Letter to the Editor: Another point of view

ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW

I have known Jerry Kassar for over 35 years and I consider him a friend but, I really have to take issue with his September 4 column on Joe Lhota. Some of Jerry’s words are ill chosen, some stretch the truth and some are just outright wrong.

In his the fifth paragraph of his column he writes, “The Catsimatidis campaign not only threw out the first negative, they were relentless coming across as almost hateful of Joe Lhota.” This statement is totally inaccurate and is symptomatic of the disinformation the Lhota campaign has fed to the press and the public.

On August 17, Carl Campanile wrote an article in the New York Post where he addressed the launch of negative online ads placed by the Lhota campaign attacking John Catsimatidis; soon to follow was a barrage of negative mailers from the Lhota campaign that attempted to paint John Catsimatidis as a rich, out-of-touch resident of Manhattan who has little concern or empathy for the residents of the outer boroughs. Anyone who knows John Catsimatidis is aware that this couldn’t be further from the truth.

John Catsimatidis came to New York from Greece as an infant, grew up poor in Harlem and through street smarts and hard work has become a leader in New York’s business community. Yes, he is rich, but, he is someone who has always given back to our city and has never forgotten where he came from; the son of a busboy who grew up on the tough streets of Harlem.

The Alex Rodriguez/Joe Lhota mailer Jerry calls “illogical and even nonsensical” is anything but that. It refers to Rodriguez as a “big disappointment,” a statement that New York Yankee lovers and haters easily agree with and then refers to Joe Lhota as a “big spender” who, in one of his last acts as deputy mayor, signed off on a $400 million corporate welfare check to the New York Yankees, the biggest money-making franchise in Major League Baseball. This giveaway of your tax dollars was so outrageous that Mayor Bloomberg did the right thing and cancelled it after taking office.

In the following paragraph, Jerry chastises John Catsimatidis for being a “large and regular contributor to a wide variety of Democratic candidates.” He conveniently leaves out the fact that John Catsimatidis has also been a large and regular contributor to Republican and Conservative party candidates.

In fact, John has regularly contributed to the Kings County Conservative Party which Jerry heads (the party accepted a large Catsimatidis checks just this spring), the State Conservative Party, State Senator Marty Golden, Governor George Pataki and yes, Rudy Giuliani too — the same Rudy Giuliani who was Joe Lhota’s boss and who, shortly before the 1994 elections, turned his back on the GOP to endorse Mario Cuomo over George Pataki.

Jerry seems oblivious to the fact that New York City is a predominately Democratic town and that the vast majority of Republican business leaders contribute to elected officials on both sides of the aisle. Most voters understand that Mr. Catsimatidis’ bipartisan giving allows him the ability to reach out to political leaders in Albany or Washington and bring them to the table to get the best deal possible for the taxpayers of New York.

In short, Jerry owes an apology to his readers for skewing the facts, an apology to the Conservative Party supporting a candidate who is anything but conservative and to John Catsimatidis for partaking in the mud-throwing that has taken place.

Rob Ryan is senior advisor and spokesperson for the Catsimatidis campaign. He lives in Brooklyn.