Joe Mondello, the Nassau and state GOP chairman, becomes the lightning rod for Republican complaints in this account -- just five months after he inherited a depleted party in the wake of Gov. George Pataki's departture.
One upstate Republican recently noted that governors always leave their state parties in shambles after multi-term incumbencies; witness the aftermath of both Nelson Rockefeller and Mario Cuomo. But someone is undoubtedly unhappy early on with Mondello. Could it have anything to do with the potential upstate-downstate rivalry within the Republican Senate conference?
Dan Janison