2022 elections – R&R – Reachout and Rebuild

Zeldin a terrible candidate for governor

David Posnett — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:54:51 +0000

Two faced Lee has a habit of pretending to be someone who he really isn’t.

Published in the Auburnpub.com and reprinted here:

In a recent letter to the editor, David Pappert, Andrew Sheridan, Rick Gagliardi and Kathy Malenick endorse Rep.Lee Zeldin for governor.

Heaven forbid!

Let me remind readers that this is the same Lee Zeldin who joined with 125 other GOP members of the House to overturn the 2020 election. Even though there was no credible evidence of election fraud, even though 60 court cases on the issue were lost, even though AG Barr and the Supreme Court determined there was no election fraud, even though Trump’s own cybersecurity official claimed this was the safest election in history, Lee Zeldin parroted the Trump line and voted to overturn the will of the people.

Zeldin’s support of Trump’s Big Lie extends to the support he offered Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene when she was removed from committee assignments based on her hateful speech and her support of conspiracy theories. Zeldin’s defense was this: “I strongly disagree with Congresswoman Greene’s statements prior to her entry to Congress, which peddled bizarre conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic tropes, and perpetuated dangerous falsehoods about the September 11 attacks. They were indefensible, wacky, harmful, and wrong.”

Yet, he voted to support her.

In my view, any legislator who participates in the fabrication that Biden is not duly elected president of the United States is not fit to serve as Governor of New York. Any legislator who puts loyalty to a defeated and disgraced (twice impeached) former president above the rule of law is not fit to serve as governor. Zeldin is a Trump cult member, and as such, in my view, he does not even deserve to serve in Congress let alone become governor of New York.

I certainly hope the GOP comes up with a more worthy candidate.

Kathryn Franz

Marion

What side of history is Rep. Zeldin on?

David Posnett — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:48:13 +0000

Reprinted in it’s entirety!

05.23.2021 Editorials Editorial: What side of history is Rep. Zeldin on?
By The Suffolk Times

Protesters outside Lee Zeldin’s Patchogue office in January. (Credit: Joe Werkmeister)

As we have watched events unfold in the nation’s Capitol, and followed our congressman’s role in these events, we’ve been reminded of something Ronald Reagan said when he was governor of California in 1967: “Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction.”
Powerful words. What he meant is that a generation can come along, even two and a half centuries after the ratification of the Constitution, and throw it all away. Not all at once, but through small steps and then much bigger steps, until the most fundamental of constitutional principles — the rule of law — is thrown aside in favor of rule by authoritarian means.
On Jan. 6, a ferocious mob, urged on by outgoing President Donald Trump, attacked the Capitol — destroying property, beating up police officers, hunting down representatives they hated, setting up a hangman’s noose outside and doing its best to disrupt the constitutional process of counting the electoral votes that gave the election to President Joe Biden.
The House of Representatives impeached Trump for the incitement — his second impeachment in four years. One Republican who supported impeachment was Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming). She said Trump lit the fuse that started the riot; she also said he lied every time he told his followers he really won the election and that his victory had been stolen.
Since then some of Trump’s more unhinged followers have downplayed the riot, saying it wasn’t all that bad. Some Republicans continued to insist that Trump really won the election. One particularly off-the-wall Republican described Jan. 6 as a typical tourist day. It’s hard to fathom that magnitude of lying by an elected official.
Now the House is moving toward a bipartisan 9/11-style commission to investigate the events of that day. Ms. Cheney, who was voted out of her leadership position by her GOP colleagues, said she supports the commission, in particular its ability to subpoena witnesses. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Trump loyalist, is against it.
On these two critical issues — the ousting of Ms. Cheney for her lack of support for Trump and the forming of the commission — Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) has come down on the wrong side.
As for Ms. Cheney’s demotion, Mr. Zeldin said in an email through his spokesman that he favored her replacement, upstate Republican congresswoman Elise Stefanik. “Unlike the false narrative being pushed about what this is all about, the biggest reason why a change needs to be made is that when you are the conference chair it’s especially never all about you. That is not the situation faced presently with Cheney in that role,” he wrote.
On the formation of a commission to investigate events of Jan. 6, he said: “An overwhelming majority of Republicans have condemned the violence at the Capitol on January 6, bipartisan investigations are already underway in several committees, the Department of Justice has made more than 400 arrests connected to January 6, with more to come, and the Architect of the Capitol is reviewing ways to improve security and eliminate vulnerabilities within the Capitol complex.
“The duties of the proposed commission are already being carried out, but Speaker Pelosi wants to politicize this issue and distract from her party’s disastrous policies that are depressing the workforce and slowing economic growth.”
America needs to know exactly what happened that day, who supported it and which elected officials may have encouraged and supported this horrific attack on our democracy. A commission — if the House and Senate approve it — can provide the answers. It is also disturbing that Ms. Cheney, a conservative Republican, was tossed from her leadership post for calling out those who deny the Biden victory and for warning that a democracy cannot last long if its leaders lie.
In Gov. Reagan’s 1967 speech, he went on to say this about freedom: “It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. And those in world history who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.”
Those who respect the Constitution and the rule of law must win this struggle.

