The All Blacks facing off against South Africa at Mbombela Stadium last week. Photo / www.photosport.nz
OPINION:
Legendary All Blacks coach Sir Graham Henry issues a call to arms to reunite sports fans and back the All Blacks to fight back against South Africa.
Not so long ago, there was a lot of talk about the “team of five million” – Kiwis looking out for each other in the toughest depths of the Covid-19 pandemic. We pulled together in those challenging days and supported one another, and we were stronger for doing so. When Kiwis stand together, we achieve amazing things.
Tomorrow morning, on the other side of the world, 23 young Kiwis face one of the fiercest challenges of their lives. They’re a long way from home, away from their families, separated from the team of five million – I know from personal experience how isolated and adrift these young men will feel.
Some of the bitter criticism that has been thrown at the All Blacks lately will make them feel even further from home.
The players, the captain Sam Cane and their coach Ian Foster have been subjected to unfair, unkind vitriol. These guys are giving their all. The distasteful, mean-spirited tone of the criticism coming from our own people and aimed at our team has made me wonder: Whatever happened to the team of five million?
Sir GrahamHenry. Photo/Michael Craig
Whining and moaning? That’s not the Kiwi way – it’s embarrassing; and it’s not how we want the rest of the world to see us.
The young men who will represent us tomorrow need to know that we stand with them. From their point of view, it can feel like there’s no support – I know that’s not true, and I believe deep down you know it, too.
These All Blacks face a Bok blitzkrieg like none that has come before: This is the best Springbok team I have ever seen – and I was there at Lancaster Park in 1956, so I’ve seen a few!
Right now, the All Blacks are rebuilding, while the Boks are at their best. The brilliant Siya Kolisi leads a very mature side – they are worthy world champions who play with focused intensity and the ability to reset the game to suit their strengths and negate those of their opponents.
Nevertheless, the All Blacks can win. But to do so, they need to know we stand with them.
True sports fans stand with their side in fair weather and foul. For more than a century, All Blacks fans have been lucky to experience more sunshine than gloom. But dark days are here right now. And in challenging times you must stand together if you’re going to stand tall.
So, come on New Zealand – get behind the 23 men in black! We’re a team of five million, not 4,999,977.
I’ve been in touch with the team and told them they have my full support – I’m sure all true All Blacks supporters will do the same thing in their own way.
Two separate but intertwining careers began their journey to an end last week.
I was in primary school when David Mundy played his first game for Fremantle and high school when Josh Kennedy first stepped out on to Subiaco Oval for the West Coast Eagles.
You can measure the impact of a footballer in the wake of their leave, in the flowing tributes and flowery obituaries for their playing careers.
Your local paper, whenever you want it.
In Kennedy and Mundy, both West Coast and Fremantle fans are losing people who represented their teams with grace and brilliance, but also perfectly reflected the ethos supporters clung to.
The Eagles have prided themselves on their big name players and they have not had many bigger than the generational key forward with an iconic beard, who ended his career as a member of the 700-goal club.
Kennedy arrived as the consolation prize in the Chris Judd trade but as it turned out, the three-time All-Australian helped West Coast win an unwinnable trade.
West Coast’s Josh Kennedy waves goodbye after his final game. Credit: simon santi/The West Australian
It is rare a club trades away a generational midfielder and winds up happier in the long-run but Kennedy, who kicked 429 goals between 2011 and 2017 and kicked three crucial majors in their 2018 grand final, became the Eagles’ greatest forward of all time .
Kennedy may not have actively sought out the limelight, but like so many bullet passes inside 50, fame found him as he became one of the AFL’s star forwards.
If West Coast are kings of the big game, Kennedy was football royalty and even among a plethora of fellow stars — Nic Naitanui, Luke Shuey, Jeremy McGovern — he stood and head and shoulders above them.
Throughout his spell at West Coast, the club have been driven by a pursuit of excellence and sustained success and no Eagle has personified those traits more than Kennedy.
His final bow was a fitting finale, an eight-goal avalanche showcasing his prodigious talents one final time to drag West Coast kicking and screaming into a close contest, his star shining brightest among the on-field mire that has plagued the side this season.
