But You're Not Debi Rose
Has Kamillah Hanks Burned Her Staten Island Democratic Party Bridges?
By Richard Luthmann
NOTE: I’ve been getting calls from various friends about NYC Councilmember Kamillah Hanks and her “husband” Kevin Barry Love all week. Today, I got some great news from the Feds. I get to sue the shit out of them. See below and stay tuned!
“Step aside!”
“Excuse me, who are you?”
“I’m the Councilmember from the North Shore.”
“But you’re not Debi Rose.”
That was the humorous and somewhat telling exchange between an NYPD Officer and Staten Island North Shore City Councilwoman Kamillah Hanks at last week’s “National Night Out Against Crime” event in Midland Beach.
The NYPD Officer was tasked with controlling access to the stage where dignitaries like Mayor Eric Adams and Police Commissioner Edward A. Caban were set to appear.
Kamillah Hanks, a woman with a nose for a photo-op, scurried to the event stage like a bloodhound once the mayor’s entourage was in sight. But there was a problem. The cop had no idea who she was.
“Step aside!”
Imagine you are the NYPD Officer. I get the courtesy, professionalism, and respect part. I give this guy real props for not responding, “Who are you, or who the fuck do you think you are?”
You shouldn’t have to tell anyone who you are when you're important. I guess Kamillah Hanks spends most of her day telling people who she is.
Ask Kamillah Hanks’ “husband” and paramour, white millionaire real estate mogul Kevin Barry Love, and you will receive a lesson in delusions of grandeur.
“Mark my words, one day Kamillah will be Mayor, and these people better start toeing the line,” Love is reported to have said.
But most rational people think Kevin Barry Love is off his rocker. And he may be under investigation for lying to Federal Authorities to boot.
“If there was a nuclear apocalypse and Tappen Court was the only block miraculously saved in the City of New York, then maybe she could become Mayor. But even that’s not a sure thing,” said a well-known Democratic political consultant under conditions of anonymity.
Hanks Lives in Debi Rose’s Shadow
The Debi Rose quip is probably the most telling part of the episode, especially given Hank’s recent political snub.
Debi Rose has served her community for decades as an effective public servant and representative of the people, first as a community activist and then as the first black elected official from Staten Island.
Still beloved by the rank-and-file Democrats and determined to continue a life of service, Debi Rose was recommended by the faithful to be their new representative at the NYC Board of Elections.
The appointment requires an NYC Council vote, one Kamillah Hanks has blocked, going against the wishes of the Democratic County Committee and Chair Laura Sword.
Hanks was Debi Rose’s primary opponent in a 2017 campaign marred by “dirty tricks” and “Fake Facebook.” Hanks lost, with Debi Rose winning 70% of the vote. Hanks has publicly blamed Richard Luthmann for her 2017 loss, not the cookie-cutter campaign with no Election Day pull operation run by her over-priced political consultant from Queens.
“She’s only blocking Debi out of small-minded, petty vindictiveness, all because Debi publicly bitch-slapped her in the 2017 primary,” said a Staten Island Democratic County Committee member.
Recent developments may complicate an already tricky situation for Kamillah Hanks.
Richard Luthmann Gets Cleared to “Sue the Shit Out Of” Kamillah Hanks By the Feds
Richard Luthmann served as Hank’s campaign lawyer and was criminally prosecuted for creating a Debi Rose Fake Facebook page. Luthmann claims that Kamillah Hanks and Kevin Barry Love were his co-conspirators. Love negotiated Luthmann’s $25,000 fee to create the Fake Facebook page, and Love and Hanks directed Luthmann on what content to post.
Luthmann went away to federal prison, and the five-year statute of limitations for any criminal activity ran last year, in 2022. Luthmann says Kamillah Hanks and Kevin Barry Love were his co-conspirators and has shown evidence.
Luthmann’s conviction is currently being legally challenged for procedural defects and alleged criminal activity by the special prosecutor.
Back in 2017, the Staten Island Advance reported Debi Rose as saying:
"I urge the special prosecutor to obtain campaign communications between Hanks and Luthmann to determine if Kamillah Hanks is complicit in criminal campaign activity."
Debi knew it back then. It looks like now even the Federal Government believes Kevin Barry Love and Kamillah Hanks were Luthmann’s “Fake Facebook” accomplices.
The civil statute for debt collections on legal bills and all other obligations is six years. Luthmann first sued for the debts he was owed back in April of this year.
Genius Kevin Barry Love called the Feds and said Luthmann was harassing him by collecting valid debts.
Love also threatened Luthmann’s then-collections lawyers, engaging in conduct smacking of interstate menacing.
Because of Love’s activities, the Federal Probation Office told Luthmann he could not collect on the valid debts in April. Luthmann’s collections lawyers dropped him without so much as a phone call.
Kevin Barry Love and Kamillah Hanks have a big problem because Kevin Barry Love lied to Federal Agents in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001, a felony crime.
Earlier today, Luthmann was permitted by the Federal Government to reinstitute his cases against Love, Hanks, the Hanks campaign, and others:
When asked what he would do, Luthmann said, “I’m going to sue the shit out of them.”
Luthmann began with a measured tone.
“I deeply regret what I did and who I was in 2017. While I don’t believe the Facebook pages were legally wrong, I recognize they were morally wrong. I have attempted to make my personal amends to those I believe are deserving of an apology.”