Message from Judith and Linda in re to Rev. Warnock

David Posnett — Wed, 16 Nov 2022 20:07:18 +0000

We know you’ve been besieged with requests for political donations and, like us, you are probably suffering ‘donor fatigue’. However, there’s one more challenge before we can quit: Reverend Warnock NEEDS OUR HELP in Georgia. Contrary to rumor, Reverend Warnock’s run-off campaign is NOT awash in $$$, but there is a tsunami wave of GOP money flooding Herschel Walker’s campaign. There are only two weeks left before the December 6 run-off, and there are a surprising number of undecided Georgia voters. PLEASE JOIN US IN MAKING ONE MORE DONATION: to Reverend Warnock’s run-off campaign. This 2022 election has gone a long way toward restoring our faith in democracy and in the correctness of our cause – let’s give the Senate Democrats a little more room to continue sound policies like historic Climate Change legislation, capping prescription drug prices, and finally rebuilding the American infrastructure.

Many thanks for all you have already done!

Now, join us, with your contribution to Reverend Warnock’s run-off Georgia campaign.

Judith Hope and Linda James

click here to make your donation:

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/warnock-for-georgia-1?refcode+directory

GOTV 2022: all hands on board!

David Posnett — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 17:58:03 +0000

It looked like success just weeks ago for the midterm elections, based on polls,…well the tide has now turned in favor of our opponents.

(1) I have been donating $$ via Force multiplier.

They figure out where the money is best spent and most likely to make a difference. https://www.forcemultiplierus.org/

Just days ago I received urgent personal emails from Dem volunteers in PA. Probably because in years past I had volunteered to canvass and to watch polls (2020 for example). NB Force multiplier also organizes volunteer activities in PA:

canvassing door-to-door

Many of our candidates are looking for volunteers to go door-to-door in these last weeks of the midterm elections. The greatest impact you can have is knocking on doors in the district. And it’s fun! Campaigns provide training.

Contact Esther Kaplan at DestinationDemocracy@gmail.com if you’re interested in any of these. She’ll help you make plans + introduce you to campaign staff.

(2) GOTV in East Hampton

Anna Skrenta (East Hampton Dem Party) is hosting a ZOOM this Thursday at 7:30pm

Topics to be covered:

1. GOTV materials

2. The importance of early voting

3. Canvassing – 2 final GOTV weekends

4. Issues – how to push back against the GOP attacks

5. Recent polling and early voting data

Join Zoom Meeting

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__us06web.zoom.us_j_86930129306-3Fpwd-3DN2xrYUQ4cmhYQ24yc0xLMzdvTDk4UT09&d=DwIFaQ&c=lb62iw4YL4RFalcE2hQUQealT9-RXrryqt9KZX2qu2s&r=uN4MDH6hqNNQdKoJvioAaoSINnSvQuCUBQO-l_ngdQs&m=W6wA7bxFxWz3q_jnXo4iwvTLnTMRTVbcDqTueEnhdU9K2P4hXcA4_jxR5HIlVO6l&s=ILHcSvStuwd9IAcUHLAkjHAjbjhPHGdmjoTKPg_9AV4&e=

Meeting ID: 869 3012 9306 Passcode: 931548

(3) News “from the front lines”

Together with P, I have canvassed in the Springs. We reached about 25% of the voters on our MiniVAN lists. We had 2 lists with 100 voters total, easy to canvass one list per day.

Everyone was “definitely going to vote”, “are you kidding?“. We had D (democrats), I (independents) and U (unaffiliated) voters on our lists. For those not home, we left a funny postcard with a few handwritten lines on the back:

Something like: “Sorry we missed you. Hoping that you will support Bridget Fleming and the Dem line. Early voting starts on Sat Oct 29th at 10 AM. More info here: VOTE EARLY! https://voterlookup.elections.ny.gov/“

Card for VOTERS not at home

4) Feedback.