If Kennedy was the perfect West Coast servant — a loyal clubman with a star profile and elite ability in spades — the reliable and understated Munday was an equally excellent representative of Fremantle.
When Mundy had the ball, the sense of relief among Fremantle fans was palpable; the level of comfort was akin to settling on to the coach with a bucket of popcorn to watch your favorite film.
David Mundy following Fremantle’s win over the Western Bulldogs. Daniel Pockett/Getty Images Credit: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images
You could count on your hand the amount of times Mundy, the epitome of the savvy veteran, made the wrong decision and even when he did turn the ball over, the intent was right.
Part of the allure of Mundy for Fremantle fans was not just his dependability, but also how underrated he was around AFL circles.
Mundy won his lone All-Australian jersey in 2015 as a 30 year-old, but Fremantle fans had known how good and consistent Mundy was long before then.
He was understated around the league, never getting the headlines his more famous teammates Nat Fyfe and Matthew Pavlich earned, even though he was almost as deserving.
In many ways, Mundy reflected the Purple Haze, and Fremantle fans saw so many of the traits they revere and have bought into Mundy.
He has always been a hard-working, passionate battler who has gone about his work to the nth degree, despite perhaps not always getting the wider plaudits he has served.
The Dockers’ history book devotes many a page to their identity as an industrious outfit who may not always have been the star attraction in a footy-mad town, but will always be honest in their performance and Mundy fits the bill to a T.
For all of Pavlich’s goals and Fyfe’s game-breaking ability, Mundy’s steady hand and unerring consistency made him the Docker’s Docker, a player best equipped to embody the anchor.
In Kennedy and Mundy’s retirement, Perth has lost two icons who served their club to perfection not just on the field, but off it too.
There simply couldn’t be a better time for Richie Mo’unga to prove he has the mental fortitude, writes Gregor Paul. Photo / Photosport
OPINION:
By Gregor Paul in South Africa
Last November, Richie Mo’unga didn’t manage to be the man the All Blacks needed in a crisis.
His big shot came in the last test of the year in Paris, where – with Beauden Barrett – he was handed the No 10 jersey against France and asked to produce the play-making magic that had seen him light up Super Rugby for the fifth successive year.
The All Blacks needed a win to bring their season to a respectable close and to dampen the sense of uncertainty that was developing about their attack game.
They needed a creative hero, a tactical mastermind to produce the definitive blueprint of what the All Blacks were trying to do with the ball.
And as much as the All Blacks needed to provide themselves, so too did Mo’unga. His talent has never been in question.
He’s got every trick in the book and other than his defence, where he is prone to slipping off the odd tackle, he has the game to be a long-term All Black.
A great All Black even, except that for whatever reason – lack of opportunity perhaps – he’d never been able to produce his Super Rugby form in the test arena.
All Blacks first-five Richie Mo’unga in action against France. Photo / Photosport
There were moments, maybe the odd game even where he looked more like his Super Rugby self, but there was no consistency – no sense of Mo’unga having come to terms with what it takes to play well at the highest level.
There were maybe signs it was starting to happen for him earlier in 2021 when he was the preferred No 10 and ran Australia ragged in successive weekends at Eden Park.
Covid proved to be a cruel blow, however, as just as he was starting to build a little momentum, his second child came along and by the time he was able to get into Australia for the Rugby Championship and serve his mandatory quarantine, Barrett had grabbed back the No 10 jersey.
Paris was Mo’unga’s single biggest opportunity to win back his place.
But cometh the hour, there was no sign of the man. A feverish crowd, ecstatic to be back at Stade de France without Covid enforced restrictions, helped sweep a young and dynamic French team to a memorable victory.
It was a win built on the calm, poise and occasional brilliance of their young No 10, Romain Ntamack and his ability to inject himself into the game, to be the central figure and own the big moments, highlighted that his All Blacks opposite didn’ Don’t play badly so much, as simply not really play at all.
Of all the things that went wrong in Paris that night, nothing was more disappointing than Mo’unga’s lack of desire or ability to impose himself.
