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Conservative Party Press Secretary Smears the NYYRC: Our Response

By May 15, 2023No Comments

The New York Young Republican Club is proud of its unique ability to effectuate change within New York politics while pushing a proud national populist agenda. We are unabashed at whose interests we prioritize: those of the American people.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for loudmouth hacks like William F. B. O’Reilly (not to be confused with the similarly named former Fox News persona from Levittown), mouthpiece of the Conservative Party of New York State.

Mr. O’Reilly has a penchant for mouthing off, including to leftist journalists. Recently, he spoke to known leftist troll Amanda Moore, telling her that “before [President Gavin] Wax took over [the New York Young Republican Club], the club was a moderate group of friendly young adults who would help canvass for local races. Now, the club is largely alienated from the politics of the city it sits in; mentions of the organization are met with dismissive eye rolls by many in the Republican Party. [The club] is no longer considered a reliable tool in helping Republicans win local elections, but an attention-seeking hindrance many wish would go away.”

Let’s break this statement down to illustrate the utter divorce between Mr. O’Reilly’s fatuous statement and reality.

Mr. O’Reilly claims that, prior to the New York Young Republican Club’s renewal in 2019, “the club was a moderate group of friendly young adults who would help canvass for local races.” In fact, the Club organized exactly one (1) deployment in recent history prior to 2019, planning in 2014 a trip to New Hampshire in support of Scott Brown for 16 people. Since 2019, the Club has coordinated dozens of deployments in New York City, Long Island, Upstate New York, and New Jersey for local, state, and federal candidates. Some of these deployments have featured over 100 attendees, and, in certain races, the Club has played a pivotal role in providing boots-on-the-ground support lacking from the party apparatus itself as was the case in Councilwoman Vickie Paladino’s historic win.

To claim that the Club is “largely alienated from the politics of the city it sits in” is simply untrue. In fact, two-thirds of the Republican members of New York City Council are members of the Club. Members of the Club’s Board of Governors have been hired to leadership positions in city, state, and federal elected officials’ offices, including in the position of Chief of Staff. We also note that the Club was also the only significant organization to endorse and deploy for Assemblyman Lester Chang.

What is true is that the Club does not spend as much time hobnobbing to establishment cronies at cocktail parties as some of those individuals might like. Perhaps that induces some “dismissive eye rolls.” So be it; we have instead a singular focus on electing Republicans who will represent New Yorkers’ interests effectively.

Too much time at cocktail parties can, in fact, have unfortunate effects. We regret that the Conservative Party of New York State chooses to pay Mr. O’Reilly to generate press for them; perhaps this decision explains the degraded and diminished impact that they hold on New York politics under the leadership of Mr. Jerry Kassar, who has overseen their wallowing to irrelevance since he replaced longtime chairman Michael Long. When the best that the Conservative Party can do is represent itself as a glorified “The Rent is Too Damn High” Party, with Mr. O’Reilly serving as their conduit to the media, one must question why they bother to exist.

Mr. O’Reilly proudly rests on his haunches as a proud blueblood. The “B” in his name stands for “Buckley,” a credential he has burnished throughout his career to open doors that would have remained closed on the case of merit alone. Mr. O’Reilly seems incapable of relating to most voters; he wrote recently in a snidely titled article “Trumpism is here to stay” that “the breach into the working class [by President Donald J. Trump] demands exploitation, even at risk of abandoning core principles like free trade and limited government. These new Republican voters need to be fed.”

This quote embodies Mr. O’Reilly’s blatant anti-Trump sentiment. While Mr. Kassar and the Conservative Party ostensibly support conservative values and advocate for everyday New Yorkers’ interests, Mr. O’Reilly writings both on their behalf and in his personal capacity place him squarely at odds with the everyday man and woman. Of all the people on the planet, Jerry Kassar thinks that a guy who lionizes “Republicans with greater courage, like Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney and Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger” is a good spokesman for his movement. We disagree.

Mr. O’Reilly seems content with scattering crumbs for the American people while lapping up concentrated success for himself and his peers. He is nothing more than a representative of the globalist elites who aim to direct Americans’ lives in a manner fully aligned with self-serving corporate interests. As such, it is unsurprising that he has not seen an electoral victory for over a decade, given the market for such attention is fully captured in New York by Democrats. We will not oblige Mr. O’Reilly’s attempt to bring our America First efforts to heel, and we hope that Jerry Kassar puts him where he needs to be: the curb.

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