Members of the "Rally for America" movement and the Tea Party site NewsCopy New York are saying that their preferred congressional candidate Tony Melé will be offered the GOP slot to run against Ellen Jaffee for the 95th Assembly District tomorrow. This may be offered to stop a Congressional primary between Melé and West Nyack resident York Kleinhandler, who has been endorsed by the GOP for the 17th District. It also may be a peace offering after an alleged physical altercation that ensued between members of the two right-of-center factions. But still, the Tea Partiers don't appear happy with a compromise and have started a scorched-earth campaign against Rockland Republican Chairman Vincent Reda and Kleinhandler.
The NewsCopy site, run by Tea Party stalwart and former Kristia Cavere campaign manager Bob Fois, has complained that Reda has used strong arm tactics to stop Melé from running for Congress. The website has even gone as far as to play the race card against the regional Republican leader and to make a possibly wild-eyed accusation that Reda has made deals with a high-profile Democrat.
Mele may have been bypassed as a candidate because he is half Puerto Rican, though it is more likely that Kleinhandler was chosen by Reda to lose ... in a deal with Ramapo's Christopher St. Lawrence to diminish Democrats voting in certain races.
The party destruction continues on the pages of NewsCopy and Urban Elephants as Fois now claims that Reda assaulted him:
According to Fois, Reda was upset that Fois alleged on his blog he had lied "about the Conservative Party and that his county convention--run without proxies and strong-armed every wretched step of the way--was setup to bypass Republican Tony Mele over York Kleinhandler."
Fois claims Reda tapped on his the shoulder, shoved him against the wall, and asked him if he knew what a "Bronx beating" is.
Fois isn't saying if he is going to press charges.
Fois continues his blood feud with Reda on NewsCopy's pages:
Reda has also questioned Mele's military record, without proof, yet has not provided any accountable documentation on Kleinhandler's own military status.
Finally, Reda kept insisting that Mele has never met with RNC Chair Michael Steele though multiple photos show Mele has met twice with the Republican leader. The RNC has a favorable interest in Mele's candidacy, since it make sense that a Bronx native now living in Rockland who is a veteran and a Tea Party member would be a natural fit for the 17th.
Fois continues by taking potshots at Kleinhandler, digging up dirt about a Federal lawsuit against the Congressional candidate and his brother David, that Fois says is "for predatory business practices against senior citizens."
The paperwork on this lawsuit against Kleinhandler was just filed on Friday, though points of the case go back to 2007. One highly placed political operative in the judicial community described it as "just a business lawsuit" though one wonders why this was missed in the vetting.
And I always thought it was the Democrats that resorted to circular firing squads.
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