A Grand Old Party on a Midsummer’s Eve

by Jonathan Judge, Brooklyn YRs

It was the mystery event of the New York City Republican summer season—the Senate Summer Social on August 21st at Spiegeltent in Manhattan’s South Street Seaport.

Some of the local news blogs were chattering away about the speculation, saying that it might be the party’s substitute for former New York Governor George Pataki’s annual birthday fundraisers at the Seaport.

However, I only knew it as an e-mail invite I received from Scott Sala, of Urban Elephants.com fame, which billed the event as a FREE invitation-only “Exclusive New York City Networking Event” where one can join “Young Professionals in Politics, Business & Media for an evening of cocktails & conversation.”

While the word “Republican” was not to be seen so easily on the invite itself, as for the organizers, it could not be clearer for whom they planned this spectacular soiree. The event was the brainchild of Lisa Black of Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno’s Public Affairs office and Dana Weisberg of Park Strategies, LLC, which is the government relations firm founded by former U.S. Senator Al D’Amato.

Young professionals and lots of Republicans: you bet that this was my kind of event!

Thought the skies were gray, the many canopies of Spiegeltent were filled with over 300 people, an air of conviviality, a spectacular view of the Brooklyn Bridge and the New York harbor, and, of course, politics.

I had just barely made my way towards the festivities with fellow Brooklyn YR Samuel Rivera, when I immediately came across Brooklyn’s State Senator Marty Golden and Staten Island District Attorney, Dan Donovan, both of whom were event sponsors. I also briefly chatted with J.C. Polanco, State Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco’s New York City Regional Director.

When I signed in at the door, I was given two free drink tickets and I was asked to drop my business card in the glass jar to be eligible to win some raffle prizes, which included dinners, shows, baseball, and some other nifty things.

Looking around, I noticed the Brooklyn Young Republican Club was well represented. Our President, Bob Capano was there with our Executive Director Georgea Kontzamanis, as well as Vice President Britta Vander Linden and her husband, Luke Vander Linden, who himself is a former President of the BYRC.

Naturally, it was a bit after 6 o’clock, and I was a little parched and hungry. So I headed straight for the bar, utilized one of my drink tickets, and then browsed the delectable sea-themed hors d’oevres, such as jumbo shrimp with cherry tomatoes, grilled tuna on cucumber, and slices of a smoked salmon and cream cheese wrap, which I guess is a variation of the New York’s favorite lox and shmear. Of course, I sampled each of them with delight.

Anyway, while enjoying the light fare, I bumped into AlarmingNews.com blogger and public relations consultant Karol Sheinin, with whom I had a pleasant chat about, among other things, the ongoing Renaissance of our hometown, Brooklyn.

Mingling a bit more, I had a rather engaging discussion about the upcoming Republican presidential primary with Avery Knapp, a spirited gentleman who has taken up the Ron Paul crusade in New York City, most recently by painting a rooftop in the East Village to read “Google Ron Paul”, as was noted by the Washington Post a few weeks ago.

However, Rudy Giuliani’s Presidential Committee was certainly not going to pass up an event like this in the Mayor’s hometown. “RUDY” stickers were abounding on lapels, dresses and bags throughout the event, and even Giuliani’s New York State Executive Director, Mario Bruno, was to be seen among the guests.

It wasn’t long before I came across Assistant Director of Tedisco’s NYC office, Robert Hornak, and a fellow Republican colleague of his, Daniel Peterson, who has been a candidate for local office and currently serves as President of a Manhattan Republican club.

The event was suddenly interrupted by Senator Golden’s booming voice, ushering everyone to the front for the main event: the raffle. It was at that point that I spotted newlywed Staten Island YR President, Anthony Reinhart, whom I gave a hearty congratulations. As they were calling out the various raffle prize winners (of which I was not one), I heard a familiar name called, and it was BYRC VP Britta Vander Linden, who won a prize!

After they finished giving out prizes, I spotted New York Sun columnist, Alicia Colon, whom I had to meet and thank for her many inspiring and spot-on columns that I’ve read over the past couple of years.

Finally finishing my first drink, I went back to the bar for a refill only to find former NYSYR State Chairman Jason Weingartner, and my counterpart in the New York YRs, Kellen Giuda, who serves as Editor of the NYYRC’s newsletter, the Record. We talked shop for a bit, and then I met Molly Casey, a Bruno staffer, who also helped with putting together this excellent event.

Though the event ended at 8 PM on the dot, people (like myself) spent a few more hours talking and mingling amongst ourselves.


I know it may seem like a lot of name dropping, but it’s necessary to convey exactly how unusual a turn out this event had. Among the many elected officials, businesses and independent political organizations that came together to fill this event, each one represents a distinct part of New York City’s young professional Republican make up, and frequently one would only come to expect to find certain groups of Republicans only at certain events.

This time, Ms. Black and Ms. Weisberg managed to break that mold and brought Republicans of all sorts throughout the city together in order to meet other Republicans and have a great time doing so.

I spoke with Ms. Weisberg recently about the event. She said that she and Ms. Black, who have been friends for some time now, got the idea from several young professional events that presidential candidates had been putting together, and they decided that there ought to be an event for young professional Republicans, conservatives and libertarians, regardless of candidate preference.

Ms. Weisberg said that Senator Bruno has been eyeing ways to reach out to younger Republicans, and was glad to help sponsor the event.

So, she and Ms. Black went ahead with the idea and began putting together a host committee, to which Ms. Weisburg commented: “We had a great group of diverse people, not only in government, but in the media and business as well, who were very eager to help.” They finally chose Spiegeltent, as the venue because, as Ms. Weisberg said, “You have to have it at a place that young people want to go—some place fun.”

After proving to be a tremendously successful event, she said that Senator Bruno thought it went wonderfully and that there is discussion about putting together another event like this in the near future.

I, for one, certainly wish them lots of luck in keeping Republican social life in New York City thriving, and I think they’re off to a great start doing just that!

Jonathan Judge is Secretary of the Brooklyn YRs and Editor-in-Chief of the NYSYR GOPyr Newsletter.