Looks like Rep Gary Ackerman might be in a spot of trouble.
According to the NY Daily News Congressman Ackerman made a $100,000 profit in a stock he put no money down to obtain.
So what did he have to do to get such a sweetheart deal?
Well he hosted a meeting between Israeli Government officials and the defense-contracting firm he was given stock in in his Congressional offices.
Isn’t this what Rep. William Jefferson went to jail for? Let’s just hope he didn’t stash the cash in his fridge.
Here is the Daily News article:
http://www.nydailynews.com/opi…
While Ackerman’s district is usually pretty safe Dem (Obama got 63% of the vote), the Queens district has recently elected 3 GOP City Councilmen.
So far Ackerman has no serious GOP opponent but this race could be one to watch if there is more to this potential scandal.
What I would watch out for is a potential Cao situation developing. The district is 25% Asian. An Asian GOP could be very dangerous if there is more to this scandal.
but if the reportage is accurate, this seems to be straightforward bribery. I hope the Justice Department is already looking into this.
$100,000 isn’t even a Congressman’s yearly salary. Damn, why do our elected officials do such stupid things?
We are a country against corrupt politicians, unless their corruptness helps Israel.
If this turns out to be a serious problem for Ackerman, there is plenty of time for a serious primary challenger to emerge – certainly there is a deep enough Democratic bench in the district.
If that happens, it would likely develop along ethnic voting patterns (as do many Democratic primaries in multi-ethnic NYC districts).
This is an immigrant district — the census reported that fully 60% of the residents speak a language other than English at home. In 2000, the census reported that the district was 29% Asian and 25% Hispanic/Latino. Those numbers are probably significantly higher by now, although because of recent immigration they are probably under-represented in the voting population. The remaining population is only about 5% African-American, and 41% white (probably about equally divided between Jews and white ethnic groups like the Irish, Italians, Greeks, etc). Not many WASPS except in a few neighbourhoods in the Nassau County portion of the district.
John Liu certainly proved last year that it is possible to mobilize NYC Asian voters behind an Asian candidate in a multi-candidate primary — could that be the model for a primary in this district?
Any early thoughts on possible candidates if the seat opened up or someone decided to primary Ackerman? Liu would clearly be the 800 pound gorilla, but I doubt he would run for Congress so quickly after being elected city-wide.
Who are the local Democratic State Senators, Assembly members, Council members and others who might view an incumbent’s potential problems as a rare opportunity to win a relatively safe Democratic seat?
As for the Republicans, City Councilman Peter Koo from Flushing could be a formidable candidate if they decide to challenge Ackerman for the seat – although he was only elected in November 2009 and sworn a couple of weeks ago. Same story with the other new Republican Council member in the district — Daniel Halloran from Bayside would have a base in the white ethnic portions of the district, but is a brand new council member. (He is also a member of the Theodist religion, a neo-pagan group that might give him problems among some voters should he ever run for higher office.) There are probably a handful of other local Republicans would could be credible candidates if Ackerman is in real trouble.
This is all huge speculation based on one news report — let’s see how it all plays out.