BY: Keith S. Shikowitz, Editor in Chief/Investigative Reporter
It seems that campaigning for governmental office is a never-ending process. One election season ends, and the next one begins. Even as you are serving the constituency, you are campaigning for your re-election. We are only a month past the 2025 election and still eleven months from the 2026 elections and already everyone is starting the campaigning for the 2026 election. Congresswoman Elise Stefanik has already announced her bid for the governorship of New York. Congressman Mike Lawler, New York State Senator Bill Weber, New York State and Assemblyman Karl Brabenec are having events for their campaigns for re – election.
The Rockland County Conservative Party is getting in on this campaigning. They held a fundraiser at Bailey’s Smokehouse in New City on December 5, 2025. There was in the neighborhood of 200 or so people in attendance. The guest list was a who’s who of Rockland County elected officials and others running for state offices. Not to mention long time radio personality Sid Rosenberg. Michael Henry is running to kick Letitia James out of the New York State Attorney General’s office.
After Clarkstown Ward 1 Councilman elect Jon Valentino led the assemblage in the Pledge of Allegiance, Dimitri Naemit the vice chair of the Rockland County Conservative Party, emcee for the night, thanked everyone for being there to support the party.
“I’ll keep my remarks brief as we have a great lineup of speakers with us here this evening. I want to take a moment to congratulate all of our candidates who won this year, and I am proud to report that every single one of our candidates won this year. And not only are we going to win this year, but we’re going to re-elect Congressman Mike Lawler and Senator Bill Weber.”
He said that that’s a testament to everybody’s hard work in this room, and they must continue that hard work from every single person in this room, they’re going to need all the help they can get.
“Before we continue, I’d like to talk about someone very special who is no longer with us today, our committee member Margie Hook, who passed away a few months back. Margie was a true conservative from the very beginning, going back to the party’s founding in 1962. As the wife of a retired officer and a devoted mother of two, she was deeply rooted in our community. She attended town board meetings, spoke her mind, and never hesitated to stand up for what she believed in. Some may not have always agreed with her, but her loyalty, her spirit, and her commitment to the conservative values never wavered. She was a fighter. She was a believer, and she will be greatly missed. At this time, I ask you all to join me in a moment of silence to honor Margie.”
“As we celebrate our successes this year, we also know, like I said, that next year is around the corner, and we are already gearing up for the contest ahead, and I am confident that with your support, your energy, and your commitment, we will be victorious once again.”
“I also want to take a moment to reaffirm one of our core principles of our party. We proudly stand with our law enforcement here in Rockland County. We back the blue without hesitation. Our police officers, who are the ones who keep our neighborhoods safe, respond when we need them most and protect our families day in and day out. They deserve respect, resources, and leadership that supports them, and they will always have that from the Conservative Party.”
He then introduced Lawler to come and speak.
Scott Johnson stated, “One thing that can be said about Mike Lawler is that grass does not grow under his feet. He never stops going and doing things for the district. He was here tonight. Had to run to participate in an event and then is HOLDING another event on Sunday with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.”
“Well, good evening, everyone. It’s great to be here with all of you, and I especially want to thank Sam Naemit and Dimitri Naemit, and Bubba. They’ve been with me from the very start, and extremely instrumental in my success in politics, winning a state legislative seat in 2020 and winning the congressional seat in 2022 and again in 2024, and with their strong support, we’re going to win again in 2026!”
Lawler praised the Conservative Party’s efforts on behalf of candidates they support. “One of the things that has proven true many times which Dimitri just touched on, is the fact that those who have the Conservative Party’s support in Rockland County win. The Conservative Party has been instrumental in the success of everybody in this room, many Republicans, many Democrats here, but it is in large measure because they support people who care about this county, who care about the future of this county. Who want to see this county move forward and so I want to thank them for their leadership. I want to thank them for their commitment to Conservative values and for always being a great friend to the Republican Party, especially here in Rockland County. We can’t do it without them. So, thank you very much for your support. In truth, there’s nobody who’s a bigger animal when it comes to collecting petitions than Dimitri. I use that term as an endearing term because, he is an absolute bull and he goes and helps everybody up and down ballot, and I really want to thank Dimitri for that.”
He said he is proud of that and proud of the work that they’re doing to represent this community and this district saying he will never stop fighting for our district and will never stop representing everybody whether they voted for him or not, but he can’t do it without the support of everybody in this room, and he can’t do it without the Conservative Party.