If he had tried and failed, so be it, but it was as if he hid a little bit, got stage fright and didn’t want to be cast as the central figure in a story that wasn’t a happy one for the All Black’s.
Beauden Barrett and Richie Mo’unga after a Super Rugby clash between the Blues and the Crusaders. Photo / Photosport
History, it would seem, is about to repeat in one sense. Barrett, having been tipped upside down in a horror challenge in Mbombela, is unlikely to play this week and never in the All Blacks modern history have they needed to win more than they do now.
And if Paris was a cauldron, goodness knows how to describe what Ellis Park will be on Saturday, with 60,000 South Africans baying for blood now that they can sense they are facing an All Blacks side that may be in its last throes before a radical reset .
There simply couldn’t be a better time for Mo’unga to prove he has the mental strength for the white-hot intensity of world rugby’s toughest encounter.
Whether he plays brilliantly or terribly probably doesn’t matter. What he does, is that he pushes himself to be on the ball, that he wants to take responsibility for igniting an attack game that has, for most of this year, been more ZX81 than MacBookPro.
The ideal scenario for him and the All Blacks is that he not only shows an appetite to be in the thick of the big moments, but he also wins a few.
That he shines a little and plays with the some of the innovation and intuition that so readily comes when he’s with the Crusaders.
The benefit of that, would be to finally ignite a real battle between him and Barrett for the No 10 role.
In the first half of last year, the head-to-head between these two was hyped to high heaven, but nothing eventuated and maybe the saddest thing about the demise of the All Blacks is that these two great players haven’t managed to drive each other to higher levels.
Mo’unga, if he starts at Ellis Park, will have a chance to end the Phoney War and see if he and Barrett can start forcing each other to deliver their best.
Christopher Wray’s disingenuous testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday, before he left early on the FBI’s private Gulfstream 550 jet, speaks volumes about the need to defund the FBI — or at least dump its unctuous director.
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley and his team of Republicans expected to have the chance to ask a second round of questions.
Grassley pleaded for just an extra 21 minutes.
But Wray took an early mark, dismissing the committee’s constitutional obligation to ensure he answers questions under oath to ensure the FBI complies with the law and is accountable to the American people.
What was so urgent that he had to leave after just three and a half hours?
Was he taking a long weekend in the Adirondacks where his family has a summer home?
It’s worth examining the exchange with Grassley in detail.
“We just heard a half hour ago about you having to leave at 1:30,” Grassley grizzled. “We were going to have seven minutes [each] for first round [questions and] three-minute second rounds. I’ve got seven people on my side of the aisle want their additional three minutes. Is there any reason we couldn’t accommodate them for 21 minutes?”
Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley Grassley pointed out that Wray has a private jet and can leave any time.AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta
Wray replied smoothly: “Senator, I had a flight that I’m supposed to be high-tailing it to outta here, and I had understood that we were going to be done at 1:30, so that’s how we ended up where we are.”
Grassley pointed out that the FBI director has a private jet at his disposal and can leave any time he likes.
“If it’s your business trip you’ve got your own plane. Can’t it wait a while?” I have asked Wray replied, “To be honest, I tried to make my break as fast I could to get right back out here.”
Grassley, “You took more than five minutes.”
Wray laughed and the silence that followed only emphasized the disrespect to all senators, but especially to Grassley, the president pro tempore emeritus of the Senate.
Democratic chairman Dick Durbin came to Wray’s rescue, expressing his appreciation that it was Wray’s “third appearance in two years before this committee.”
And every appearance a waste of time, that simply showcased that Wray is a master of evasion. On some of the most serious questions of national security and the politicization of the FBI, Wray had nothing to say. Like Mister Magoo, he sees nothing.
no answers
Unlike most things on Capitol Hill these days, the politicization and repeated failures of the FBI are a bipartisan concern.
