Many Russian immigrants to the "red borough" of Staten Island are flocking to the Republican Party, according to a New York-based local newspaper. They say that the Democratic Party under President Obama is too "socialistic" and reminds them too much of the top-down oligarchy they fled in their native land.
Businessman Arkadiy Fridman told the website
SILive.com that the newly formed Citizens Magazine Business Club, a confederation of more than 50 Russian-owned businesses here and in Brooklyn, is aligning itself with the Molinari Republican Club (MRC) in an effort to increase the Russian community's political and economic clout.
"We decided we had to support this club," said Fridman, a former Soviet Army officer who came to the United States in 1992. "They are very close to our political and business vision."
Democrats "are going in an absolutely different direction," focusing on "income redistribution" and rich-versus-poor "class war," he said.
"It's too socialistic," said Fridman, head of the non-profit Staten Island Community Center and president of Citizens Magazine, a public affairs publication. "It's very painful for us to see."
The Democrats' national losses were seen as a rejection of President Barack Obama's health care reform law and other initiatives that opponents say went too far in pushing government control on Americans.
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