This is important. It gives us hope that someone is actually noticing our efforts and actually reading the literature we drop off! Below is an email conversation (omitting sender names):

Hi David. Thanks for that voting reminder – great photo! It would be hard to forget to vote, given the state of things now! I hope all’s well with you, best, A
Thanks so much! P and I knocked on about 100 doors in your neighborhood. Your response made it all worthwhile. from D
To David: Nice of A to write that. At least we’re not hearing from people complaining and saying “stop littering”! from P
Hi David: That makes me so happy (unlike politics, which usually do not). You are great to be doing this. All the best, A

Vote early!

David Posnett — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 18:57:21 +0000

VOTE EARLY: https://voterlookup.elections.ny.gov/

Early Voting Poll Site

You can vote at any of the following polling places. Please select a polling place from the list below for the complete details. If you have any questions, follow this link through to your County Board of Electionsopens in new tab website.

For example, in my case (Springs, East Hampton), I got the following information:

WINDMILL VILLAGE, 219 ACCABONAC RD, EAST HAMPTON, 11937 Get Directions opens in new tab

Oct-29-2022 (Sat): 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Oct-30-2022 (Sun): 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Oct-31-2022 (Mon): 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Nov-01-2022 (Tue): 7:00 AM – 3:00 PM

Nov-02-2022 (Wed): 7:00 AM – 3:00 PM

Nov-03-2022 (Thu): Noon – 8:00 PM

Nov-04-2022 (Fri): Noon – 8:00 PM

Nov-05-2022 (Sat): 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Nov-06-2022 (Sun): 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM

This is the current polling place assigned to me.

Election day voting:

SPRINGS FIRE HOUSE

179 FORT POND BLVD

EAST HAMPTON, 11937 Get Directions opens in new tab

Surge in Voter Registration by Young Women (since Dobbs SCOTUS Decision)

David Posnett — Sat, 17 Sep 2022 18:58:50 +0000

FIRST

https://insights.targetsmart.com/how-abortion-changed-the-kansas-electorate.html?link_id=0&can_id=34ed2fe5ce2fec8f7c1ab16e432f98e1&source=email-national-voter-registration-day-is-next-week-sign-up-2&email_referrer=email_1666190&email_subject=huge-spike-in-voter-registration-among-women-young-voters-get-involved

SECOND

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/9/4/23333329/roe-voter-registration-dobbs-midterms-democrats

THIRD

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/08/25/upshot/female-voters-dobbs.html

FOURTH

The registration figures are another sign of the real-world political impact of the high court’s decision overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling

https://www.bloomberg.com/toaster/v2/charts/192bf26d9b494bfa9fff21c12b56e195.html?brand=politics&webTheme=politics&web=true&hideTitles=true

FIFTH

https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/pennsylvania-women-voter-registration-dobbs-20220822.html

‘Geniuses’ At Work

David Posnett — Wed, 24 Aug 2022 04:16:03 +0000

Submitted by Stephen from Southampton. Appeared as a letter in 27East.com

I typically ignore anyone who believes that the 2020 election was “stolen.” I write them off as either idiots or emotionally unwell.

But since we have “Big Lie” Republican Lee Zeldin running for governor in our state, I think it’s worth deconstructing this idea.

What Zeldin and other supporters and enablers of Donald Trump will have us believe is that a group of genius Democrats figured out a way to rig hundreds of thousands of voting machines so that votes that were cast for Donald Trump were changed to Joe Biden. They did this without anyone in charge of voting realizing that they had done it, or figuring out how they did it.

And when Trump’s supporters and enablers sued about this crime and cover-up, dozens of judges in dozens of states threw the cases out because they had no merit.

Furthermore, these Democratic geniuses were so good that they did this without affecting any other races. So all other Republicans’ losses that year were legitimate. Only Donald Trump was targeted.

And to this day this massive fraud and cover-up has never been proven — there are those who just “believe” and “feel” that it happened, without evidence. Those like Lee Zeldin are willing to jeopardize our democracy and Constitution based on these “beliefs” and “feelings.”

So I would conclude that if there were that many geniuses in the Democratic Party who could really pull this off, we need to elect more of them. We certainly would be better off letting these geniuses run the country then those gullible Republicans whose fantasyland story makes no sense at all.

Paula Angelone, Ph.D.

Southampton Village

Who is running on Long Island?

David Posnett — Sat, 06 Aug 2022 23:45:17 +0000

I found this summary useful.

Source; https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2022/08/whos-running-congress-new-york/375135/

1st Congressional District

Eastern parts of Suffolk County

Current member: Lee Zeldin (R), who is not running for reelection

2020 presidential results: Biden +0.2%

Demographics: 72% white, 16% Hispanic, 5% Asian, 4% Black,

2020 Democratic primary results: Nancy Goroff: 36%, Perry Gershon: 35%, Bridget Fleming: 28%, Greg Fischer: 2%

2020 general election results: Zeldin (R, C, I): 55%, Goroff (D, WFP): 45%

2022 candidates: Bridget Fleming (D), Michelle Bond (R), Nick LaLota (R), Anthony Figliola (R)

What’s happening: Current Rep. Lee Zeldin is giving up the seat he’s held since 2015 to run for governor, and the general election race to succeed him will be close.