“I want to thank the Conservative Party for their hard work and support. Lastly, I want to thank all of my staff, my team, everybody who’s involved, the Rockland County Republican Party. I especially want to thank Lauren Marie Wohl who does a phenomenal job as Vice Chair of the Rockland County Republican Committee. Lauren’s been a tremendous help to everybody in this room on the Republican side, and I want to thank her for that.”
“With that, unfortunately I am going to have to get down to New York City, but I did want to stop by for my buddy Sid. I just want to say on Sid. Sid is a tremendous guy. He really bleeds New York. He cares deeply about our state and our country. He fights every day on the airwaves and really has just been a tremendous friend to me and given me a great opportunity to come on his show on an almost weekly basis. I get more feedback from doing his show than just about anything I do, and it’s deserved because he really is the best radio show host in America. So, thank you.”
Rockland County Conservative Party Chairman Sam Naemit took to the podium. “Can’t see nothing.” He took his glasses out of his pocket and put them on. “Now I can see. Good evening, everyone. Thank you all for joining us tonight. Thank you for the Rockland County Conservative Party holiday celebration. It truly means a lot to see so many familiar faces and so many supporters in this room as we close out another busy year. I want to give a sincere thank you for my county executive board for everything they put in in this past election cycle.
It was not easy. But together with Trump and I am proud to say every single one of our of our candidates came out on the top.”
He said that doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because of their dedication and commitment to the people in this room. He also said that next year is going to be another big year, the governor’s race, congressional race, and a full slate of local races ahead of us. “The work starts all over again, and we’re ready to go do it. With your help and your support, we will be successful again next year. I want to wish everyone a very happy and a healthy holiday season.”
Dimitri Naemit introduced the Conservative Party State Chairman Jerry Kassar “Nothing like just coming off the road and walking into, not knowing you’re going to be saying anything. But let me say this to you. I think it’s appropriate to say Merry Christmas and happy holidays. There’s a certain uniqueness about being at this event tonight. In the entire state of New York, there are probably only a handful of places we can honestly say that we had a very good year, and this happens to be one of them, and Dimitri and Sam, congratulations.”
“Now I know you have amazing guest speakers but let me first say you have an amazing crowd. This is the crowd you get when you’re with a bunch of winners. Hey, as the state chairman of the party, I guess that makes me a winner too. Now, the only thing that would make this event better would be if your congressman was here.”
Lawler who was just heading out said, “I’m still here.” They shook hands and Lawler said his good byes.
Kassar told the group he was not here to take up much of their time. He actually didn’t know he was going to be taking up any of their time. “So let me just once again, it’s great to see you. You have a wonderful program. You have great leadership, and 11 months from now, I guess, let’s have more victories. I see Michael Henry here. He’s going to be our next Attorney General. I know Elise is not here, but Elise certainly is going to be our next governor. Joseph Hernandez is our next State Comptroller, We’ve got some wins coming up, and thank you all for all you do.
Senator Weber kept his remarks short, but his sense of humor was ever present. “It’s great to be here today. It’s great to know that we have someone like Sid Rosenberg here who’s a great radio personality. I don’t know why I can’t get a suntan like that. I went to Florida a few weeks ago and I came back looking like this. Well, you got to get a suit like that first, but I want to thank Sam and Dimitri Naemit. They’ve been great supporters of mine in the past. They’ve really gone over the top in terms of getting petitions. Dimitri is such an asset to the Conservative Party and to all the candidates that run, and we need to really show our support, our continuous support to them.”
He concluded, “We’re gonna have great victories next year. Listen when we have Congressman Lawler, myself, Elise Stefanik and Karl Brabenec we have such great candidates that are going up and down the table. We’re going to win next year. It’s not going to be easy, but we’re going to win because we have great people on the ticket from the top to the bottom, and I look forward to this taking on this great fight.”
Brabenec came to the podium next with the exuberance of youth.
This year the office of Attorney General is another position up for grabs this election cycle. Many people who I have spoken to are not satisfied with the job the current person holding the position is doing. Mike Henry is running to unseat her.
“The job of the person holding the office of state attorney general is to prosecute people who are committing real crimes in New York State. The order of things is find the crime and then find the criminal. Not the other way around, which is what Letitia James, our current Attorney General did. She ran on a platform of Trump is a criminal and I will find a crime to attach to him.” Said an attendee.
