Club News

By Robert Golomb

Editor’s Note: This is syndicated columnist Bob Golomb’s latest column as published in the news and media outlet, The Published Reporter 

NEW YORK, NY – When this past winter New York State’s four term Suffolk County incumbent Republican Assemblyman Andrew Garbarino, whose 7^th District covers the majority of communities in Smithtown and small portions of the towns of Islip and Brookhaven, learned that the 14 term United States GOP Congressman Peter King would not seek reelection to his seat in the Second Congressional District, which spans through southwestern Suffolk County and minor sections of southeastern Nassau County, he knew that he had a difficult choice to make.  

“Whether or not to give up my seat in the assembly and run for Congress was not an easy decision  for me to make… During my 8 years in the assembly, I felt that I have accomplished a great deal on behalf of my constituents,” stated Garbarino. “I have pushed for increased funding for our local school districts, supported our brave and dedicated men and women in law enforcement, worked to protect the environment of Long Island and fought against the tax hikes proposed by the governor.”

“So, my first inclination,” he continued, “was to stay in the assembly to continue this work. However, when I became convinced that I could continue this work, as well as other important work, on a federal level, I made the decision to run for Congress.”

Still, Garbarino, 37, an attorney who has lived in Suffolk County his entire life, had to first earn the Republican nomination to have the chance to win that race. Also seeking the opportunity to replace King was Republican Assemblyman Mike LiPetri, a popular one term incumbent in Suffolk’s Assembly District 9. The contest was settled in the GOP’s June 23^rd primary, when Garbarino defeated LiPetri by a 61% to 39% margin. Reflecting on that race and its aftermath, Garbarino stated, “Mike was a tough competitor and ran a hard-fought campaign… I am extremely proud and appreciative that he is now campaigning for me.”

Garbarino added that due to the COVID-19 epidemic he had to run his race against LiPetri in a less voter interactive mode than he had been accustomed to in the past.

“The covid-19 epidemic prevented me from live campaigning… In the past [assembly elections] I enjoyed and learned from the one-on-one personal contact I had with voters. So, [in the Congressional primary] I had to campaign digitally, by mail and TV. My current campaign in the general campaign is being run in a similar, although a bit more flexible manner.”              

Garbarino’s Democratic opponent in that upcoming November 3^rd general election is Jackie Gordon, who defeated her primary opponent Patricia Maher by a more than 2-1 margin. A 29-year United States Army Reserve combat veteran who retired from the military in 2014 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and through most of those same years worked as a high school guidance counsellor and also served from 2007 to this year as the councilwoman for the southwestern Suffolk County town of Babylon, Gordon has been said to enjoy the respect of both Democrats and Republicans, including Garbarino himself, for her work in public service.  

“I hold a high degree of respect for Ms. Gordon’s military service and her work as an educator and local public official,” Garbarino stated.

However, he quickly made it clear to me that he separates his respect for his opponent’s impressive background from what he contends are her extreme leftist positions, which Garbarino asserted, she is trying to hide from voters.

“While Ms. Gordon’s resume is quite impressive, it should not be confused with the extreme leftist Democratic Party policies she supports, which she has tried very hard to hide from the voters of our district,” contended Garbarino, who added that Gordon also won the nomination of the hard-left leaning Working Families Party.

“Ms. Gordon,’’ he charged, “has carefully avoided answering questions from voters about her far out of the mainstream policies, which are in total accord with her ideological left controlled Democratic Party, as well as those of the Working Families Party.”             

Citing as his first specific example of policies which he contends Gordon is trying to shield from the voters, Garbarino stated, “Ms. Gordon has tried to hide the fact that she along with her Democratic Party supports anti-law enforcement funding legislation, which if enacted, would result in cutting federal funds to local police departments, including inevitably, our own police departments here in Suffolk and Nassau.”

In addition, Garbarino asserted that his opponent is also attempting to hide her support of federal bail reform policies proposed by leading House Democrats. “Ms. Gordon’s Democratic Party’s bail reform proposals include eliminating cash bail for most defendants charged in federal criminal court cases, such as drug sales, identify theft and even child pornography. It is no wonder why she refuses to respond, when questioned about it,” he charged. 

The GOP’ candidate’s final criticism of Gordon centered on the controversial 2019 Medicare-for-all bill. Currently being debated in the House of Representatives, the bill, which has been opposed by every one of the 199 House Republicans and supported by an overwhelming majority of the 235 House Democrats, would, if it became law, place the federal government in almost total control of all forms of medical care for every American, making it even more expansive than the original plan proposed in the Senate by Bernie Sanders in 2016.

