For those of you who couldn't make it to my campaign kick-off, he's a copy of my speech –No funny pictures. I'm serious with this one, folks. Oh, and it includes a special message for a certain "Democratic Opponent". Happy reading -GB
They say you can tell a lot about a man by the company he chooses to keep. I hope you see why I consider Alex Zablocki, Joe Mendola and Marc D'Ottavio friends – they are articulate energetic professional who want to make a difference. I hope you can spread the word about their campaigns and make your family and friends aware that there is an alternative to the same-old, same-old.
I have to say, the last place I ever thought I'd be is here speaking to all of you about why you should vote for me. But when term limits was overturned, we all received a rude wake-up call.
Lew Fidler turned his back on all of us because he decided that he was the only one from our community who could help solve a fiscal crisis that happened on his watch. Even in the darkest days of 9/11, we never let events dictate our actions, let alone behave so inexcusably. But you see, Lew is worse than the others who voted to overturn term limits because he won't admit that his vote was a power grab. He actually wants you to believe that this was a principled stance because he's always been against term limits. We know better. The true principled stance would have been to stand with us and uphold the will of the people. He instead chose to break the trust we put in him when he was part of the class of politicians that were elected as a result of term limits in the first place. Unfortunately, politics changed him – or maybe it was in him all along.
But this is expected. After all - Lew is a major part of an obsolete culture of career politicians and machine politics that is strangling our communities in south Brooklyn. You see it all around – in fact, the people who run this business has seen it firsthand. Lew Fidler and those that are cogs in the machine put power and influence above community. They point to how much money they can bring to our community – money that goes to those who bow down to the will of the machine - as if this tainted money is some kind of acceptable trade-off in exchange for allowing this broken system to leech off of us like some kind of cancer, stifling creativity, quieting dissent and building apathy towards government. After all, why bother participating when the usual suspects run everything, right?
Lew "works" a broken system – I want to fix the broken system.
In the few times Lew has acknowledged my existence, he has referred to me as his "Republican opponent" – like I'm wearing a scarlet R that will cause the countryside to run for panic! He doesn't know that he's doing me a service – I want everyone to know that I am Republican. I want everyone to know that I'm not a cog in the machine. I want everyone to know that I'm part of an emerging group of creative, young energetic citizens stepping up to take on career politicians like Lew. We're here to take a crowbar to machine politics.
But we need your help - If we as a community do not make our stand now, then career politicians like Lew Fidler will only become bolder, and who knows what other rules they'll twist to their favor.
For my part, I'm standing up now and issuing an open challenge to Lew Fidler. Lew: I'm calling you out. I'm taking this fight to the people, and I challenge Lew Fidler to meet me anytime, anyplace to not only debate me on the issues but to answer for the acts he's committed against all of us. No lawyers can save him from this confrontation like they stopped those who actually had the temerity to challenge Lew within his own party. By all rights, I should be campaigning against one of them or any number of potential candidates who would've run had Lew Fidler not put personal politics ahead of community.
Lew forgot that the real strength of our city is in our communities, not in the people we allow to go to City Hall. Politicians come and go, communities endure. It's up to you to remind him. Our community must now send a strong message – The days of the career politician and his machine are over.
Our city faces many challenges. We must find ways to do even more with less, bring transparency to the darker corners of government and get this city back on the path of prosperity for all New Yorkers.
I've have a record of fighting for our community when our officials dropped the ball. While the community waited on Lew Fidler to re-zone Sheepshead Bay – you remember, when he said that he'd get back to us and then never did? We're still waiting by the way! Anyways, while Lew was letting Sheepshead Bay turn into Condo-Ville, I worked with my neighbors, fought hard and WE re-zoned what we could. Weren't we all lucky when he showed up after we did all the heavy lifting to stand out in front to take the credit!
When Lew told us that a waterfront park was a pipe dream, I mobilized our community, fought hard and now Brigham Park will soon become a reality.
The stakes we face are now much higher, so once again, I'm asking you to join me. Fight side by side with me to meet these challenges. Together, I have no doubt that we can meet any challenge. On Election Day, cast your vote for Gene Berardelli for City Council, and let's get to work.
