Benjamin hurts all state Democrats running this year, especially Hochul

                           

The arrest and resignation of Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin this week should serve as a warning to all state elected Democrats:

Be careful who you endorse.

It seems like every Nassau Democratic senator and most Assembly members happily supported Benjamin,  who was selected to be lieutenant governor by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul when she ascended to the state's top job after former Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned in August.

Hochul chose Benjamin even though published reports already said he was under investigation for questionable campaign fundraising practices.

And Nassau Democrats endorsed him despite his progressive support for positions contrary to a majority of Long Islanders: Defund the police and bail reform.

He was a leading advocate for "defund the police" -- not a good look now, particularly after a gunman shot multiple people in the subway Tuesday without a police officer anywhere in sight.

Especially when crime is rising throughout New York.

In New York City alone, according to Zach Fink News, overall crime was up last month by 36 percent. 

Progressives and Hochul continue to defend bail reform,  after making a few minor changes to the law that eliminates bail for all but the most violent offenders. 

But anger over bail reform defeated Democratic incumbents across Long Island last year.

Suspected subway gunman, Frank James, who has a lengthy arrest record, is a living embodiment of the worst about bail reform: a repeat offender allowed to allegedly commit repeated criminal offenses.

Corruption, rising crime, bail reform. All hurt incumbent chances in November. The only thing Hochul and Nassau Democrats can't be accused of is inflation -- though never count out a wiley opponent who will somehow find a way to lay blame.

The best thing Democrats have going for them right now is distraction:  Former Republican Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano was sentenced today to 12 years in prison on charges of accepting bribes in return for pressuring Oyster Bay Town officials to back $20 million in private loans to Mangano friend, Harendra Singh. His wife was sentenced to 15 months on related charges.

Nassau Democratic legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton of Glen Cove stirred the pot today by accusing Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman of following in the footsteps of Mangano and "reverting to the questionable practices of the past."

There also was some sort of confrontation and termination at the Nassau University Medical Center trustee meeting last night,  but when aren't NUMC meetings controversial?

After Hochul appointed Benjamin last year, State Sen. Anna Kaplan (D-Great Neck), posted her endorsement on the senate website.                                                                             

Kaplan also was first Nassau senator to demand Benjamin's resignation after he was arrested on federal corruption charges.                                    

Hochul didn't help herself in a radio interview yesterday when asked why she hadn't caught the ethical problems with Benjamin before appointing him.

"He filled out the background check forms, and asked whether or not there had been investigations, we had been told that everything that had risen up had been addressed, everything was clean. That's what we were told. I made the best decision I could with the information I had at that time," she said.

"We were not aware there had been investigations from federal authorities or even the district attorney's office at the time," she told Brian Lehrer on WNYC.

Meanwhile Nassau and State Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs is in a tight spot over Hochul's choice of Benjamin because Jacobs has gone all in to support Hochul in June's Democratic primary.

He issued this ambiguous statement yesterday: