Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Let's take a look at the other party - our local Republican neighbors
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
While the local Democrats are in a vocal 2005 election struggle, with four Mayoralty, four Public Defender, seven Councilmanic District #2 and four CD #4 candidates vying for public support in the September 13th primaries, the Republicans have a different problem. The November 2006 election is getting to be a serious concern for the state GOP politicos. Gov. Pataki’s decision not to run leaves the Republicans without a clear-cut candidate. Frank Scala, the affable district leader of the local club, Vince Albano Republicans, provides some insights.But first a little background on the Republican organization in our area.The Vincent F. Albano Republican Club is the active organization for the74th Assembly District, from Waterside Plaza through Alphabet City and theEast Village. The 74th AD East part – District leaders Frank J Scala andSusan C. Cooper – covers ST/PCV. There is also a South part – DLs IsabelM. Pena and Bryan A. Cooper, a North part - DLs Phillip Caracci andElizabeth Schacht, and a West part – DL Dena Winokur, PhD.The club is named for the legendary NY Republican County Chairman VincentAlbano, who guided many local politicians to office, such as Congressmen Theodore Kupferman, John V. Lindsay and Bill Green, and State Senators Roy M. Goodman and Whitney Seymour. Albano passed away in 1981, a yearafter leading an unsuccessful G. W. H. Bush delegation into the 1980Republican Presidential Convention.The current Republican concern is to find a presentable Gubernatorialcandidate, to overcome the huge lead of the activist State Attorney GeneralEliot Spitzer, who has no serious Democratic opponents. The State party hasnot succeeded in luring either ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani, current MayorMichael Bloomberg, or ex-secretary of State Colin Powell into the fray, andhas to contend with making a choice from a huge list of lesser lights.
The menu includes B. Thomas Golissano, the Rochester industrialist who ran as anIndependence Party candidate in 2002, garnering 15% of the vote againstPataki, attacking the Governor’s economic record and angering the partystalwarts in the process. It cost him $75M, and he’s ready to spend again.The less monied but more politically acceptable candidates are led byCongressman John Sweeney of Hudson Valley, a GOP favorite with no priorstate-wide exposure, Assemblyman Patrick Manning from the same area, unknownexcept for a commendable effort to reform the undemocratic NYS leader-dominated legislative system, Lieutenant Governor (twice) Mary Donohoe,former prosecutor and judge who has been chafing in Pataki’s shadow, theeffective NY Secretary of state Randy Daniels, a African-American, formerCongressman Rick Lazio from LI, outscored by Hillary in the 2000 Senaterace, and Assemblyman John Faso, a Conservative. There is also thestrange case of jovial and wealthy William Weld, former Governor of Democratic Massachusetts and unsuccessful candidate for Ambassador to Mexico (blocked by Jesse Helms), who returned to his native New York some years ago, but is no Hillary ingenerating local support for a newcomer.Speaking of Hillary, Westchester County District Attorney Jeannine Pirro, the candidate of NYS Republican Chairman Stephen Minarik (of Monroe, a suburban Rochester county, you’ll hear of him more later), has decided to vie for the Senator’s seat, claiming that Mrs. Clinton has been using her public servant’s status as a springboard for herPresidential ambitions. The photogenic Pirro has her own luggage, in theform of her husband Al’s conviction for tax evasion. Although a 2 to 1underdog, Pirro hopes to win party favor by injuring the Senator enough to hurt her chances in 2008. Meanwhile, NYC lawyer Edward Cox, a son-in-law or Richard Nixon’s, is seen as a more serious candidate by many Republicans, and will contest. Surprisingly, the NY Post does not like Pirro; evidently, it is more expeditious to be nice to Mrs. Clinton, a candidate of unlimited horizons. The other statewide offices in contention are less defined. Comptroller Allen Hevesi has no serious Republican opposition. As for Attorney –General, Democratic candidates abound. Former Secretary of HUD Andrew Cuomo has to contend with his former brother-in-law Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Assemblymen Richard Brodsky, Mike Gianaris and the ever-hopeful Mark Green.
So where does that leave for the Albanos? The obvious, to work for the reelection of our Republican Mayor in 2006, and, for the immediate 2005 run, to back Patrick Murphy for Eva Moskowitz’s vacated 4th Councilmanic District seat. There is also a Republican candidate forthcoming for the 2nd, formerly Margarita Lopez’s seat. The GOP has no viable candidates for the Manhattan Borough President and the Public Defender offices - that’s the kind of city this is.
As for the state-wide 2006 run, the local GOP people would like Rudy Giuliani, good but unattainable, and might accept William Weld, a recently returning native New Yorker, as potentially the most effective, with his stature, looks, public record and money-raising capabilities. Golissano is too right-wing for our local Rockefeller Republicans (“he speaks up for the working people but jobs keep disappearing).”
