Catsimatidis Turns 60, Parties at Rainbow Room
Possible mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis threw himself a 60th birthday party last night at the famous Rainbow Room.
My invitation must have been lost in the mail, but one attendee I spoke to said about 300 people showed up, and they included Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, Representative Carolyn Maloney, and Republican county leaders Jay Savino of the Bronx, Craig Eaton of Brooklyn and Phil Ragusa of Queens. Republican State Senator Serf Maltese also attended.
Catsimatidis received proclamations from both David Paterson and Michael Bloomberg.
Was the theme décor linoleum and garish fluorescent lighting along with socialist-realism ad boards?
Sounds like all the ducks are lining up so to speak for a run...
I think if this guy locks of the GOP nomination and maybe a 3rd party line like the liberal or independence party line and keeps his pledge to keep Commisisoner Kelly on as Police Commissioner NYC would be better off. I am not going to vote for one of these Democratic Party hacks who has to promise his soul to the municipal unions and who will just raise my taxes.
This Catsimatidis bozo has to be a real assh*le to be in the same company as the assh*le of assh*les Jay Savino, does he actuallt think that he can win the mayoral racw with these assh*les, these NYC GOP leaders are just leeches for money, hey Catsimatidis you may as well pay Savino's home mortgage while you are at it. What a sucker, become a democrat you have a better chance of winning. These NYC county GOP leaders are just a bunch of whores.
Bronx Republican Slobs:
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2008/09/15/080915ta_talk_khatchadourian
The Republican Party in New York City is not unlike a species of tropical bird, in that it has evolved in unusual ways, will most likely never be dominant, and has always held a tenuous status in the political ecology of the five boroughs. During the Republican Convention, last week, New York City Republicans were certainly exotic. Overheard in the lobby of the hotel where they stayed: “Republicans from New York are pinko Commies anywhere else.”
On the third night of the Convention, Rudy Giuliani was scheduled to speak, followed by Sarah Palin, and the delegation from New York went to hear them, and to cast its votes in the official roll call. Jay Savino, the chairman of the Bronx County Republican Party, walked into the Xcel Center unshaven, having flown to Minnesota on Monday with a few other delegates and with Giuliani, in a jet belonging to John Catsimatidis, the Gristede’s supermarket mogul, who is considering a run for mayor. Beside Savino was Juan Carlos Polanco, a man with dark hair that was gelled flat on top but then broke out into a cascade of curls down the back of his head. Polanco, who had been a batboy for the Yankees, is an attorney on the staff of the New York State Assembly minority leader, James Tedisco.
Polanco was chewing gum and talking to a Bronx alternate delegate named Anthony J. Ribustello, who had the build of a sumo wrestler and was wearing a hoop earring and a pin-striped suit. (He played the character Dante Greco on “The Sopranos.”) Country music had been piped into the hall. Savino said, “My wife likes this stuff. Now, 87.7, the Pulse of New York—DJ Surge from the Bronx—I wish they were spinning here, but you get the cards that you’re dealt.”
Ruben Estrada, a delegate from Orange County, was standing nearby. He said, “We should have a poster next time: ‘Obama, fuhgeddaboudit!’ I mean, come on, we’re from New York here.”
Savino turned toward a man in a blue sports jacket and said, “Hey, Chairman.” It was Vincent Reda, an elderly delegate from Rockland County, and he seemed perplexed. Delegates from Wisconsin were gathering across the aisle, and Reda had seen a man in a hat that resembled a large hunk of Swiss cheese.
“What is that?” Reda said.
The former New York senator Al D’Amato came in and took a seat near the former State Senate majority leader Joe Bruno, who acknowledged that seeing Giuliani onstage, but not on the ticket, would be bittersweet. (The next morning, during a breakfast for New York Republicans, Bruno delivered a gleeful address that compared Eliot Spitzer—“articulate, fancy, dancey, prancey”—to Obama.)
The speaking had begun, and the governor of Hawaii approached the podium. “If she says, ‘Aloha,’ I’m out,” Polanco said. Savino had been wearing a pin that said “Catholics for McCain,” but swapped it for one that said “Hottest VP from the Coolest State.” He began yelling. “Yeah! She’s hot! Sarah, Sarah, Sarah!” A nearby delegate said, “You need therapy.”
from the issuecartoon banke-mail thisGiuliani tore into Obama, sending the New York delegates into a fit of ecstasy. When he used the word “nada,” they started chanting, “Na-da! Na-da! Na-da!” Polanco punched the air. “We’re here!” he yelled. “Did you hear that?”
When Palin began to speak, the delegates from New York were infatuated. “She’ll kick ass,” Reda said. Savino said, “Did I tell ya? She’s tremendous. I’m gonna scream, ‘Marry me,’ if I can just get up the nerve.”
“Is polygamy legal in Alaska?” Polanco asked.
Palin was speaking about her husband, Todd, who stood and waved. Everyone in the arena turned toward him and applauded, except those near the Bronx delegates, who were pointing at Savino and chanting, “Jea-lous! Jea-lous! Jea-lous!”
When Palin spoke the words “My fellow-citizens, the American Presidency is not supposed to be a journey of ‘personal discovery,’ ” the crowd roared, and Savino seemed to achieve a state of emotional supernova. His voice was hoarse, but he continued to shout. He drew out the words “Ohhh! Myyy! Goddd! ”
It was close to midnight. The Xcel Center began to empty, and the men went out into the city of St. Paul and looked for a cab. They were trying to get to a party at a former speakeasy, where gangsters had gone to war against one another. As the delegates stepped into the street, one of them, from Queens, told a reporter, “O.K., now we’re off the record.” He nodded toward Ribustello, as a warning. “Do you know who he is? A Soprano. Do you know what that means?” ♦