Republican Male District Leader Carl (Nachman) Caller is spending the political capital he earned in helping GOP Congressional hopeful Phil Rosenthal make the general election ballot on going to the Republican National Convention in July as a Donald Trump delegate.
According to GOP bylaws each Congressional district sends three delegates to the national convention, and traditionally, when a district is divided into two counties, the county with the largest majority of voters has sway over who goes to the convention.
As Manhattan was the only borough to vote in favor of John Kasich during the recent presidential primary, sources say they want to send all three of the delegates from Manhattan to support him, a move that has Caller riled.
“I’m going to go to the district leaders representing Manhattan and ask them to place one delegate from Brooklyn of the three delegates given for the 10th Congressional district,” said Caller. “It’s only fair. We collected 900 signatures to get Phil on the ballot and Manhattan only collected 600. If I don’t get to be a delegate, I’ll be sitting on my hands when it comes to working to elect Phil.”
Caller’s ultimatum comes as Rosenthal, an accomplished scientist and attorney, will face the winner of the Jerry Nadler/Oliver Rosenberg Primary this September in the 10th Congressional District race.
The district is 70 percent in Manhattan and about 30 percent in Brooklyn. That 30 percent, however, includes the district’s large Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods which tend to vote along conservative Republican lines even if they are registered Democrats.
“The Orthodox Jewish community votes 85 percent to the Republicans so why can’t the Republican Party reach out to them,” said Caller. “I deserve to be the delegate from Brooklyn. I have the largest Republican base with 9,000 registered Republicans in my 48th Assembly District that includes Borough Park, Midwood and parts of Flatbush.”
Manhattan Republican Party Chair Adele Malpass said that traditionally the majority county gets to pick the delegates that go to the Republican National Convention and that Manhattan.
But when told that Caller might not actively campaign for Rosenthal, whom Malpass deemed, “a great candidate who’s running for all the right reasons” she hedged a bit.
“We’re going through the process now (on who will be delegates), and won’t decide for another week to 10 days until we meet with all the county chairs,” said Malpass.
A top Manhattan Republican source said part of the problem of picking a delegate from Brooklyn is the complete dysfunction of the GOP in the borough. Currently two factions are locked in a court battle to decide who controls the Party in Kings County.
But Caller said being caught in the middle between the two warring factions in the borough should not preclude his being picked as a delegate because he earned it.