According to Henry, “We have chased, we have a brain drain because we’ve chased people out of the state. What does Tish James do? She goes after political officials like Steve McLaughlin, sues, indicts him over $3000 so he can get acquitted in 5 minutes. She sues the NRA so her case could get dismissed. Her $500 million crown jewel of a judgment against President Trump gets knocked out by the most liberal appellate court in the state of New York and everybody laughs, right? They think it’s funny, but it’s not funny because we all subsidized her deficient lawyer. It came out of our taxpayer dollars.”
Henry feels this is going to be a simple thing. “Letitia James thinks that the New York State Attorney General is the enforcer for the Democratic National Committee.”
Michael Henry knows that the New York State Attorney General is the people’s lawyer. It’s our lawyer, and it’s going to be our lawyer starting in 2027.
He took a shot across James’ bow, “I just want to clarify another thing just in case anybody’s wondering. Yes, my primary residence is in the state of New York and no, I’ve never married my father to get a mortgage. You know, she is saying everywhere this is my brother. Mamdani’s my brother and I couldn’t figure out why. I think it’s because she’s run out of co-signers in her own immediate family, so now she’s trying to get him to sign for her.”
“Thank you, and I want to thank the Rockland Conservative Party, especially Dimitri, who’s become a very good friend. Obviously State Chairman Kassar. Sid, who I actually interviewed before you ever actually interviewed me.?
He explained that a lot of people don’t know, is that in 2018, Letitia James won Rockland County. In 2022, Michael Henry won Rockland County, and in 2026, Michael Henry is going to win Rockland County again thanks to the support of everybody in this room.
“But I’ll tell you, in these 3 years, if you would have told me that as I travel, I would see a migrant crisis when no one even heard the term Tren de Aragua in 2022. I would see 3000 correctional officers get fired and barred from other civil service employment. I would see a war in agriculture. I’d see a drug epidemic throughout this whole state. I’d see an attorney general who just yesterday wouldn’t give up 7000 violent felon’s records to DHS. I would have never believed you!!”
“This is the simple thing. Moving forward, the Attorney General’s office is going to be a simple thing. We’re going to prosecute violent criminals and we’re going to protect communities. We’re going to work in conjunction with local law enforcement, including our correctional officers who are under attack. We’re going to investigate political corruption without favoritism. And we’re going to defend the constitutional rights of all law-abiding New Yorkers.”
He made the people in that room a promise, that he will extend to the entire state, the moment he’s sworn into this office, the political warfare that has been the trademark of Letitia James is done. It ends on day one, and they’re taking a new pathway forward for the state of New York.
“This office also controls a large portion of the economy, financial services, real estate, many industries. Moving forward, this office is going to have a simple thing we’re going to put in place, a competency test. If you follow the rule of law, you’ll have a job. If you want to be a social justice warrior, you can go work in Legal Aid because this office is not going to be weaponized. We’re not going to sue people into submission. We’re going to have bureau chiefs and deputy bureau chiefs that understand the industries they’re tasked with overseeing, and it’s going to be a simple thing. We’re going to restore public trust. We’re going to bring back integrity, and we’re going to make this your office again once and for all.”
Joseph Hernandez is vying for the office of Comptroller of New York State.
“Thank you for the warm hospitality. I’m happy to say I’m here because, because of Sid. He convinced me that I should run for politics. I’m kidding. I was being interviewed for him by him when I was running for mayor. I didn’t win, of course, I’m sorry to say,
You should really stay in this race and fight the good fight. We need more conservative people like you in this race, and I am delighted to be here to say I’m running again.
Hernandez is a Cuban refugee, the son of a political prisoner who came he at the age of 7. Can you imagine in Rockland. a Cuban refugee, this weather is not what he’s used to, but he is getting used to it. His father came here with nothing and washed dishes in the kitchen much like this one. His mother cleaned houses to put food on our table, and they taught the children 3 very important lessons.
They said, “Listen, in this country you have to work hard because nothing is free. I think that’s an ideology that we all agree on. The second thing they, they said was you’ve got to get educated because that’s your ticket out of this situation. And then the third thing they said was you have to love this adopted country. They gave you an opportunity that your own country didn’t even give you, and you’re lucky to be in a society that gives you this opportunity.
He added a 4th thing to his 3-item list…
He has made the most of the opportunities he got being here in America. He has proven that with hard work you can achieve anything you want to in this country. “The American Dream is still alive.”