The initial Democrat-dominated redistricting process drew much of eastern Long Island into a new, Democratic-leaning district that seemed likely to flip from red to blue. But the New York Supreme Court overturned Democrats’ maps, and the new lines have returned the 1st District to its prior swing status.

Democrats have coalesced around Suffolk County legislator Bridget Fleming, a former Manhattan prosecutor who ran in 2020 and has picked up some key union endorsements. The Republican primary features Nick LaLota, a former Village of Amityville Trustee and Suffolk County Commissioner of Elections, who has been endorsed by Suffolk County Republicans, facing off against Anthony Figliola, a former deputy supervisor for the town of Brookhaven and Michelle Bond, a cryptocurrency industry CEO, who has nearly $1 million to spend on her run, including $600,000 of her own money.

2nd Congressional District

Southern parts of Suffolk and Nassau County

Current member: Andrew Garbarino (R)

2020 presidential results: Trump +1.6%

Demographics: 56% white, 28% Hispanic, 10% Black, 3% Asian

2020 Republican primary results: Andrew Garbarino: 63%, Michael LiPetri: 36%

2020 Democratic primary results: Jackie Gordon: 72%, Patricia Maher: 27%

2020 general election results: Garbarino (R, C, L, SAM): 53%, Jackie Gordon (D, WFP, I): 46%, Harry Burger (G): 1%

2022 candidates: Garbarino (R), Robert Cornicelli (R), Mike Rakebrandt (R), Jackie Gordon (D, WFP)

What’s happening: The 2nd District is another race that fell victim to Democrats’ redistricting snafu. The maps first approved by state legislators had packed conservatives into this Long Island based seat, ensuring a liberal leaning map in the neighboring 1st District. But when those maps were overturned there was a chaotic candidate reshuffle. Jackie Gordon, an Army veteran, high school guidance counselor and Babylon Town Council member, lost to Rep. Andrew Garbarino in the 2nd District in 2020, and after initially running in the 1st District this cycle, she is once again taking on Garbarino – in a swing district that slightly favors a Republican. The incumbent faces a GOP primary challenge from Robert Cornicelli and Mike Rakebrandt. Cornicelli is a veteran of both the Army and the Navy and works as a supervisor in the Oyster Bay Department of Public Works. Rakebrandtis an NYPD officer and Navy veteran. Both Cornicelli and Rakebrandt are challenging Garbarino from the right, saying he hasn’t been loyal enough to Trump.

3rd Congressional District

Northern parts of Nassau County and Queens

Current member: Tom Suozzi (D), who unsuccessfully challenged Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this summer and is not running for reelection

2020 presidential results: Biden +8.1%

Demographics: 56% white, 23% Asian, 14% Hispanic, 3% Black

2020 Democratic primary results: Tom Suozzi: 66%, Melanie D’Arrigo: 26%, Michael Weinstock: 8%

2020 general election results: Suozzi (D, WFP, I): 56%, George Santos (R, C): 43%, Howard Rabin (L): 1%

2022 candidates: Jon Kaiman (D), Josh Lafazan (D), Robert Zimmerman (D), Melanie D’Arrigo (D), Reema Rasool (D), George Santos (R)

What’s happening: Rep. Tom Suozzi abandoned this Long Island based congressional seat to run a losing campaign for governor. The newly reconfigured district now takes in much of Nassau County’s North Shore and a slice of suburban Queens. Several Democrats have thrown their hat into the ring to serve succeeding Suozzi, including former North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman, current Nassau County Legislator Josh Lafazan, public relations maven Robert Zimmerman, wellness professional Melanie D’Arrigo and businesswoman Reema Rasool. Lafazan has Suozzi’s support and leads in fundraising, while Zimmerman, who is involved with the Democratic National Committee, has support from other party insiders including Rep. Grace Meng. D’Arrigo is the progressive choice with the Working Families Party’s backing. Republican George Santos, an investment banker who had a stint at a firm accused of operating a Ponzi scheme, is unopposed in the Republican primary and thinks he can flip the seat in a red wave year after failing to do so in 2020.

Zeldin’s “Signature Gate”

David Posnett — Sun, 17 Jul 2022 20:39:18 +0000

So now NYS Board of Elections has ruled:

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David Posnett — Thu, 14 Jul 2022 21:03:19 +0000

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