Wray refused to classify the flood of illegal migration at the southern border as a “national security threat.”Getty Images/Alex Wong
In the short time they had with Wray, senators from both sides had urgent questions. Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein and Republicans Marsha Blackburn and Grassley were concerned about the FBI’s botching of the Larry Nassar case. Why, when Nassar was convicted in 2016 of sexually abusing US gymnasts, did Wray wait until 2021 to fire one of the agents involved in slow-walking the case?
Grassley complained about a lack of transparency over why the Department of Justice had decided a jury wouldn’t convict FBI agents for their handling of the investigation. Other Democrats were concerned about the FBI not investigating complaints about Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing.
Wray had no answer, nor to questions about Afghan evacuees considered significant security threats after being brought to the US in last year’s bungled withdrawal from Kabul. “I can’t sit here right now and tell you we know where all of them are located at any given time,” he said.
Wray refused to classify the flood of illegal migration at the southern border as a “national security threat.”
When asked what the FBI was doing to track down 56 suspected terrorists that have crossed the border this year he waffled about “sharing watchlist information” and “investigating any number of individuals.”
Wray also refused to agree with one senator’s assertion that Hunter Biden’s laptop was not “Russian disinformation.”The Washington Post via Getty Images
He refused to admit that the Russia collusion hoax — in which the FBI treated seriously palpably false allegations that then-candidate Donald Trump was a Russian agent — was in fact a “hoax”.
He refused to agree with Sen. Blackburn that Hunter Biden’s laptop was not “Russian disinformation,” and didn’t respond to whistleblower allegations of an FBI coverup of derogatory information related to the Bidens in October 2020.
He refused to explain to Sen. Ted Cruz why the FBI had blacklisted patriotic historical American symbols such as the Betsy Ross flag, the Gadsden Flag and the Gonzales battle flag as “militia violent extremism” in training documents.
When Sen. Josh Hawley asked why the FBI was “snooping around the concealed carry permit records” of Missourians, he had nothing.
When Sen. Tom Cotton asked why no FBI agent had thought to enforce the law broken by abortion activists parading outside the homes of Supreme Court justices, Wray was impatient: “Our agents are up to their necks enforcing all sorts of laws.”
Wray is required to reimburse the cost of a coach class airline fare for personal trips.Getty Images/Alex Wong
When the hearing ended at 1:30, Wray ambled over to Grassley to shake his hand. The microphones picked up some of the exchange.
Grassley, a courtly row-crop farmer from Butler County, Iowa, who has a shrewd Columbo-esque tendency to ask “just one more thing,” leaned forward: “I assume you’ve got other business.”
“Yeah,” Wray said.
And off he sauntered, minions in tow.
Grassley’s staff did not know where Wray was going after the hearing and FBI public affairs did not respond to an email Sunday by press time.
But the luxury FBI Gulfstream Wray uses was recorded on Flightradar24 making the one hour and 12 minute flight later that afternoon to bucolic Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks, which happens to be a favorite summer destination since his childhood, when he used to hike the High Peaks and fish for trout, according to the Adirondack Daily Enterprise.
Wray, 55, who attended the Buckley School on the Upper East Side and the private Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., graduated from Yale University, the alma mater of his father, Cecil Wray, who was Adirondack Park Agency Commissioner for 14 years.
The FBI’s Gulfstream made another trip to Saranac Lake on Thursday, June 2, returning to Washington, DC on Sunday, June 5.
turbulence
While there has been controversy over the FBI director commandeering a plane originally intended for counterterrorism use, Wray’s predecessor James Comey used it as his private conveyance as well.
The director is required to reimburse the cost of a coach class airline fare for personal trips, a significant discount on the several thousand dollars an hour it costs to operate the Gulfstream, which is considerably more convenient than Delta.
Wray ensured his testimony was useless, but if he did cut short his testimony to go on vacation at a time when his agency is under fire from all sides, then that is an act of disrespect and insubordination which requires a firm rebuke, or what is the point of Senate oversight?
Republican border-state governors are sending busloads of illegal entrants — released in their states by the Department of Homeland Security — to DC and New York City, prompting recriminations and pleas for federal cash from the Democratic mayors of those erstwhile immigrant-friendly cities.