To Garbarino, Gordon’s refusal to publicly state her opposition to the Medicare-for-all legislative proposal is unsettling, but not surprising. “As the experience with similar programs in such countries as England and Canada illustrate, this bill, if passed, would result in Americans waiting several long and dangerous months to have even vital surgery performed,” stated Garbarino. “It would also,” he elaborated, “empower the federal government to, as a cost cutting method, deny treatment to the elderly and seriously ill… It is troubling, but unfortunately predictable, that Ms. Gordon would not break with her own party to oppose this awful bill.”

Garbarino later described his own policy positions, which, if elected, he said, he will bring to Washington. “Just as in the assembly I fought against the bail reform bill which, when it unfortunately became law in 2020 despite unanimous Republican opposition, resulted in a severe rise in crime across the state, I’ll stand up to Speaker Pelosi, Congresswoman Cortez and the rest of the far-left Democrats to make certain that they do not pass similar dangerous laws in the Congress,” he promised.  

 “I will also,” he continued, “push for legislation that brings additional law-enforcement resources to the country, the state and our district; support legislation which protects the exclusive right of local governments to set and enforce residential zoning laws; and as the COVID-19 health crisis continues, it will be my priority to secure for our district sustained federal financial assistance to families, small business owners and the workers they employ.” 

To accomplish those goals, Garbarino, of course, must first win this highly competitive general election contest, which, as of this writing, a majority of independent polling firms continue to calculate to be a “toss-up’’ race. So, throughout the remaining 6 weeks of the campaign, voters in the 2nd Congressional District might well expect to hear Garbarino even further urging them to separate his opponent’s resume from her polices.   

Robert Golomb

Robert Golomb is a nationally and internationally syndicated columnist. His work has appeared in The South Asian Times, The Epoch Times, The Long Island Jewish World group of papers, the Muslim Community Report, the Messenger and more. You can email him at MrBob347@aol.com.

Forensic Analyst Suggests Interview On “The Mo’ Kelly” Show Was Altered; Incident Fueled Media Frenzy From Alleged Racially Inflammatory Hoax

By Robert Golomb

Editor’s Note: This is syndicated columnist Bob Golomb’s latest column as published in the news and media outlet, The Published Reporter 

NEW YORK, NY – “I think Mo’ Kelly believed he would get away with it, but I wouldn’t let him,” Roger Stone stated in a recent telephone interview conducted from my NY office to Stone’s Florida home. Stone, a best-selling author and Republican political consultant and advisor who over the past 45 years has worked in key positions in the presidential campaigns of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole, Jack Kemp, George W. Bush and Donald Trump, was referring to what turned out to be his controversial appearance on Kelly’s radio show back on July 16^th. 

Kelly, a Black radio talk-show host whose award winning “The Mo’ Kelly” show airs every weekend on a major Southern California radio station, had during a scheduled interview questioned Stone about his conviction in November, 2019 of witness tampering and lying to investigators while testifying before Congress during the Mueller Russian election collusion investigation; in addition, Kelly asked Stone about President Trump’s commutation of the judge’s sentence, which, had it been carried out, would have placed the 67 year old, physically ailing Stone in prison for 40 months. 

Recalling that portion of the 60- minute pre-recorded interview, Stone told me, “Those were fair questions, and I welcomed the opportunity to answer them. I explained to Kelly that I had been one of many victims of Mueller’s  witch hunt. I noted that Mueller’s investigators could not find any evidence to support their claim of any wrongdoing on my part, so instead I was charged with lying while answering groundless questions during a baseless investigation that was solely created and designed to destroy President Trump.

 “I also explained to Kelly,” Stone continued, “that the forewoman of the jury that convicted me is a member of the ‘resistance’ to Trump movement.” Stone, who suffers from chronic asthma and other respiratory illnesses added, “With my deteriorating health and the strong possibility of catching the coronavirus in prison, my totally unfair conviction would have amounted to a death sentence. So, as I further explained to Kelly, the President’s commutation of my sentence was based upon fairness, justice and compassion.”         

That explanation, as Stone and I discussed, did not impress Kelly, who was recorded as responding, “There are thousands of people treated unfairly every day. How your number just happened to come up in the lottery. I’m guessing it was more than just luck, Roger, right?”  

