Forget any idea that newly elected Gov. Eliot Spitzer would sit out the special election in Nassau's 7th Senate district.
The governor, backed by an assortment of other local elected officials, including Assemb. Thomas DiNapoli and County Executive Thomas Suozzi, will do a campaign appearance Friday to help boost the Democratic candidate, Legis. Craig Johnson (D-Port Washington), and show that both the state and local parties are united behind him.
Joseph Mondello, the new state GOP chairman, said Spitzer's appearance demonstrates that his appointment of the former Sen. Michael Balboni as his homeland security advisor was more politically motivated than first protrayed -- and that it was aimed at ousting the Republican Senate majority.
“It sound very controlling to me,” said Mondello who is also Nassau GOP chairman. “With all he has to do do to put a new adminstration together, to spend time interfering with the legislative process strikes me as a little surprising.”
Rick Brand
Christine Anderson, Spitzer's spokeswoman, confirmed that the governor's staff is looking to put together the joint appearance, but were "just nailing down the details" this afternoon. Sources say that they expect Spitzer to play an active role in the sprint campaign leading up to the Feb. 6 election.
Word of Spitzer's involvement comes only a day after Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Brunswick) said he hopes the new governor remembers now that he has talked about "partnering with Republicans." "I hope he remembers that going into this special election and recognizes that checks and balances are the best form of government and one party rule doesn't serve anybody's purpose," Bruno said.
Both Johnson and the Republican contender, County Clerk Maureen O'Connell, were screened Wednesday night by Independence Party officials, but the GOP made a glaring misstep prior to the screening -- by filing its acceptance of the minor party nomination before the screeniing was held.
"It's a bush league mistake," said Frank MacKay, state Independence Party chairman.
The minor party is expected to officially name its candidate Friday.
Comments (1)
but there'll be a lot of catching up at the beginning and it's only going to work if you can commit to it for an extended period.