would not receive a tax break from a STAR exemption until after October, he said. The savings for the home, under last year’s assessment, could save its owner an estimated $700. But this year’s figures have not yet been determined.

In late June, Carrozza said she and her husband had been living in an “investment property” in Glen Head as they planned to adopt a child and search for a new home in Bayside. But the Queens property in which she previously lived would not provide enough space for three children and she had already promised to rent the home to an Oregon couple for part of the year. She currently owns two homes and two sites for office space in Bayside. She has not yet decided what she will ultimately do with the Long Island property, which she said is her husband’s primary residence.

John Conklin, director of public information for the state Elections Board, said elected officials are legally allowed to live outside their district as long as they intend to return.

Yen Chou Should Apologize For Racist Politicking

Yen Chou, a Democratic candidate for the 20th Council seat has caused quite a stir from her fear mongering and racist campaign tactics. Save Flushing Queens is sending this Post to her Campaign to ask her to apologize to the individuals she offended especially, Isaac Sasson.

As our previous Post reported, Chou stated in a press conference statement that failure to vote for a Chinese candidate in the primary is in fact a vote for the “Jewish” candidate, since Sasson is the only “Jewish” candidate this is a direct attack on Mr. Sasson.

Her other offensive statements toward the Korean Candidates in the race were equally disturbing. She obviously feels that a Korean cannot be a qualified candidate. It is abundantly clear that her campaign strategy is to make personal attacks, divide and conquer. We are confident that the good people of Flushing will reject her!

Chou also stated that Non Asian representatives don't really help Chinese people and this is why Chinese people look for help from local associations and the newspapers. Yen Chou is obviously unaware that non for profits are created all over this city to help ALL, notwithstanding Race Religion or Creed. Yen Chou’s statement about white representatives is a direct attack on all those in government service from our Fire Department to the Police to any White, Black, or Hispanic who seeks to represent our diverse city. Elected officials must represent all they serve and it appears that not only is Yen Chou incapable but unwilling to do this.

So all Chinese, Koreans, Indians, Hispanic, African Americans, Whites and Multi-Racial individuals must join to reject the racist political agenda of Yen Chou.

So on Primary Day September 15 as members of the community of all races and ethnic backgrounds, we should reject Yen Chou and her failed political agenda. If elected she will be shunned by the legislators, community leaders and residents she offended. Ultimately, the 20th Council District will be left with an ineffective and divisive representative with no ability to build the coalitions necessary to achieve success for our Council District!

Yen Chou Racist Diatribe Divides Community

In a recent self-serving press release, Democratic Candidate Yen Chou fired some racist, inappropriate, demeaning and dishonorable shots at the rest of the candidates seeking to replace John Liu in the City Council.

In her statement Yen Chou states, she is the only one that has strength, professionalism, community service and knowledge of the inner workings of the City Council. Although she is entitled to these positions, and we vehemently disagree with her assertion, it is some of the other statements that we find repulsive, weak, unprofessional and unfitting of anyone who seeks to serve the community as an elected representative.

To state that if a person chooses to vote for someone else or fails to vote in the primary that they are helping the “Jewish” candidate is anti-Semitic and fear mongering. To say that non-Asian elected officials don’t help Chinese people is a direct attack on all the good people in Government Service.

Her press statement is a direct attack upon Korean Americans who are seeking public office. Are we to believe that Yen Chou is the only choice for Council? According to her she is, perhaps she should be spending more time taking courses on “How Not to Offend Good People”

Her press statement falsely asserts that only she has the ability to get bills passed and things done at City Hall Meanwhile John Choe has the experience as John Liu’s chief of staff and Peter Koo is needed by the Mayor for his election, both of these men will have more influence in City Hall than Yen Chou will have in a lifetime.

Marie Antoinette Carrozza Palacial Glen Head Versailles

According to a recent article in the Daily News, Queens Assemblywoman Ann-Margaret (Marie Antoinette) Carrozza can’t stand to live with the all the peasants who reside in Bayside. Her royal majesty and the first family must envelope themselves in a posh mansion located in Glen Head and be saved from the slums that exist in the 26th Assembly District. “Let them eat cake” Ms. Carrozza is just another in a long list of self-interested dysfunctional embarrassments we here is Queens have sent to Albany to represent us.

Carrozza should resign immediately so she can have the time to clean that big mansion in Glen Head Long Island and leave the business of legislating to those who care about the people and not themselves.

Daily News Article by John Lauinger:

Queens Assemblywoman Ann-Margaret Carrozza pulled her Mercedes up to her brick mansion recently after a long day at work.

Her husband and one of her two sons were outside, along with the family's black Lab, Stanley. With the stately manse as a backdrop, the petite, blond lawmaker and her family could have been modeling for an L.L. Bean catalogue.

There was one problem with the pretty picture: Carrozza's $1.8 million home is in tony Glen Head, L.I. - 15 miles from her district in Bayside, Queens.

Carrozza, 42, who has represented the 26th Assembly District since 1997, bought the mansion on Nassau County's Gold Coast in June 2008, taking out a mortgage for $1 million, property records show.

She told the Daily News the lavish digs were supposed to be "an investment or a second residence." But she signed mortgage documents that specifically state the mansion would be her "principal residence."

When confronted outside the posh pad last week, Carrozza admitted she has lived there full-time since February.

"My primary residence is in Bayside - and we're temporarily renting that out," she said.

Carrozza and her doctor husband own four properties in Bayside - two offices, a home where her mother lives and another residence where the lawmaker is registered to vote.

State legislators are allowed to have second homes outside of their districts as long as they maintain a residence in the district, experts said.

"The issue is then, 'How do you define residence,'" said Manhattan election lawyer Henry Berger. "There is a slightly different standard between establishing a residence and maintaining a residence."

The Bronx district attorney's office is investigating a similar situation involving state Sen. Pedro Espada (D-Bronx). Espada once beat a residency challenge, but authorities decided to take a closer look following his central role in the coup that has deadlocked the Senate.

Carrozza said her family outgrew the Bayside home where she is registered to vote - a modest, three-bedroom house.

"We had a deal on a bigger house in Bayside," she explained. "I made arrangements to rent out my primary residence."
The deal fell through, so they moved to the Nassau County manse, she said, rather than renege on their tenants.

"It wasn't my intention to permanently occupy the home," she added. "We thought we would stay here temporarily."
The mortgage papers Carrozza and her husband, William Duke, signed in June 2008 say otherwise.

"I will occupy the property and use the property as my principal residence within 60 days after I sign this," the document stated. "I will continue to occupy the property and to use the property as my principal residence for at least one year."


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/06/28/2009-06-28__pol_represents_queens_but_is_living_large_on_li_gold_coast.html#ixzz0K7MCtUVe&D

Say It isnt so Choe

We read that John Choe has been endorsed by the anti-human group called Animal Friendly. Animal Friendly NYC is a political action committee that endorses and works directly on campaigns of candidates who support legislation that will benefit our non-human friends.

John Choe is accused of being a North Korean sympathizer, a communist and supporter nuclear weapon proliferation. Now we learn that he is supporting legislation that benefits non-humans!