Those majors, seemingly unwittingly, are making the governors’ point — that the administration has created a disaster at the US-Mexico line, requiring an immediate policy shift to protect lives and state and local finances.
It started in April. Fed up with federal releases of large numbers of migrants into overwhelmed small towns in his state (including Uvalde), Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) began offering migrants free bus trips to DC to shift some of the burden to Washington.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) followed suit in May, and more than 7,300 migrants have since arrived in DC from the two states, creating what even Vanity Fair has termed, “A Migrant Crisis in Washington.”
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), who reaffirmed her town’s status as an immigrant “sanctuary city” after Donald Trump’s 2016 election, now derides Abbott’s and Ducey’s efforts as “cruel political gamesmanship” creating a “humanitarian crisis” in her city that “must be dealt with at the federal level” in a letter to the Department of Defense seeking National Guard support (since rejected).
Bowser was complaining about what, at the time, totaled 4,000 migrants over a three-month period into her city of more than 707,000. In March, by comparison, DHS was dropping off up to 150 migrants per day in Uvalde, population 15,312, or roughly one migrant for every 102 residents daily.
Venezuelan migrants sent by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in DC’s Union Station on August 2, 2022. Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images
New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) also weighed in, blaming Texas and Arizona in July for busing 2,800 migrants into his city (population: 8.467 million) over a six-week period, straining the city’s homeless shelters. Adams also demanded federal cash to help his government muddle through.
Both governors denied Adams’ charge, but Abbott apparently viewed it an invitation, as he has just started sending buses to Manhattan, too.
Adams’ office and The New York Times described those migrants in New York as “asylum seekers,” but that’s just mostly untrue. DHS statistics show that between July 2021 and July 2022, the department had cleared fewer than 40,000 “arriving aliens” to apply for asylum in the United States.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser accused the Republican governors of creating a “humanitarian crisis” in her city.Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images
During that same period, however, CBP encountered 2.361 million arrivals at the southwest border, expelled 1.142 million under CDC’s pandemic-related Title 42 orders (that Biden nonetheless opposes) and released around 853,000 into the United States — meaning only about 5% of the migrants Adams is complaining about are really “asylum seekers.”
All those migrants, cleared for asylum or not, were released for removal hearings, which can take years to complete. Nationwide, the average immigration case has been pending 829 days and 953 days in New York. The only relief available to most of those illegal immigrants is asylum, so the ones who do show up for court will apply for that protection to stay here longer, even if they just came to make more money.
The New York Times’ article focused on Venezuelan migrants in New York City. Under Biden, agents at the southwest border have caught 157,600 Venezuelans, 57% of them single adults. Just 1,404 were expelled under Title 42, meaning most of the rest are here indefinitely.
The Times contends the United States cannot send them back to Venezuela — with which America lacks diplomatic relations — but that contention elides the fact that, as The Washington Post reported in January, Biden had struck a deal with Colombia to take back Venezuelans who had resettled there.
Two million displaced Venezuelans have moved to Colombia, and more than a few likely entered illegally. It does not appear, however, that DHS sent many back or even asked apprehended Venezuelans where they were living before they came here.
I’m sympathetic to DC and New York City, but I’ve talked to officials in those much poorer border towns about their struggles to deal with the costs. Perhaps now that Democrats are complaining, the administration will finally pay attention.
Andrew Arthur, a former INS associate general counsel, congressional staffer and staff director, and immigration judge, is the Center for Immigration Studies’ resident fellow in law and policy.
Between them, West Coast’s Josh Kennedy and Fremantle’s David Mundy have played 663 games of the AFL and kicked 874 goals for their clubs.
It’s difficult to imagine WA footy without them.
When Mundy made his debut for the Dockers in 2005, several of his current teammates were still in nappies.
Josh Kennedy was traded to the West Coast at the end of the 2007 season for dual-Brownlow medalist Chris Judd. Despite Judd’s star power, the Eagles would comfortably say today they go the better end of the deal.
Because as well as being outstanding athletes, both Kennedy and Mundy are outstanding blokes.
Playing just one more season could see Mundy admitted into the exclusive 400-game club.
