A former longtime Brooklyn pol has taken the extraordinary step of utilizing hundreds of {dollars} from his dormant however still-flush marketing campaign struggle chest to assault fellow Dems in an inside get together feud.
Ex-36-year state Assemblyman Peter Abbate (D-Brooklyn) despatched a mailer to voters titled, “Who’s Ruining Our Community” — and that includes accusatory pictures of Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte-Hermelyn, additionally the Brooklyn Democratic Occasion chairwoman; Meeting Invoice Colton and metropolis Councilwoman Susan Zhuang.
As well as, the mailer takes goal at Lester Chang, a first-time Republican assemblyman who upset Abbate two years in the past.
Voters acquired mailer titled, “Who’s Ruining Our Community” — and that includes accusatory pictures. t
Bichotte, Colton and Chang are all on the November poll.
“They’ve done a disservice to the community,” Abbate instructed The Publish of his targets, who he claimed helped drive him out of workplace. “I’m not attacking Democrats. I’m attacking people who are helping Republicans win. They are working against Democrats.”
Abbate has a whole lot of marketing campaign cash to burn to make his level — a staggering $846,478 left in his political struggle chest. He spent $7,000 on mailers from his marketing campaign account, in line with a report filed with the state Board of Elections.
Some Democratic Occasion insiders stated they have been puzzled that he didn’t spend extra of his marketing campaign cash in 2022 to attempt to win re-election.
Democratic Occasion officers additionally rapped Abbate for utilizing a number of the leftover dough to assault fellow Democrats earlier than the election.
“I never feel it’s productive to have intra-party fights before an election,” stated state Democratic Occasion Chairman Jay Jacobs.
Former State Assemblyman Peter Abbate (D-Brooklyn) has a whole lot of marketing campaign cash to burn as a result of he spent $7,000 on mailers from his marketing campaign account.
A Brooklyn Democratic Occasion insider stated, “It’s definitely inappropriate. He’s very bitter.”
Bichotte-Hermelyn was much more irate.
“With an astonishing $870,000 in campaign funds available during the most important election of our lifetime, Peter Abbate spent thousands of dollars attacking fellow Democrats,” she instructed The Publish on Sunday.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Abbate tried to use the rest of that money to buy a sports car or a nice new house. The former assemblymember is a renowned fraudster whose petitions to run for office were discredited as fraudulent,” she stated.
A state decide dominated in April that lots of the 2,260 signatures submitted by Abbate and Democratic District Leaders Victoria Kelly and Jimmy Li have been invalid and booted them from the get together’s main poll.
Abbate defended the mailers, saying Bichotte-Hermelyn and Colton schemed with GOPers to disqualify him from qualifying for poll standing to run once more, smoothing the way in which for Chang’s re-election.
“It’s disgusting. Rodneyse only cares about herself,” Abbate stated.
He stated the dearth of get together assist is why he misplaced to Chang within the forty ninth District in Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights, Borough Park and Sundown Park and why Democratic Assemblyman Steve Cymbrowitz misplaced to Republican Michael Novakhov in 2022 within the southern Brooklyn’s forty fifth District, which ecompasses Sheepshead Bay, Midwood, Manhattan Seashore, Gravesend, and Brighton Seashore.
“They’ve weakened the Democratic Party in this part of Brooklyn,” Abbate stated of his Dem foes.
Bichotte-Hermelyn, head of the native get together, didn’t reply to a Publish request for remark.
