This column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated February 23, 2024
With the calendar flipping to March, the yearly process of negotiating the state budget will pick up steam, as the deadline at the end of the month to finalize what will again be over $200 billion in spending for the coming fiscal year fast approaches. While there are myriad spending issues that will be debated amongst the legislature, as well as between them and the governor, that will kick into high gear, there are many other issues that have no actual fiscal impact that get wrapped up in the budget which will be topics of discussion.
Within a year of the events of January 6, 2021, more than a dozen Brooklynites had been charged with offenses related to their participation in that dark day in American history. In the two years since, even more Kings County residents have been charged, including Mitchell Bosch, 44, who was charged this month on Valentine’s Day.
Within a few days of the Capitol insurrection, Aaron Mostofsky, the son of a Brooklyn judge, was arrested. Mostofsky, who was seen on video inside the Capitol and, among multiple offenses was charged with stealing, ultimately entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to eight months in jail.
Several days after Mostofsky was arrested, New York City sanitation worker Dominick Madden was taken into custody at his Sheepshead Bay home. Madden was also caught on video. Outside the Capitol, he could be seen waving a flag, encouraging an angry mob to overtake police officers and enter the building. Inside the building, he was captured in several sensitive areas. Madden agreed to a plea deal in which he faced 60 days incarceration, probation, and restitution.
It took authorities six months to catch up to Brooklyn’s Edward Rodriguez, who was charged with several crimes, including attacking law enforcement officers with physical violence at the Capitol. He wound up being sentenced to three years in prison and three years supervised release for inflicting bodily injury on officers.
In the three years since the January 6 insurrection, more than 1,230 people have been charged for their role in the day’s events. To date, only two have been acquitted of all charges. Perhaps most disturbingly, many former police officers have been arrested for attacking law enforcement that day, including multiple former members of the NYPD.
Retired NYPD officer, Thomas Webster, was sentenced to ten years in prison for assaulting a law enforcement officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon. Ex-NYPD officer, Sarah Carpenter, was sentenced to 22 months in jail and 24 months of supervised release for assaulting a police officer.
Daniel Christmann of Brooklyn livestreamed his illegal entry into and through the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and pleaded guilty in 2022. Christmann is a former candidate for state senate, who previously challenged Democratic Senator Julia Salazar in northern Brooklyn, which brings us back to Mitchell Bosch, who was arrested this month for his actions during the Capitol riots.
Bosch ran last year as a Republican city council candidate, challenging Democratic incumbent Sandy Nurse in district 37. Previously arrested multiple times at anti-vaccine protests, Bosch was arrested by federal authorities on February 14 and charged with several felonies related to assaulting officers during the Capitol insurrection, as supported by multiple videos from the day.
Here in southern Brooklyn, we have seen a troubling number of political figures who have had ties to the events of January 6 or to violent crimes. Equally distressing, certain elected officials have had close ties to some of these individuals.
When Mark Szuszkiewicz first ran for office in 2020 as a Republican challenger to then-Assemblymember Mathylde Frontus, he was an avowed Q-Anon conspiracy theorist. He came within two points of winning that election, then ran for city council in 2021, and for U.S. Senate the following year. Szuszkiewicz shared video of himself on Instagram outside the Captiol on January 6 near police in riot gear. Bothe before and since then, he has touted the support of the Kings County Republican and Conservative parties and several local Republican political figures.
Last summer, the Daily News reported that Republican Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny hired “a Brooklyn woman who cheered on the pro-Trump mob that staged a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol.” Though Brook-Krasny initially indicated Katherine Khatari would not continue as a staffer, in light of the revelation, he continued to keep her on as a state employee. Khatari has also served as an elected Republican Party district leader.
Two months ago, Vladislav Deshkovich, who considered himself a Republican candidate for local office and had frequently shared photos online that demonstrate his close connections to local conservative politicians, was arrested in Bay Ridge and charged with murdering his mother.
Of course, neither local Republican politicians, nor the Brooklyn Republican or Conservative parties, bear any responsibility for the actions of these individuals, but it is concerning how they have let so many of them into their inner circle, including supporting them as staffers or candidates.