But in announcing his retirement, Mundy said he wasn’t tempted to chase individual glory.
“They’re very individual goals. I’m the kind of character where they’re very much secondary,” he said.
“I take a lot of pride in the fact that I’m walking out with a little bit left in the tank. I’d feel really guilty if I’d hung around and walked out a crippled, broken old man.”
When asked what he wanted his legacy at the club to be, the 37-year-old responded with characteristic humility which has made him a fan favorite for the best part of two decades.
“I don’t need to be remembered. I just came in, played my part and did my role,” he said.
Humility and decency are traits he shares with Kennedy, who will bow out as the Eagles’ greatest goalkicker with at least 704 to his name to go with 11 he kicked at Carlton prior to the 2007 trade which brought him home to WA.
In his 15 years at the club, he was part of a team that played in eight finals series, two grand finals and won the 2018 premiership.
Looking beyond retirement from the AFL, the Northampton product said he planned to give back to the community by establishing a JK Foundation.
“It will help to facilitate programs to find what they want to aspire to and then build an environment around them where they feel supported,” Kennedy said.
“I think the resources in the metro area compared to regional — obviously regional miss out a far bit in those resources.
“So if I can bridge that gap between city and country kids that’s kind of what I want to do.”
Even in his playing days, Kennedy has made time to help through the community through his ambassadorial role at MSWA and fundraising for his stricken hometown after it was left devastated by Cyclone Seroja last year.
Kennedy will play his final AFL game in front of a home crowd at Optus Stadium on Sunday when the Eagles take on Adelaide.
One lucky reader of The West Australian will take home a piece of club history by winning Kennedy’s match-worn jumper.
To enter the competition to win Kennedy’s match-worn guernsey, look for the unique code on today’s front page and enter it online at thewest.com.au/jk by noon on Monday.
And Freo fans don’t fret — we’re planning something big to mark Mundy’s retirement soon.
Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by WAN Editor-in-Chief Anthony De Ceglie
For months, Republicans have been telling anybody who would listen that this is the year they will end their power outage in Albany. They cite violent crime and inflation, an apparent lack of enthusiasm for Gov. Hochul and a national fury over the failures of the Biden administration.
Despite those advantages, there’s been little evidence so far that the GOP could free New York from the Dem stranglehold. A Tuesday poll begins to change that.
Hochul leads Republican Lee Zeldin by just 14 points, 53-39, in the Siena College survey. While 14 points is hardly a cliffhanger, it compares very favorably to 2014. At this stage of that race, incumbent Andrew Cuomo led GOP nominee Rob Astorino by 32 points in a race Cuomo won by 14.
Moreover, Zeldin, who has represented a Long Island district in Congress since 2015, effectively begins with the 40% high-water mark of any GOP gubernatorial candidate in the last four elections. (George Pataki was the last Republican governor, winning his third term in 2002).
Republican candidate for Governor Lee Zeldin smiles with his family at home in Shirley, New York. Tamara Beckwith
So closing a 14-point gap with more than three months until Election Day is certainly doable, especially given the political environment and Hochul’s uneven performance.
Zeldin, in a phone interview, sees many greenshoots in the new survey and says his internal poll has him even closer.
“This is important for our team,” he says. “The next poll should show us gaining even more momentum.”
A new poll shows Zeldin’s race is much closer with Gov. Kathy Hochul than other recent GOP gubernatorial candidates have been.Lev Radin/Pacific Press/Shutterstock
The Siena survey is the most important since the primaries ended and is based on likely voters, as opposed to registered. It shows both candidates having a firm grasp on their party, with Zeldin holding a narrow lead among independents.
A missing piece is that, other than gun control and abortion, the poll does not ask about specific issues. Nor does it ask voters to rank the issues most important to them.
Zeldin has no doubts about what the answers would be to a ranking question.
“When we ask, a large majority answer either crime or the economy as the top issue,” he says. “And we believe that the election will be dominated by voters most concerned about those two things.”
His campaign has zeroed in on those targets and his pledge to fire Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Day One has become a signature promise. He accuses Hochul of “giving cover” to Bragg and other soft-on-crime prosecutors.