It was at that point that what was later to be proven to be the ugly, racially charged hoax began. Following a short pause in the broadcast, someone, putatively Stone, was heard saying, “I don’t really feel like arguing with this Negro.” As if reading from a prepared script, Kelly responded, “I’m sorry what was that. Roger? Roger? I’m sorry, what did you say? I’m sorry, you’re arguing with whom? I thought we were just having a spirited conversation. What happened?’’         

The interview, which was broadcast on Saturday, July 18^th, 2 days after its taping, quickly captured the attention of “journalists” in the national mainstream media, who portrayed Stone as a racist villain and lionized Kelly as an anti-bigot hero. Further fueling the media’s frenzy, Mo’ Kelly later tweeted about Stone, “I’m nobody’s Negro,’’ adding that Stone had used the “low-calorie version of the N-word…[Stone} didn’t see me as a journalist, not as a professional not a radio host…but a ‘Negro’ first and foremost.”     

But Kelly and his media allies had a surprise coming their way. To their probable chagrin, Stone was soon to provide scientific evidence proving that he never uttered the racist statement attributed to him, but rather had been the victim of an ugly ruse set-up by Kelly himself.  

As Stone recalled to me, “The moment I heard the recording I realized that sentence [where he had allegedly used the word “Negro”] during the interview had been doctored. So, I had my lawyers take the audio to 4 different sound engineers for forensic analysis. All 4 found beyond any doubt that I had never uttered the word ‘Negro’ or, in fact, never made any racial slur of any kind.” 

But even with that unanimous finding, Stone was to encounter another problem. “Because of their fear of retaliation from Black Lives Matter and other extremist groups, 3 of those 4 sound engineers became unwilling to publicly confirm their findings,” Stone bemoaned.     

Fortunately for Stone, one of the 4, Eric Tausch, a well-known sound engineer specialist who has worked in the film and television industry for 30 years, was unafraid to issue the report of his own forensic analysis. Tausch’s report contained such conclusive findings as,

We conducted an examination of the audio and that is where the podcast host’s story began to fall apart. Using spectral analysis software, I have determined that the segments of the doctored clip clearly exhibit fluctuations in the ambient noise floor where the recorded voice has been altered.

Further evidence of the insertion is the drop in the volume level of Stone’s voice. We analyzed the audio sample by scoping the data. The level of Stone’s voice throughout the entire interview is consistent. Only in the contested segment is there an appreciable drop in the audio level of Stone’s voice. Even the authenticity of the inserted section is questionable. When slowing the speed it appears the entire segment was computer generated where words were taken from other audio sources of Stone’s voice. This technique is often used in spoof videos and is, in fact quite common.

It is my understanding that other sound engineers have conducted their own analysis of the audio tape and reached the same conclusions I have but have been unwilling to publicly certify their findings because of the controversial nature of those involved in this dispute. We at Editech stand behind our findings in this analysis.

Stone told me he possesses a great deal of respect and appreciation for Tausch for having the courage to release that report. “Tausch refused to allow the leftist mob to intimidate him. For that he has earned my respect and gratitude,” he stated. 

Still, even after Kelly’s hoax was exposed by Tausch, Stone, whose record of fighting for civil-rights for African Americans goes back more than 4 decades, said that it was painful and unfair to be accused of being a racist. Pointing to his past support of African American causes, Stone stated,

“Together with Congressman Kemp and New Jersey Governor Tom Kean, I worked to help make Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday a federal holiday… I have been a strong supporter of Federal Affirmative Action Programs… I fought for the extension of the Voting Rights Act and criticized President Reagan when he opposed it… and I have been a vocal critic of the federal war on drugs, because I believe it is racist… So to be attacked as a racist by Mo’ Kelly was extremely unfair and hurtful.”

Adding sardonically that he hopes that Kelly has learned a lesson from the entire experience, Stone stated, “Now that Kelly realizes that his hoax has been exposed to the nation and also realizes that his portrayal of me as being a racist has been debunked, I assume he has learned the lesson that the bigger the lie you tell, the bigger are the chances that you will be caught.”

It is a lesson, I believe, that might take Mo’ Kelly a long time to forget. 

__________________________________

Robert Golomb is a nationally and internationally syndicated columnist. His work has appeared in The South Asian Times, The Epoch Times, The Long Island Jewish World group of papers, the Muslim Community Report, the Messenger and more. You can email him at MrBob347@aol.com.