Coin Toss Was Debate Highlight
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- October
- 17
The Yonkers Chamber of Commerce sponsored a debate between the Yonkers mayoral candidates on Tuesday, which I mention only in passing in my Oct. 18 column. A major league snore, the event was held after breakfast at the St. John’s Riverside Hospital cafeteria.
To say the least, charisma is not a word that came to mind when I watched the byplay of Republican incumbent and Democratic challenger Dennis Robertson. Amicone is at least coherent, but Robertson badly needs a debating coach. He also needs to develop vision for the city’s future. He has a “vision thing” problem.
Both candidates are almost fatally humorless. But two funny things happened during the debate, which, by the way, is a misnomer for what amounts these days to nothing more than the disconnected recitation of campaign talking points. Hey, I know this is Yonkers, but give me a break!
The first funny thing was the coin toss to see who would go first. The coin was tossed by former mayor Angelo Martinelli. Amicone called “heads,” and Martinelli flipped the coin, then fumbled the catch and the coin fell to the floor. Heads it was…Is nothing on the level in the city of hills?
Anyway, it was certainly all down hill after that.
Funny number 2 was that throughout the “debate,” the hospital intercom kept going off, drowning out the candidates. For all I knew they could’ve been summoning a doctor to come quickly to perform a mass lobotomy on the terminally bored.
Reminded me of a “Three Stooges” episode in which Moe, Larry and Curly played doctors and the intercom kept going, “Dr. Howard, Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine!”
I can hear Curly know, “Woowoowoowoowoo!”
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 6:48 pm by Phil Reisman.
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Phil Reisman is a veteran journalist and native of Westchester County. He began his career in 1977 as the head copy boy of a startup New York City newspaper that quickly went belly up. Reisman was not to blame for the newspaper's failure, or so he claims.
Unbelievable. 2007 Yonkers, 10 minutes from Broadway. At the very least you make us laugh, so we have that going for us. Is there any competence left in Westchester? We die of thirst, here by the fountainside.
Funny? What’s funny about Sam Zherka and Robertson?
Reisman ought to stop making smarmy “jokes” like
a kid tossing spitballs in class and do some
real work. Now that would be a change.
NOTHING is funny about (or within) any of them. That was the point, as I read it.
I just received a very slick mailer from the Amicone camp. In it he touts how the improvement in education and a return to neighborhood schools will amount to higher property values for Yonkers homeowners. His use of smiling children and himself at the head of a classroom makes for a very pretty picture. I don’t know how accurate the picture is that he is trying to paint, but one thing is for sure. He is well financed.
One thing else is true…Amicone is NOT financed by
Sam Zherka, who is tied to the Albanian mob.
But Dennis Robertson is financed by Zherka. Zherka
is now sending around a despicable mailer attacking
the Yonkers Police Dept. and Amicone.
Reisman was wrong in his column today when he
wrote that Zherka tried to open a strip club called
“VIP” in New Rochelle, but failed.
The Club was called Casanova Gold. It did open,
and then it lost to New Rochelle in Court.
Casanova Gold was handled by Zherka’s Casanova
Entertainment—- which donated $500 to Robertson.
All told, Zherka corporations have given Robertson
nearly $26,000 so far. Add on to that number the TV
commercials, mailings, and Guardian attack articles
Zherka is doing for Robertson.
Reisman also neglected to mention that Zherka’s
very close brother Ali is a named member of the
Albanian mob and is right now under a serious
Federal criminal indictment in NYC.
Some relevant facts like those just listed did not
appear in that column. Why they didn’t is a good
question. And please don’t claim Ali Zherka
isn’t significant. He is very significant.
What IS funny is that Amicone is going to squash the
opposition like a bug. It will be a landslide. It will be a
slaughter. And I’m voting for the OPPOSITION !
I stand corrected on Casanova Gold….A corection on that will accompany Sunday’s column.
Just to make a correction to you schmucks, Sam Zherka did not own that club, you asses should do your research before you print that. The owner was a woman named Sherill Weisblatt, i got the info from a very credidble source. Be careful because if you in any way slander this man, he will sue you. Just like i heard he is doing to Edelman, and simpson, and Amicone now, for slander and defamation. You will hear about the 100 million dollar law suit on monday, I got all the inside info. You guys who keep saying he is part of the albanian mob, and a drug dealer, will have to pay big time. The man has never even been convicted of a traffic infraction. I guess you will learn the hard way, Monday is a big day for Zherka and a sad one for some of you morons
Oh, Melanee. Isn’t it true you also call yourself
Mary and Joe?
Zherka controls Casanova Entertainment and
he also had Casanova Gold. Who cares if someone
named “Sherill Weisblatt” was part of it?
But thanks for the name, anyway.
Now you are disputing court records. Nice
job, Melanie, Joe, Mary.
Zherka’s brother Ali is a known member of the
Albanian mob. The Feds have said that.
Ali also is currently under Federal
indictment and has a long rap sheet.
Through Ali Zherka, who is very close to Sam,
Sam Zherka is TIED TO to the Albanian mob. Very
simple, very true. The connection is there,
and clearly defensible.
No one said Sam himself was in the Albanian mob.
The cops and the US Attorney may believe he is,
but that hasn’t been said publicly….at
least not to this point.
Zherka is trying to strongarm and threaten
everyone in sight by hollering “SUE!” But maybe
he’s really thinking of Sue’s Rendezvous, the strip
club in Mt. Vernon. Wanna go into that one
angle of all this…Melanee, Joe, Mary?
wow i guess this is a free country and you can say anything you want but i know both sam and ali and sam is a hard working guy so i dont know wher the albanian mob got in to this and ali is sams brother so if they are close we all know that blood is thiker than water ….......