Wally Dobelis also thanks Gary Papush
While the local Democrats are in a vocal 2005 election struggle, with four Mayoralty, four Public Defender, seven Councilmanic District #2 and four CD #4 candidates vying for public support in the September 13th primaries, the Republicans have a different problem. The November 2006 election is getting to be a serious concern for the state GOP politicos. Gov. Pataki’s decision not to run leaves the Republicans without a clear-cut candidate. Frank Scala, the affable district leader of the local club, Vince Albano Republicans, provides some insights.But first a little background on the Republican organization in our area.The Vincent F. Albano Republican Club is the active organization for the74th Assembly District, from Waterside Plaza through Alphabet City and theEast Village. The 74th AD East part – District leaders Frank J Scala andSusan C. Cooper – covers ST/PCV. There is also a South part – DLs IsabelM. Pena and Bryan A. Cooper, a North part - DLs Phillip Caracci andElizabeth Schacht, and a West part – DL Dena Winokur, PhD.The club is named for the legendary NY Republican County Chairman VincentAlbano, who guided many local politicians to office, such as Congressmen Theodore Kupferman, John V. Lindsay and Bill Green, and State Senators Roy M. Goodman and Whitney Seymour. Albano passed away in 1981, a yearafter leading an unsuccessful G. W. H. Bush delegation into the 1980Republican Presidential Convention.The current Republican concern is to find a presentable Gubernatorialcandidate, to overcome the huge lead of the activist State Attorney GeneralEliot Spitzer, who has no serious Democratic opponents. The State party hasnot succeeded in luring either ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani, current MayorMichael Bloomberg, or ex-secretary of State Colin Powell into the fray, andhas to contend with making a choice from a huge list of lesser lights.
The menu includes B. Thomas Golissano, the Rochester industrialist who ran as anIndependence Party candidate in 2002, garnering 15% of the vote againstPataki, attacking the Governor’s economic record and angering the partystalwarts in the process. It cost him $75M, and he’s ready to spend again.The less monied but more politically acceptable candidates are led byCongressman John Sweeney of Hudson Valley, a GOP favorite with no priorstate-wide exposure, Assemblyman Patrick Manning from the same area, unknownexcept for a commendable effort to reform the undemocratic NYS leader-dominated legislative system, Lieutenant Governor (twice) Mary Donohoe,former prosecutor and judge who has been chafing in Pataki’s shadow, theeffective NY Secretary of state Randy Daniels, a African-American, formerCongressman Rick Lazio from LI, outscored by Hillary in the 2000 Senaterace, and Assemblyman John Faso, a Conservative. There is also thestrange case of jovial and wealthy William Weld, former Governor of Democratic Massachusetts and unsuccessful candidate for Ambassador to Mexico (blocked by Jesse Helms), who returned to his native New York some years ago, but is no Hillary ingenerating local support for a newcomer.Speaking of Hillary, Westchester County District Attorney Jeannine Pirro, the candidate of NYS Republican Chairman Stephen Minarik (of Monroe, a suburban Rochester county, you’ll hear of him more later), has decided to vie for the Senator’s seat, claiming that Mrs. Clinton has been using her public servant’s status as a springboard for herPresidential ambitions. The photogenic Pirro has her own luggage, in theform of her husband Al’s conviction for tax evasion. Although a 2 to 1underdog, Pirro hopes to win party favor by injuring the Senator enough to hurt her chances in 2008. Meanwhile, NYC lawyer Edward Cox, a son-in-law or Richard Nixon’s, is seen as a more serious candidate by many Republicans, and will contest. Surprisingly, the NY Post does not like Pirro; evidently, it is more expeditious to be nice to Mrs. Clinton, a candidate of unlimited horizons. The other statewide offices in contention are less defined. Comptroller Allen Hevesi has no serious Republican opposition. As for Attorney –General, Democratic candidates abound. Former Secretary of HUD Andrew Cuomo has to contend with his former brother-in-law Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Assemblymen Richard Brodsky, Mike Gianaris and the ever-hopeful Mark Green.
So where does that leave for the Albanos? The obvious, to work for the reelection of our Republican Mayor in 2006, and, for the immediate 2005 run, to back Patrick Murphy for Eva Moskowitz’s vacated 4th Councilmanic District seat. There is also a Republican candidate forthcoming for the 2nd, formerly Margarita Lopez’s seat. The GOP has no viable candidates for the Manhattan Borough President and the Public Defender offices - that’s the kind of city this is.
As for the state-wide 2006 run, the local GOP people would like Rudy Giuliani, good but unattainable, and might accept William Weld, a recently returning native New Yorker, as potentially the most effective, with his stature, looks, public record and money-raising capabilities. Golissano is too right-wing for our local Rockefeller Republicans (“he speaks up for the working people but jobs keep disappearing).”
Wally Dobelis also thanks Gary Papush
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 3:58 AM 
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My name is Barry Popik, and I'm the Republican and Liberal candidate for Manhattan Borough President. If you want to criticize me, first take a look at www.barrypopik.com. Then talk to me. I am as viable as any of the Democrats--more so, in fact. It is true that there is no Republican candidate for Public Advocate, so you can say there's no "viable" candidate there.
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