“She tries way too hard to avoid talking about the key issues,” he insists. He cites Mayor Adams’ request for a special legislative session to deal with crime and the bail-law mess that has seen repeat offenders let go before cops finish the paperwork.
Zeldin pledged to come for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg if he were elected. Steve Hirsch
Hochul, while voicing support for fellow-Dem Adams, has done almost nothing to help him stem the bloodshed and mayhem in Gotham.
Zeldin was attacked during a recent speech by a troubled former veteran, an incident that probably helped him gain some name recognition and even sympathy.
He knows his pro-life stance puts him at a disadvantage with many voters after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. But he notes that a law offering even more abortion protections than Roe already exists in New York and believes that social issues as a whole will take a back seat to the crime wave engulfing much of the state, along with the soaring cost of living. He is also pushing for tax cuts and more school choice.
In addition to his own efforts, the redistricting process that ended up in the courts and led to nonpartisan maps gives GOP candidates a chance to improve upon the seven congressional seats they now hold, which should help increase turnout for the ticket.
Meanwhile, Hochul’s tenure has been mystifying in a fundamental way. Even though she was Cuomo’s running mate and lieutenant governor Lieut. Gov. for eight years, she was able to escape any blame in the sexual-harassment scandal that led to Cuomo’s resignation by claiming she wasn’t close to him.
She was right about that, and her distance led to hopes she would bring ethics and new openness to Albany, where everything important happens in back rooms.
Those hopes were quickly dashed as Hochul inexplicably copied some of Cuomo’s worst habits. No sooner had she taken the oath than she began speed-dialing her donors for big-bucks contributions.
An attacker grabs Zeldin as he delivered a speech in Perinton, New York on July 21. WHEC-TV/AP
And her penchant for secrecy in negotiating big government deals with donors is so Cuomo-like that it seems as if he’s still calling the shots.
Perhaps most shocking, her first pick to replace her, state Sen. Brian Benjamin, was already taught in a federal corruption probe. Much of Albany apparently knew something was up—but not Hochul. Benjamin has since been indicted and resigned.
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In some ways, statewide elections in New York are a jigsaw puzzle of competing dominance. Republicans win most of the 62 counties and do especially well upstate, but Dems run up the score by capturing the cities and the most populated suburbs.
Zeldin has a plan for that. He sees getting 29% as the bare necessity in the five boroughs and believes he will top that margin easily, in part by attracting large numbers of Asian and Latino voters concerned about crime.
“If a Republican gets less than 29% in the city, it’s hard to win,” he tells me. “But if you get to 35% or 36%, it’s hard to lose.”
He also says he needs 60% of Suffolk County, his base, 55% of Nassau County and just 43% of Westchester. In fact, he has a target for each county and, in his mind, is assembling a campaign that will put him over the top across the board.
Zeldin speaks to delegates and assembled party officials at the 2022 NYGOP on March 1. John Minchillo/AP
As usual, there is another hurdle for the underdog—money. Zeldin raised $13 million for the contested primary and spent nearly all of it. He has a full schedule of fundraisers, but he does not pretend to believe he’ll have Hochul’s big bucks.
Incumbency has its advantages.
Party’s For’word’ folly
Reader Joe Alloy asks “What’s in a name” and answers his own question. He writes: “Andrew Yang and Christine Todd Whitman have started a 3rd party called The Forward Party.
“Has anyone told them that ‘Forward’ was a Marxist slogan which reflected the march of history beyond capitalism and into socialism and communism? Or are they just showing us who they really are?”
AP Headline: Biden Covid sequel: back on balcony, dog for company
Alternative headline: Biden finally has a friend!
It’s ‘bench’ press time
Reader Christian Browne has a question and an idea, writing: “Mayor Adams has a Criminal Justice Coordinator. Where is this person? This office should have the stats on the judges, on the bail/no-bail releases and on these ridiculous diversion programs.
“Adams could use the facts to highlight the rate of recidivist offenders. I bet he would find these programs — the ‘alternatives to incarceration’ — are largely to blame for the revolving door.”
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