They say you can tell a lot about a man by the company he chooses to keep. I hope you see why I consider Alex Zablocki, Joe Mendola and Marc D'Ottavio friends – they are articulate energetic professional who want to make a difference. I hope you can spread the word about their campaigns and make your family and friends aware that there is an alternative to the same-old, same-old.
I have to say, the last place I ever thought I'd be is here speaking to all of you about why you should vote for me. But when term limits was overturned, we all received a rude wake-up call.
Lew Fidler turned his back on all of us because he decided that he was the only one from our community who could help solve a fiscal crisis that happened on his watch. Even in the darkest days of 9/11, we never let events dictate our actions, let alone behave so inexcusably. But you see, Lew is worse than the others who voted to overturn term limits because he won't admit that his vote was a power grab. He actually wants you to believe that this was a principled stance because he's always been against term limits. We know better. The true principled stance would have been to stand with us and uphold the will of the people. He instead chose to break the trust we put in him when he was part of the class of politicians that were elected as a result of term limits in the first place. Unfortunately, politics changed him – or maybe it was in him all along.
But this is expected. After all - Lew is a major part of an obsolete culture of career politicians and machine politics that is strangling our communities in south Brooklyn. You see it all around – in fact, the people who run this business has seen it firsthand. Lew Fidler and those that are cogs in the machine put power and influence above community. They point to how much money they can bring to our community – money that goes to those who bow down to the will of the machine - as if this tainted money is some kind of acceptable trade-off in exchange for allowing this broken system to leech off of us like some kind of cancer, stifling creativity, quieting dissent and building apathy towards government. After all, why bother participating when the usual suspects run everything, right?
Lew "works" a broken system – I want to fix the broken system.
In the few times Lew has acknowledged my existence, he has referred to me as his "Republican opponent" – like I'm wearing a scarlet R that will cause the countryside to run for panic! He doesn't know that he's doing me a service – I want everyone to know that I am Republican. I want everyone to know that I'm not a cog in the machine. I want everyone to know that I'm part of an emerging group of creative, young energetic citizens stepping up to take on career politicians like Lew. We're here to take a crowbar to machine politics.
But we need your help - If we as a community do not make our stand now, then career politicians like Lew Fidler will only become bolder, and who knows what other rules they'll twist to their favor.
For my part, I'm standing up now and issuing an open challenge to Lew Fidler. Lew: I'm calling you out. I'm taking this fight to the people, and I challenge Lew Fidler to meet me anytime, anyplace to not only debate me on the issues but to answer for the acts he's committed against all of us. No lawyers can save him from this confrontation like they stopped those who actually had the temerity to challenge Lew within his own party. By all rights, I should be campaigning against one of them or any number of potential candidates who would've run had Lew Fidler not put personal politics ahead of community.
Lew forgot that the real strength of our city is in our communities, not in the people we allow to go to City Hall. Politicians come and go, communities endure. It's up to you to remind him. Our community must now send a strong message – The days of the career politician and his machine are over.
Our city faces many challenges. We must find ways to do even more with less, bring transparency to the darker corners of government and get this city back on the path of prosperity for all New Yorkers.
I've have a record of fighting for our community when our officials dropped the ball. While the community waited on Lew Fidler to re-zone Sheepshead Bay – you remember, when he said that he'd get back to us and then never did? We're still waiting by the way! Anyways, while Lew was letting Sheepshead Bay turn into Condo-Ville, I worked with my neighbors, fought hard and WE re-zoned what we could. Weren't we all lucky when he showed up after we did all the heavy lifting to stand out in front to take the credit!
When Lew told us that a waterfront park was a pipe dream, I mobilized our community, fought hard and now Brigham Park will soon become a reality.
The stakes we face are now much higher, so once again, I'm asking you to join me. Fight side by side with me to meet these challenges. Together, I have no doubt that we can meet any challenge. On Election Day, cast your vote for Gene Berardelli for City Council, and let's get to work.
1 comment:
I hope my comment on your campaign site gets through, the on site software was slow and what I wrote didn't appear immediately afterward.
A debate would do much to illustrate the differences between you and your DEMOCRATIC opponent. Of course, Lew Fielder may not be capable of defending his positions. That may be why it was so important for him to silence his primary opposition.
Lise
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