“A decorated combat veteran who was awarded a Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his service in Afghanistan, Max Rose has dedicated his life to serving our country and keeping our families safe. After returning home, Max continued to serve his community by working to deliver health care and substance abuse services to families in all five boroughs. A Staten Islander fiercely loyal to his community, Max’s independence will serve this district well, and as his campaign grows stronger he is increasingly well-positioned to flip this district in November.” –DCCC Chairman Ben Ray Luján
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To: Interested Parties
From: Evan Lukaske, DCCC regional press secretary
Date: June 26, 2018
Re: The Case Against Dan Donovan
The primary results in New York’s 11th Congressional District put Democrats in a strong position to flip this swing seat. The general election pits decorated combat veteran Max Rose against spineless politician Dan Donovan, who supports an agenda that hurts Staten Island and Brooklyn families. An Army officer who earned a Purple Heart and Bronze Star in Afghanistan, Max’s candidacy contrasts sharply with Donovan, whose support for a destructive Washington agenda has destroyed his reputation, and whose actions during the Republican primary exposed him as the self-serving and calculating politician that he is.
Consisting of Staten Island and parts of South Brooklyn, NY-11 is an urban swing district, voting for President Obama in 2012 and for President Trump in 2016. With enormous grassroots energy in the district, Max’s unprecedented strong candidacy and fundraising abilities, and Donovan’s damaged profile, Democrats are well positioned to win this seat this fall.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
“Grimm said he’s running against Donovan because he can ‘get things done.’ ‘The biggest problem about Danny is people got used to a congressman who was around and working 24 hours a day. I was seen everywhere and I was out there. …No one has seen him the last two years, but now suddenly he’s attending events,’ said Grimm.” [Staten Island Advance, 10/1/17]
“Grimm dismisses Donovan as a ‘wet noodle personality,’ adding, ‘He’s not gonna show up when a water pipe breaks in your basement.’” [WCBS, 6/6/18]
“If Donovan offered to intervene on Grimm’s behalf with Trump with the express purpose of keeping Grimm out of the race, that could prove problematic for the second-term lawmaker. Congressional ethics rules bar lawmakers from using their position for personal gain.” [Politico, 6/14/18]
“The winner will face a fierce opponent in Max Rose, an Army veteran and the presumptive Democratic nominee. The latest Federal Election Commission filings showed Rose had more than $1 million in cash on hand as of June 6, more than Donovan and Grimm combined […] Rose’s message as an independent-minded veteran echoes that of Rep. Conor Lamb, who pulled off a win earlier this year in what used to be a safe Republican seat in blue-collar southwestern Pennsylvania.” [National Journal, 6/20/18]
“Rose, who is friendly and energetic, may be aiming to be the kind of politician constituents want to grab a beer with.” [Inside Elections, 12/15/17]
DAN DONOVAN: SPINELESS POLITICIAN WHO OWNS GOP AGENDA
Grimm: Now That I’ve Thrown My Hat in the Ring, He’s Moving to his right!”
Prior to the 2018 elections, Donovan claimed to be a different kind of politician, one who puts people before party, and who did what was right for his district, regardless of consequence. That brand has been annihilated—by Donovan himself. As Grimm himself noted, “Now that I’ve thrown my hat in the ring, he’s moving to his right.”
Donovan has spent the last year proving to voters that he’ll say and do anything to get reelected. After Steve Bannon endorsed his opponent, Michael Grimm, Donovan pled with Bannon to “…look at my record I’ve supported the president 90% of the time with my votes. I’ve supported funding for the wall, I supported the travel ban, I supported immigration reform. I certainly am in favor of tax reform, the thing the president is trying to do now.”
Fearing for his political life, Donovan took his sycophancy a step further, using his official office for a political stunt that even Grimm called “arguably the most desperate act I’ve ever seen a sitting member of Congress do.” Appearing on Fox & Friends, Donovan held up portraits of President Trump and Vice President Pence and explained he had introduced legislation to require mounting their photographs in post offices. Grimm quipped, “I actually felt bad for him. I did. I actually felt that he’s embarrassing himself.”
