Spano, DiFiore get Conservative nod
County Executive Andrew Spano and District Attorney Janet DiFiore got the nod from the Conservative Party Thursday night.
The endorsement makes Astorino’s run all that more difficult and has many rank-and-file Conservatives upset because they do not believe Spano is a true Conservative.
The Astorino camp said the party was “hijacked (Thursday) by those who would put personal interest above fiscal reform.”
Read Phil Reisman’s take here.
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What is going on with Doug Colty I thought he would have some clot here. All this work on the Republican side for what.
Many would say that Rob Astorino high jacked the Independence Party line when he made a deal with Cavallo and Zherka along with Tony Castro. Now Rob Astorino complains when he does not receive the Conservative endorsement that it was hijacked. Rob does not understand politics, the Conservatives endorsing him would give him an outside chance of winning, the Conservatives supporting Andy Spano almost guarantees him a victory. Why would the Conservatives bet on a long shot who is less qualified for the job? Putting politics a side experience does matter and I am sure the Conservatives supported Andy Spano because they believe he is best suited to lead Westchester County. Rob, do you think true Conservatives are pleased with your affiliation with Zherka and Cavallo? You are judged by the company that you keep.
Talking about rank and file not supporting a candidate, do you believe for one minute that the Independence Party rank and file would support Rob Astorino? The answer in “No”. Cavallo and Zherka endorse who they want and they tell their party who they are endorsing. If Mr. Astorino is going to argue the point of an endorsement being “Hijacked” he must look at himself and argue against his own Independence Party endorsement.
Good point RJ, well said.
rj has a point..but the problem is the policy which
allows these minor parties to cross endorse
in the first place…the republican county leader has no
clout because he needs the minor parties not the other
way around…the minor parties are the tails the wag
the dogs….but in this instance cavalo got carried
away by making a deal with zherka ..they were going to
stop the re election of andy spano by using his son,
tea parties etc to make it appear that andy was a tax
and spend liberal…instead of simply backing the republican
and allowing the republican to make the point, zherka
and cavalo became the center ring in the circus…the
conservative party took a look at cavalo beating his
breast and controling the agenda and said to itself
we can do the same..and we can marginalize cavalo and
zherka at the same time..and so andy spano gets the
conservative nod…you will notice however that left
out in the cold in all of this is poor dan schor…
a republican nominee who cannot get conservative support
for da…what does that tell you about colety’s ability
to lead …Di fiore by the way won the nomination 4400
1200 that is 3 1/2 to one…so there was a lot more going
on in the conservative party that led to their overwhelming
support of janet over anyone else..conservatives still like
their law enforcement to be mature professional and experienced ..so they can argue all they want about
county exec…but for all intents and purposes the da
election is over
What a bunch of bull! No one could possibly argue that Andy Spano has a conservative bone in his whole body. Andy is a liberal without question and has governed that way for 12 years. The only reason that Andy got the Conservative line is that Nick Spano still controls the Conservative Party and he worked hard to deliver the votes to Andy Spano at the convention, and in doing so Nick Spano helped his lobby business and helped his brother Mike’s future in the Democratic Party. Case closed, no research necessary – this is what happened last night – ask anyone involved that is dealing with the truth. The Conservative Party in this County no longer has any shred of principal and has permanently sold its soul. This is an absolute disgrace and the perfect example of why people are so disgusted with politics. An investigation should be conducted by the Attorney General into this whole sordid episode.
Sorry to have to say it, but you have all lost your personal credibility with me and I would imagine that I am far from alone. All of you have a finely- honed political perspicacity but no center of intellectual or philosophical gravity. You seem more interested in grudges and self-satisfaction than effective governance. For Rj to say, to wit: “Im sure the Conservatives supported Andy Spano because he is best suited to lead Westchester County” is either outright mendacity or naivete in the extreme, or both. For Consultant to vociferously promote the flip-flop DiFiore candidacy to the point of ignoring the reality of her personal self-aggrandizement at the expense of the larger issues that contribute to effectively eroding the waning Republican voice in this State is shameful. Machiavelli would be proud of all of you.
This is all about the Spanos: Nick, Andy, Mike—the lot of ‘em. They have sold out the taxpayers in this county. Time to get rid of them all.
As for Dan Schorr, he will win, obviously he is the only honest person running for office.
All Spanos in Westchester( related by blood or just corruption) and Mayor Amicone along with his staffers made big mistake last night. Their days are numbered! This is going to be fun to watch. Spano a conservative? What a joke. Westchester residents deserve better. They will get it too when Rob Astorino becomes Westchester County Executive.
I’d like to see how Janet is going to explain her affiliation with those “evil” conservatives to Democratic primary voters. These are the same voters that lost sleep at night thinking about Sarah Palin last year. This was a dumb move on her part and makes her vulnerable to Tony Castro. If Castro is smart, he will exploit this. Former Repub that takes the Conservative line—oh how the libs in Scarsdale will love that!
you have no idea what you are talking about..tony castro
is backed by sam zherka…zherka is under criminal investigation in manhattan..you think that scarsdale voters
will like that…I doubt it…and since when do conservatives not want an effective and experienced da..
democrats want the same thing from their da as everyone
else… castro gets less than 20% of the vote
ed 1 you miss the point…ideology is not the issue
in a da’s race…once these minor parties let it be known
that they held the balance of power their endorsement is
fair game for either side…you should note there is no
democratic or republican way to fight crime…that is a
quote from frank hogan the democrat da of manhatttan
talking about carl vergari the republican da of westchester
julio cavalo made it clear years ago he would never again
support difiore..then he made a deal with zherka..now
its poltical payback time for them both
It seems that people on this blog forgot that Andy Spano has run before with the Conservative line.
