Ryan Toohey, Gov. Eliot Spitzer's former campaign manager, is expected to play a very hands-on role in Nassau Legis. Craig Johnson's bid to replace former state Sen. Michael Balboni. That's a clear signal the contest is high on Spitzer's priority list. Johnson's day-to-day campaign manager will be Brian Stedge-Stroud, who ran state Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousin's successful bid to unseat longtime state Sen. Nicholas Spano in Westchester during her second try last year.
On the Republican side, Nassau County Clerk Maureen O'Connell, who launched her first television ad yesterday, has secured political consultant Norman Adler, a longtime adviser to Long Island Senate Republicans, who will be the chief adviser and campaign manager.
State Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), the head of the delegation, is of course playing a major role after he lost Balboni to the Spitzer administration. If Democrats chip away at the Senate stronghold on Long Island it may not bode well for Skelos' aspirations of taking over as Republican leader of the Senate.
Meanwhile, Rory Whelan, top aide to State Sen. Owen Johnson (R-West Babylon), has taken a leave from the Senate payroll to do media for the Feb. 6th special election.
Asked during an interview yesterday about Toohey's involvement in the race Adler said, "I feel sorry for him because at least up until now he's been successful."
Projections are that both sides could spend as much as $4 million on the race, topping any previous legislative special election.
"Everyone in creation is consulting on this one," said a top state Republican.
Comments (2)
O'Connell mail already hitting the boxes.
LINK:http://thepoliticker.observer.com/2006/12/third-party-power.html: The relevance here is that O'Connell has the Independence & Conservative lines, like Maltese!That saved his rear end!Take note Malcolm Smith & Co!
Third Party Power
FILE UNDER: NY State Senate
State Senator Serph Maltese got 14,235 votes on the Republican line in his re-election bid against Albert Baldeo, who ran on the Democratic line and got 17,046 votes.
In most states, that would have made Baldeo the winner.
But here in New York, where the bizarre practice of cross-endorsing is considered normal, 1,621 Independence Party votes plus another 2,084 Conservative Party votes carried Maltese across the finish line.
Note the absence of another well-known third party: Working Families. They didn't make any endorsement in this race, seeing Baldeo, a relatively unknown, under-funded candidate as too much of a long-shot to help.
Oh well.
-- Azi Paybarah