Even if Suffolk Co. Executive Steve Levy, who until very recently was a Democrat, manages to win the GOP gubernatorial nomination, it looks like he may end up getting severely Scozzafava’d.
The New York Daily News is reporting that the executive committee of the state’s Conservative Party voted this afternoon to endorse the candidacy of ex-Rep. Rick Lazio over Levy by a 13-5 vote. However, this doesn’t mean that Lazio has secured a spot on the ballot on the Conservative line, as the party will have a vote at a statewide convention in June to officially nominate a candidate. Levy’s team is vowing to win that endorsement, but Conservative Chair Mike Long (who, incidentally, is calling Levy’s candidacy “an affront” to Conservatives) may attempt to bump up the convention in order to secure the ballot line for Lazio early:
The Conservative Party’s convention isn’t until June, although Long has suggested he might move the date up to May in hopes of forcing the GOP’s hand.
This gives Levy and Paladino plenty of time to lobby the executive committee members and try to woo them away from Lazio in advance of the weighted vote that will result in the formal nomination of a candidate.
But Long said he believes his members will remain loyal to Lazio, adding:
“This is the body that issues the Wilson Pakula. That membership is not going to change. This is where we’re going to be. We’re going to be behind Rick Lazio, and he’s riding it all the way to November.”
If successful, Long’s play would force the GOP to either abandon their more electable candidate (Levy) in favor of the underwhelming Lazio, or march willingly into another Scozzafava-esque sawmill. Lazio, for his part, is vowing to stay on the Conservative line through November, which would virtually doom Levy’s chances:
“I commit to running on the Conservative line all the way through to election day,” Lazio continued. “I thank Chairman Long for his principled leadership and his deep commitment to the values we share as conservatives.”
I think I may just O.D. on cat fud tonight.
UPDATE: Diarist Hudi11 makes a great point: If Lazio gets the Conservative nomination and Levy gets the GOP nod, Lazio could conceivably come in second (and Levy 3rd or worse), pushing the Republicans past Column B for the next four years in New York. Now that would be something!
we might see Gov. Paterson serve another term.
Democrat – 45%
Republican – 30%
Independent – 25%
Cuomo – 85/20/65 = 60%
Lazio – 0/35/10 = 14%
Levy – 15/45/25 = 26%
Cuomo – 95/25/65 = 67%
Lazio – 5/75/35 = 33%
Cuomo – 85/20/65 = 60%
Levy – 15/80/35 = 40%
me to send a check to the conservative party. Seriously if I was a republican I would HATE these people.
GOP had a similar debacle in 1990. Mario Cuomo was running for his 3rd term. GOP nominated Pierre Rinfret for run. Rinfret was a shoot from the hip (to his own foot) millionaire that NY county GOP chairman (and super liberal Republican) Roy Goodman bascially plucked out of his rolodex to be the GOP nominee. This was all done prevent Herb London from getting the GOP line. London ran on the Conservative Party line and ran only about 38,000 votes (abouut 1% of total votes cast) behind Rinfet.
Cuomo won the election with a surprisingly low 53% of the vote. Leading many in the GOP to kick themselves for not finding a real candidate to run against Cuomo.
Is history repeating itself?
Also keep in mind how imporant getting Column B is in NY State. Not only would the GOP lose the 2nd ballot spot but they would also lose the ability to make appointments to the Board of Election. Only the Partie that comes in 1st & 2nd in NY gubernatorial elections gets to appoint members to the Board of Elections. So if the Conservatives come in 2nd than the boards would be made up of Dems and Conservative party members only.
Also splitting with GOP is a big risk for the Conservative Party. If Lazio’s campaign implodes (ala Andrew Cuomo in 2002) and he stops campaigning or withdraws the Conservative Party could be risking their ballot spot.
Also keep in mind since the final decision on all this doesn’t come until June there is still time for things to change or for a GOP White Knight to ride in get the nomination and make all this moot.
For example if a Rudy Giuliani changes his mind and decides to jump in or somebody else decides to run this could all change.