In another sign that the primary caused Donovan to take destructive, right-leaning positions, he now supports keeping children in cages and separating families at the border, a cruel policy opposed by former first ladies, evangelical Christians, Catholics, and Republicans like NRCC Chairman Steve Stivers and even right-wing Senator Ted Cruz.
It all adds up to a spineless politician that will say and do anything to save his political skin. Donovan is no longer recognizable to the general election voters who have elected him in the past.
Pardon for convicted felon and tax cheat Michael Grimm
Congressional ethics regulations prohibit members from using their official position for personal benefit. But that’s exactly what Donovan may have done when he asked President Trump to pardon Grimm prior to the convicted felon’s entrance into the Republican primary.
During their first debate, Grimm accused Donovan of asking President Trump to issue Grimm a pardon, saying “you were offering pardons because you didn’t want me to run against you. You offered to help.”
Remarkably, it appears Grimm may have been telling the truth. While he disputes his motivation, Donovan acknowledged floating a pardon for Grimm to President Trump while they flew together on Air Force One.
Incompetence enabled theft of hundreds of thousands of tax dollars
Under Donovan’s incompetent watch as Staten Island district attorney, one of his most senior employees stole hundreds of thousands of Staten Islanders’ tax dollars. Just as troubling is that the Department of Investigation’s initial report directly faulted Donovan’s office’s ‘lack of internal controls’ and ‘absence of supervision.’
Many New York families are already facing higher taxes due to the GOP Tax Scam and they can’t trust Donovan to protect their hard-earned tax dollars when his incompetence and irresponsibility appears to have enabled a massive fraud.
Owns the Republican Agenda
Make no mistake—voters will hold Donovan accountable for a Republican agenda that increases taxes and hikes health care premiums on many Staten Island and Brooklyn families.
The Republican Tax Plan, a massive giveaway to big corporations and the rich, hits New York harder than almost any other state in the country. A key cause of the financial pain is the capping of the state and local tax deduction, a major tax break that saves New York families and homeowners thousands of dollars per year. Donovan was endorsed by President Trump as the candidate who shared his views on tax cuts, and he did indeed vote to advance the tax plan toward passage.
The other major “achievement” of this Republican Congress is the health care repeal bill—an effort Donovan campaigned on in 2015 and 2016—which would have gutted pre-existing condition protections, imposed an age tax on older New Yorkers, increased deductibles and out-of-pocket costs, and done nothing to lower the price of prescription drugs. Had the bill been signed into law, it would have resulted in more than 43,000 of his constituents losing their health care coverage. Donovan has long supported health care repeal, proudly touting during the primary campaign that “I’ve voted to repeal Obamacare seven times.”
Even though the bill ultimately failed in the Senate, Republicans did succeed in causing massive spikes in New York health care premiums. Citing uncertainty in health care markets due to Republicans’ successful efforts to gut the ACA through the Republican tax bill, New York insurers proposed premium hikes on New York families averaging 24% and topping out at nearly 39% for 2019.
THE PATH TO VICTORY
New York’s 11th Congressional District is a swing district that has voted for Democrats and Republicans. President Obama won the district in 2012, Senators Gillibrand and Schumer carried the district in 2012 and 2014, and Governor Cuomo won the district by a wide margin in his second reelection campaign in 2014. Notably, when then-Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan vacated the position to serve in Congress, voters elected Democrat Michael McMahon to succeed him. Democrats enjoy a wide registration advantage here, with 85,000 more Democrats than Republicans, and will look to capitalize on 2018’s unprecedented grassroots energy.
Max Rose is the strongest Democratic candidate to run for this district in years, and is in strong position to flip the seat. A decorated combat veteran, Max’s service cuts across party lines, and his work on health care and opioid treatment while chief of staff of Brightpoint Health resonates deeply in this community. Importantly, unlike past Democratic candidates, Max has lived on Staten Island for years.
Max is an excellent fundraiser who has raised more than $1.6 million and most recently filed with more than $1 million cash on hand. Meanwhile, Donovan filed with just over $500,000 and will have had to spend down to close to zero in order to win the bitter and bruising Republican primary.