Nassau PBA endorsement a coup for Suozzi
Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi is running for reelection to the 3rd Congressional District. Credit: Howard Schnapp
Daily Point
Union says support for a Democrat is a big first step
Snaring the coveted Nassau County PBA endorsement was a huge win for Rep. Tom Suozzi, the first Democrat the organization has supported in decades, especially considering his tumultuous history with the organization and its former president Gary Dela Raba.
The union, which has about 1,750 members, had endorsed Suozzi’s Republican opponent, Mazi Pilip, in February’s special election to fill the 3rd Congressional District seat of the expelled George Santos. PBA president Tom Shevlin told The Point Tuesday that the organization told Suozzi back then that if he won and continued his support of law enforcement, they would reconsider for the general election.
"He went on the floor of Congress and said ‘defund the police’ was the stupidest thing he’d ever heard," said Shelvin. "That showed us he could stand up to his own party."
Suozzi said he was "hopeful" about getting the union’s endorsement because he ran the force for eight years as Nassau County executive, as well as the Glen Cove police department when he was the city’s mayor before that. "We battled out contracts but I understand how tough their jobs are," he told The Point.
The Nassau PBA president said the organization's support for a Democrat was also a warning to other elected officials: "We should not be taken for granted, we are looking at every person as an individual and it doesn’t matter what party they come from." Shevlin said police organizations can’t always put themselves on one side of the political aisle. "We need to show Democrats we are not against them and they should not be against us ... We need to get back to the days when we are not seen as pawns," he added.
One example of the GOP lockstep is Nassau’s smaller law enforcement associations, the Nassau County Detectives’ Association and the Nassau County Superior Officers, which announced their support Tuesday for Suozzi’s GOP opponent, Mike LePetri.
Shevlin said the PBA is willing "to take the first steps to have tough conversations" with Democrats and that "Tom is the perfect candidate to do that with."
Those conversations weren’t always so pleasant, especially during Suozzi’s first term as Nassau County executive when during contract negotiations he blamed Dela Raba and the union’s leadership for bloating the police budget. He said they were "fat cats" causing higher taxes and bankrupting the county. The slugfest with Dela Raba actually dated back to Suozzi’s time as mayor.
It got so bad during Suozzi’s 2005 campaign for a second term as county executive that Dela Raba had billboard trucks circling the county basically claiming your granny will be murdered in her bed because of Suozzi. And for an added touch, Dela Raba had a small plane fly banner ads over Jones Beach that summer which read "Tom Suozzi: Good for the bad guys, bad for the good guys."
Reached in South Carolina, where the retired union chief splits his time, Dela Raba said he talks to Suozzi now and then but had no role in the endorsement. "But here’s a little secret, I like the guy," he said.
— Rita Ciolli rita.ciolli@newsday.com
Pencil Point
The choice
Credit: Cagle.com/Monte Wolverton, Battle Ground, Wash.
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Final Point
Rally handout: ‘God chose Trump’
The "Japan for Trump" flyer handed out at last week's Coliseum rally.
Former President Donald Trump’s big Long Island rally last week brought forth a highly unusual, printed declaration of support. Outside the Nassau Coliseum, as supporters gathered hours before the Republican-in-chief appeared, two women handed out flyers with the top line reading: "Japan for Trump; God chose Trump."
"Since the Biden-Harris administration took office," begins the missive, "not only America but the entire world has descended into chaos, both physically and spiritually."
That echoes closely the 45th president’s straight-faced warnings that hell on earth, the end of Israel, and World War III are sure to commence unless Americans return him to the White House. But this unusual campaign piece had some truly special talking points. For example, it says: "Did you know that Trump’s past life was George Washington?"
Several books by the author Ryuho Okawa, a conservative figure in Japan, are touted in the printed flyer. Their titles: "Trump Shall Never Die" and "A Spiritual Interview with George Washington: Revealing Donald Trump’s hidden identity."
More is on the flip side of the paper. Adorned with a photo of Vice President Kamala Harris, the text reads, strangely: "If the first Black female candidate actually becomes the president — what sort of world would manifest ...?"
This part of the text references a novel by Okawa, "The Unknown Stigma," published in 2022. The cover advertises: "A mysterious serial murder ... A beautiful young nun ... What is the connection? Is she carrying the stigma of light or darkness?" It is unclear how this is supposed to relate to Harris or her gender or race.
The flyer also plugs ordering on Amazon pro-Trump books by Newt Gingrich, Charlie Kirk and Alan Dershowitz.
Author Okawa died last year at age 66 in Tokyo. He’s long been described in published accounts as a Japanese religious and political leader who was chief executive and founder of both the conservative Happy Science religious movement and its political arm, the Happiness Realization Party.
Okawa once chaired two companies affiliated with these organizations, which were criticized as a cult by some Japanese leaders, according to citations in his Wikipedia entry. At one time, Okawa attended the City University of New York.
Even after his presidency, Trump as a private citizen has allied himself and socialized with the leaders of factions of different nations. In April, during a trip to New York City for the trial where he was convicted on 34 felony counts, he met at Trump Tower with former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso.
Around the same time, Trump met with Andrzej Duda, the president of Poland, and with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
The overlap of the global and the local in our domestic politics continues to expand — regardless of how one may view the onset of Armageddon.
— Dan Janison dan.janison@newsday.com
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