“I’m going to run for comptroller because of a couple of reasons. First of all, you guys pay the highest level of taxes of anybody in the country and your taxpayer dollars are not respected unfortunately. We have immense abuse, immense fraud in the system, and the first thing I’m going to do is I’m going to create and put systems in place. I’m going to use technology. I’m a technologist at the end of the day. I’m going to use technology and artificial intelligence to find fraud and abuse. Then I’m going to call my friend in the office, the Attorney General’s, and be like, we’re going to have to put some people away because the reality is there are some criminals that are abusing your dollars, so we’re going to take care of them.”
The second thing he’s going to do is to rebuild the pension fund. NYS has a $290 billion fund, one of the largest in the country. Last year, the fund generated 5.8% return, which is dismal.
As far as Hernandez is concerned, that’s mediocre and doesn’t make any sense. “If you generate that kind of return on Wall Street, you get fired. So, we’re going to build an in-house team that’s going to invest the hard-earned money of people that worked for the state that gave their life to the state to make sure they have a good !!retirement, make sure they have a secure retirement. We’re going to generate better than 5.8% return. I guarantee you that.”
His final promise is “We’re going to ensure that we use the fund, which is a large fund, to invest in the economic development of New York, and I’m committed to setting aside $10 billion to invest wisely and things that are going to generate high returns but that create economic growth for New York we’re going to invest in artificial intelligence we’re going to invest in biotechnology, which is where I made my career. We’re going to invest in technologies and in tech, corporations and sectors that are going to really develop economic growth for the state. And we’re going to respect your dollars!! We’re going to respect you as taxpayers!! We’re going to ensure that every dollar that is spent is incredibly examined to make sure that there’s no abuse!!”
“I can’t imagine the little Cuban kid that had an opportunity to not only do the things I’ve done but also to have the honor to represent the people of New York. I thank you for that opportunity. I thank you for the honor of being here with all of you tonight. God bless the Empire State, and God bless this 250 year old experiment that we call America!!!”
The one thing that I have found about all of the elected officials, regardless of their political affiliation is that generally, where there is an event, you will find them there talking to the people. Ed Day is one of them. He will always find something to honor someone for.
Sid, with a bit of humbleness and comedy, came up to address the crowd. “Thank you very much. This is very nice. I just expected to get some barbecue and a, and a Diet Coke and I got a day named after me in Rockland County. You could imagine that. You people are great.”
He praised Michael Henry saying he thinks he’s great and is the man for the next Attorney general. His reasons were not only because Letitia James is as bad as Michael pointed out, but because Michael is that good. He wished him luck next November.
“Joe Hernandez is a Cuban man who’s come to America and made very, very well for himself. And he’s running for comptroller. Also, a terrific guy, a great story. So good luck to you, Joe Hernandez as well, big fan of yours.
He next relayed a conversation he had with Lawler.
“So, Lawler texts me on the way here. It was a long trip. It was like 2.5 hours. He said, ‘Did you write a speech?’ I said, Mike, I’ve never written one speech in my whole career, not once, but I spoke at Madison Square Garden for President Trump, my 4-hour radio show every day. I don’t write speeches. He says, ‘okay, I just want to tell you something.’ I said, ‘What’s that?’ He said, ‘Even though tonight you’re at a conservative Republican event, there’s a lot of Democrats there.’
“I said, bullshit. Come on, stop Mike.” He said, ‘No, Sid, and they listen to you every day.’ Now I said, Mike, now you’re really bullshitting.”
He then had some fun at their expense.
“We just had a mayor’s race, Joseph Rand. 7% of the vote and the state didn’t even back the guy. It doesn’t matter who he is, 7% of the vote. A lot of us are very excited about Elise Stefanik. I’m also excited about Bruce Blakeman. I’m a Nassau County guy as well. Either one of them will be much better than Kathy Hochul we can all agree to that, but that’s an uphill battle and there may be a relatively ugly primary along the way, which we don’t want to see, but it still may happen. And a lot of money spent too against each other, not against Kathy Hochul.”
His dislike of the current situation in the Republican Party was evident from his tone, not only his words. “We’ve seen the last couple of weeks, all the fighting in Congress. You guys know all about Marjorie Taylor-Greene, obviously, she’s leaving and even at least a couple of days ago, took her battle with Mike Johnson and made it very, very public, which I didn’t like. As it is right now, we’re looking at 219 in the house. We have to make sure we win the midterms in 2026.”
