Politics on the Hudson

 How long will state GOP chief Stephen Minarik stay on the job in the wake of the Democratic election sweep? Some Republicans say the sooner he’s gone the better.

  “I think we need a change immediately. I think we needed it three months ago,’’ said former Onondaga (Syracuse) GOP Chairman Bob Smith, who is still a state committeeman. “We’re broke money-wise. We’re broke spirt-wise. There is nothing left but ashes.’’

  Not all agree. Rockland County GOP Chairman Vincent Reda told our colleague Joseph Spector of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle that the party couldn’t just blame Minarik, who was handpicked by Gov. George Pataki last year.

  “All the cards were stacked against him,’’ Reda said. “All the promises by the governor were not fulfilled.’’

  Minarik, who remains Monroe County GOP leader, said he only took the job because Pataki asked. Technically, his term runs through September 2007.

  “I was asked by the governor to do that job,’’ Minarik told Spector. “Is it something that I would have predicted in the world I would do? No. But I am and I did the best I could.’’

  A flurry of phone calls has been underway since Wednesday about the post, Republicans said.

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