Critical US Congress Races Blasted by “Cryptocurrency” Millions
By Chris O’Neill
Two critical local primaries for US Congress – for Republicans in Huntington, Smithtown, and north shore Brookhaven (District 1); and for Democrats in Oyster Bay, Glen Cove and North Hempstead (District 3) - are being held this week on the North Shore.
In both races, opportunists who changed their party registration only a few months ago – to run for Congress – are being backed by millions in “Crypocurrency” money.
In District 1, Nick LaLota, the Republican Party choice – who is Chief of Staff to the Republican majority in the Suffolk Legislature, a Navy veteran, and former Amityville Village Trustee – is being attacked by a longtime Democrat and former Obama staffer, Michelle “Bond” of Maryland - who only changed her registration from Democrat to Republican in June. She also moved her voter registration from the Washington DC area, and rented a local short-term garden apartment, in June.
“Bond” has been blasted by most of the local media – including the Leader – as a total fraud - whose real name is not even “Bond” - but “Bogoja.”
Her real home is a $4 million mansion in Potomac, Maryland, where she lives with her boyfriend, and where her children attend school.
Regardless, the Washington DC Crypocurrency Lobby – with close ties to the Democrats – is spending over $1 million to promote “Bond” and try to snatch the Republican nomination from LaLota.
In District 3, Robert Zimmerman, the Democratic National Committeeman and Democratic Party choice – endorsed by Hillary Clinton and all the Democratic Party leaders – is being challenged by four challengers, most notably by Joshua Lafazan, a Nassau Legislator who ran last year as the Conservative Party nominee for Nassau Legislature, and only switched his registration to Democrat early in 2022, just to run for Congress.
The other Democrats running in District 3 include former North Hempstead official Jon Kaiman; and community activists Melanie D’Arrigo and Reena Rasool.
In the District 3 race, a Cryptocurrency billionaire, Samuel Bankman-Fried, who was actively courted by Lafazan, is now spending $500,000 to promote Lafazan against Zimmerman in the primary.
Zimmerman is supported by the AFL-CIO, most of the local labor unions, and Hillary Clinton, as well as the LGBTQ Victory Fund. He has raised $1.2 million.
Lafazan, with the support of the Washington Cryptocurrency Lobby, has now raised $1.5 million. The other three Democrats are all lagging far behind on fundraising.
All the Democratic candidates claim to be anti-gun, pro-abortion and climate sensitive. However, Lafazan used to frequent an all-male Gun Club in Glen Cove, where he made statements against gun control and for militias and gun rights. He also ran last year as the nominee of the anti-abortion Conservative Party.
The influx of millions of dollars in Cryptocurrency Lobby money is a new wild card that threatens to overwhelm the local political parties, and promote the opportunists.
A young crytpocurrency Billionaire named Samuel Bankman-Fried, age 30 - who lives in the Bahamas where the part of his business that is not legal in the US is based - and who donated $10 million to Joe Biden’s campaign - is personally funneling millions of dollars into New York Democratic primaries.
Bankman-Fried has pledged $500,000 to support Lafazan, and is also backing former Democratic Town Supervisor of Hempstead Laura Gillam in the Democratic primary in District 4 (mostly the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County).
In District 1, a cryptocurrency multi-millionaire named Ryan Salame - age 29 - a partner of Bankman-Fried’s and a fellow resident of the Bahamas – and a sometime boyfriend of “Bond’s” - is pouring over a million dollars into the “Bond” campaign.
Bankman-Fried, who made his money in promoting gambling, believes in what he calls “effective altruism” practiced via the “maximization of good through use of a cost-per-life-saved formula”. He has already donated $40 million – nearly all to Democrats - in this election cycle.
A strange ally of the Cryptocurrency billionaires is Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who came to Smithtown this week to campaign for “Bond” – the only elected official to support her. Cruz holds Bitcoin and has become a political ally of the Cryptocurrency Lobby. He calls for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to not be subject to currency regulations, which many economists see as a ploy to undermine the US Dollar and supplant it with a private cryptocurrency like Bitcoin.
In District 1, the Democratic candidate, Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming, is unopposed, however many local Democrats are supporting the “Bond” candidacy, on the theory that if they can defeat LaLota in the Republican primary, then the Democrat Fleming will have an easy path to election.
The Democratic Party strategy of secretly backing, financing and supporting fake candidates in Republican primaries is called the “Pied Piper” strategy – and was adopted by the Democratic National Committee in 2015 from a Memo written by the Hillary Clinton for President campaign.
The Democrats’ Pied Piper strategy calls for Democrats to promote fake and fringe candidates in Republican primaries to both waste the leading Republican’s money and resources, and try to force the Republicans to adopt extreme positions to hurt their chances with moderates and independents – helping more Democrats to win.