He quickly went on the offensive:
“Kamillah and Kevin don’t believe what they did was morally wrong because I think they are sociopaths. But now, I will get a chance to get them on the stand. If I lost everything and three years of my life because of Fake Facebook, I think Kamillah Hanks should have to lose her NYC Council seat.”
“I would say that I’m going to throw the legal and political equivalent of a monkey wrench up their ass, but Kevin Barry would probably enjoy that,” Luthmann said.
Luthmann is not expected to see a penny of the money he will collect for services rendered in 2017. What is not taken in legal fees and expenses, he intends to use to pay off his restitution levy from his EDNY Federal Court conviction for wire fraud and extortionate collection of credit.
“I couldn’t give two shits about the money. The smartest thing these deadbeats could do is put the face value plus the 9% statutory interest on deposit with the court. Then, I’d have no hook to get Kamillah Hanks under oath to admit that she directed me to make the 2017 Debi Rose Fake Facebook Page and that Kevin Barry Love promised me $25,000 grand to do it as her and her campaign’s de facto agent.”
“It’s funny that they want a lawyer for the BOE spot because it’s clear they’re not lawyers. They don’t realize that the statute of limitation is up on the ‘crime.’ They can’t take the Fifth. I’m going to educate them painfully about what they don't know. The legal equivalent of a proctology exam without lube. But again, I run the risk that Kevin Barry might like that,” Luthmann said, smirkingly.
Luthmann was asked whether he would entertain a settlement.
“You can’t negotiate with crime because crime never pays. I would accept the full face value, plus interest, for my case and for everyone else they screwed in 2017. And now they would need to let Debi Rose onto the Board of Elections. Fair is fair,” Luthmann said.
He continued, “The only other deal I would accept involves ice cubes, KY Jelly, a farm animal, and Macy’s window. And again, I run the risk that Kevin Barry would enjoy it.”
Staten Island Democrats Are Pissed At Kamillah Hanks Over Debi Rose Snub
This past week's calls to Staten Island politicos yielded an earful about Kamillah Hanks.
“Kamillah Hanks is an undercover Republican, and everyone knows it. She is usurping the authority of the Democratic County Committee. We voted to make Debi our Elections Commissioner. We want our Community Board members. She’s another Trump. She thinks she’s bigger than the party and the only one that’s important. We’ll see how she feels in two years when we field a Real Democrat against her,” said one unnamed Staten Island Democratic county committee source.
For many, Debi Rose remains the only black Democrat woman ever to represent Staten Island’s North Shore.
One community activist said: “Debi is with us because she is us. Every time the community needed her, she was there. When Eric Gardner died, she was there. Every step of the march to social justice, she has been there. She has always been our voice. Who does that woman think she is trying to deny [Debi] for her own personal political gain?” she said, referring to Hanks.
Another activist said, “I will never forgive Kamillah Hanks for not protecting LGBT+ victims of domestic violence.”
And yet another community member took aim at Kamillah Hanks’ “husband”: “Kevin Barry Love is really pulling Kamillah’s strings, and he’s a closet Trump supporter. They are both white real estate developer assholes that don’t belong in politics. They belong in prison.”
Kamillah Hanks may have also alienated the County Committee, maybe irreparably unless she accedes to the will of the rank-and-file.
“I bet Laura Sword wishes the Dems would have run Amoy Barnes or someone else to eliminate Kamillah Hanks. She’s burnt a bridge she won’t be able to rebuild in the next two years, or maybe the next ten,” said a Staten Island political insider.
I even spoke to a source from within the Hanks camp who quoted Kamillah as saying, “Who the fuck does Laura Sword think she is? I made her County Leader, and I can take her out.”
It seems all the regular, everyday Democrats are rallying around Debi Rose, which could be dangerous for Kamillah Hanks’ political longevity.
They say it’s not over until the fat lady sings. But it sounds like she sure may be warming up for the current North Shore Councilmember.
If Kamillah Hanks wants to remain an NYC Councilmember, she’d better start behaving like someone her district respects and admires. She’d better start behaving like Debi Rose. But that may be a bridge too far. Even with all of millionaire Kevin Barry Love’s money, you can’t buy class.
Richard Luthmann is a writer, commentator, satirist, and investigative journalist with degrees from Columbia University and the University of Miami. Once a fixture in New York City and State politics, Luthmann is a recovering attorney who lives in Southwest Florida and a proud member of the National Writers Union.
“I am a journalist who writes about justice, the courts, government officials, prisons, and reform. You find some questionable players in all these places and often outright crooks. Exposing these bottom feeders from the outside is sometimes the only way to make them pay the price for their injustice and misdeeds.”
“I use satire and opinion to make my point. I have already been told to ‘stop writing about the Government’ by the U.S. Government, so I must be doing something right.”
“If you’re a victim of the system, maybe the press is the right forum for you. If you have experienced injustice and are tired of dropping tens of thousands of dollars without results, maybe it’s time to try the digital pen.”
Contact Richard Luthmann at 239-631-5957 or richard.luthmann@protonmail.com.
"Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum.” (Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, more obscure than public opinion, and more deceptive than the whole political system.)
~ Marcus Tullius Cicero
The news media is a critical check on the powerful, serving as a watchdog to hold elected officials and other public figures accountable for their actions. The media was first called the fourth estate in 1821 by Edmund Burke, who wanted to point out the power of the press. The press plays a crucial role in providing citizens with access to information about what is happening in government and by shining a light on corruption, abuse of power, and other forms of wrongdoing.