According to Rosenberg, we have all kinds of issues all across the country. He said that we have a great Rockland County, great Nassau County, and he’s got a country to worry about. Next Monday night, he and his wife Danielle will be in Washington DC because President Trump appointed him to his Holocaust Memorial Museum starting on Monday night. He’s going to go see the President at the White House on Tuesday, but the following week we’ve got two Hanukkah parties. December 16th, President Trump’s Hanukkah party. Hanukkah party the night before, JD Vance, the vice president.
“There’s issues there too, because there’s a lot of the Jewish voters out there that don’t really trust JD Vance
because he employs Tucker Carlson’s kid and a lot of Jewish folks don’t like Tucker Carlson. Candace Owens.
You know, they don’t work for President Trump, I understand that, but they are Republicans. I’m saying that, well, this is all beautiful and you guys are amazing, and you’re going to get big wins in November. But don’t lose sight of the big picture. If we take a beating in 2026, we’re just about done in 2028. And if we don’t fix some of these other issues like JD Vance and others, Trump’s gonna be gone, folks, one day.”
He knows it’s hard to believe, but could you imagine this country without President Trump? Even if you’re a Democrat, what the hell are you guys gonna talk about? He’s ruing the day, and you know, he’ll figure it out whether it’s JD Vance or he happens to like Ted Cruz. he loves Marco Rubio, I don’t know. But he’s going to be gone in a couple of years and then what? Then what do we do?
He gave the Republicans some advice. “Keep your eye on the big picture. There are issues inside of our party. I don’t want to unite the Democrats. I don’t care. God bless you. Do what you’ve got to do. That’s fine. But our party needs to come together. And that does start with winning these local elections. And guys like Mike Henry and Joseph Hernandez getting victories and taking out some really bad people.”
He didn’t hold back on his feelings for certain people running for office. “These are not just politicians. Letitia James is a very bad person. She’s a very bad person. I saw the guys running for comptroller, the guy from Manhattan, the former Brooklyn borough president. He’s a bad guy, Brad Lander. I mean, Brad Lander, no one comes worse than Brad Lander. So, we’re talking about not just bad politicians, but bad people.”
And I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or Republican. Are you guys not tired of bad people in office in the United States? I’m tired.”
“I said you know, oh, it’s Lawler, Mike Lawler talked about Nancy Pelosi. To Nancy’s credit for the better part of two decades, she did a pretty good job. She really did as the speaker. But then this thing happens to people. It’s called Trump Derangement Syndrome. She went from a respectable politician to somebody who did something about as treasonous as anything I’ve ever seen, ripping up the president’s speech at the State of the Union address. She actually did that, and that’s what’s happened to people. They’ve lost their minds. I’ve got relatives, I’ve got friends who are Democrats. They’re Democrats and they’re smart, good people. I don’t know what happens. They become dumb people. They go from very smart to very dumb.” He lamented.
His point to his statements is that the future of this country is us, Conservatives, Republicans. “Why? Because we stand for the right things. We don’t want drag queens reading to our kids at 9 o’clock in the morning in schools all across the city. We don’t want the government telling the parents, we can whack your kid’s penis off because that kid wants to be a little girl. We don’t want high taxes. We don’t want cities with, with huge crime issues and God forbid if the President of the United States throws in the National Guard because people are getting raped and murdered in the streets, that becomes a bad thing. We don’t want that!!”
“We are a party of common sense. We’re a party of law and order. This country was built as we celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah. This country was built on Judeo-Christian values. It has gone away. We want religion in our schools. We want our kids to have that. THEY DON’T!”
He concluded “I can break down everything that we want, and they don’t want. Even if you’re a Democrat, if you really take a look at it, makes you a little sick. So, this is the future. The Conservative Party here in Rockland County, the Conservative Party all across the country. So I expect to win big in November with you two gentlemen, especially. I expect to do well in the midterms in 2026. And I hope to God that the next President of the United States is somebody who’s in the White House, preferably tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for having me here.”
Barry Fixler, owner of Barry’s Estate Jewelers and a Vietnam Veteran was the final speaker.
Dimitri Naemit took time out to announce the elected officials and the community leaders that were at the event. He asked for people to hold their applause until the end, but as always happens at these events, no one listened and the applause continued through the announcing of each person.