Andy Spano, Janet DiFiore and Tim idoni will contue to do a fine job for the residents of Westchester County.
he may have run before with the line..but not last time
he got it when larry horowitz ran against him hardly a
legitimate contender…this is not about andy however
its about the power ceeded to the minor parties and
how over the years they came to recognize that they
were more imporatant than either of the two major
parties
Your argument about ceding power to the minor parties applies more to the republicans then the democrats. Needless to say the democrats are always happy to receive the support of minor parties, but it is not always needed to win. The democrats have approximately 100,000 more registered voters then the republicans and can win without other party lines. On the other hand it is virtually impossible for a republican to win without the minor party endorsements. For the democrats it just adds to their enrollment advantage and strengthens their ticket when they receive the support of a minor party. It is nice to see the democrats working with the conservatives to back a good candidate.
The Republican Party’s real problem is their lack of leadership; they have no long term plan. A real leader would lay out a 2, 5 or a 10 year plan and set some goals as to how they are going to reorganize. If I were the Chairman of the Republican Party I would concentrate on developing new energetic republicans and start winning local races and establish a base to build from. You must build a foundation if you are seeking to build an organization that is going to sustain long term growth.
If you’re going to build a foundation, best to see to it first that the ground you’re building on is not infested with once deep-cover termites, evolved into spitting and demonstrative, destructive insects the likes of the Spano brothers, DiFiore, Bruno, et al. If it weren’t all so blatantly self-serving, we’d be left scratching out heads.
I should note that “there’s no Democratic or Republican way to fight crime?” Getting quite a bit of mileage out of that old “Frank Hogan” quip. My research tells me that the Mugwumps rallying cry in 1884, “there is no Democratic or Republican way to pave the streets” somewhat predates Frank Hogan. As a matter of fact, you can fill in the blank after “way to…” as has been recently spouted by Arlen Spector …(to solve this problem,) LaGuardia…(to pick up the garbage,) Randi Weingarten…(to teach a student,) Schwarzenegger…(to fix a pothole,) Bill Clinton…(to run a machine shop,) and on and on. Tell it all to Sheldon Silver, no to me. He likes useless, trite rhetoric disguised as wisdom.
If CP members refuse to carry the Spano petitions, this is the beginning of the end for Andy Spano. It will show how desperate he has become to retain power, followed by stark puic rejection. This could be the moment this race turns. Spano should have neen careful what he asked for.
Machiavelli loved “VIRTUE” in ruler’s he would not be proud at all.
VJ Machiavelli
NO MORE SCHUMER
NO MORE PELOSI
NO MORE RANGEL
NO MORE ENGEL AND HIS MILLION DOLLAR HOME IN MARYLAND
I hear Doug Colety, Westchester Republican Chair, is publically upset about Andy Spano receiving the conservative endorsement. But behind the scenes, I also hear from good sources that Colety has made his deal with Nick Spano for campaign mailings, the only thing Colety cares about. The proof of this will be if Colety fires Nick Spano’s sidekick Steve Levy, the republican party rep on the County Board of Elections. Colety talks a good game, but now he needs to support Astorino with actions and slap the Spano’s where it hurts.
Are the Spano-Colety deal rumors true? We’ll know very soon.
That’s the stupidest thing I’ve read today. Keeping smoking it, PJ.
publicly upset..he should be mortified..when was the last
time a republican leader could not deliver the conservative
nomination to a legitimate republican contender….the
answer is NEVER….
colety made a huge error when he did business with
cavalo…supported tony castro at an IND party fundraiser
abandoning schor in the process….now there is effectively
no contested election for county executive..ie no choice
great job
Colety should never haved been made County Republican Leader with his business of mailings et al.. it is a pure conflict of interest.
He may have brought some of the 20th century into the party with technology, but he hasnt used it properly except to robo call people.
He hasn’t stirred up’grassroots’- getting people excited about being a Republican, siezing the huge mistakes made by the county’s (dems)- huge money grabs, purchasing the white elephant as payback, etc… none of this triggered his calling for investigations, getting rally’s –
other than the zerka’s staged tax gatherings, which no one in their right minds wanted to be associated with.
A few emails does not make a party. I think the Republ party is sick and tired of the ineptitude that has been installed in the hierarcy now and in the recent past. Unable to release reigns of the past to move forward.
We are only left with agendas of a few which who want to to gobble up our tax money, no matter who they have to deal with.
if the republican party wants to rebuild in westchester
they have to reject alliances with people like cavalo
and zherka…and they have to pick and choose their
spots…like a prizefighter…astorino would have given
spano a great race..but the whole david spano sam zherka
julio cavalo thing made the spano people itch for payback
and colety was in the line of fire having made his deal
with cavalo…the person who should be outraged is
dan schor…as soon as colety attended the cavalo fundraiser
for castro while schor was the republican nominee, schor
should have issued statements and taken action..instead
he was too afraid to do the right thing, he allowed
the lawsuit in the ridley case to be started without
saying a word …in the hopes colety would secure the independent and conservative lines for him..now schor
is a one line candidate who if he gets 30% of the vote
will be doing well
and conservative lines som
D
Gentlemen and Ladies,
Don’t confuse how you feel and what you believe from an honest assessment of what is going to happen.
Spano, Idoni and DiFiore are all going to win. Period. There are too many Democrats countywide, and the vast majority don’t know now and won’t know later why Astorino is better than Spano (if he is). Andy has the money to get a message out, he has name recognition, he has the Conservative line, he has an extra 100,000 Dems. Many, because of generic identification with Dems on social issues, i.e. choice, would vote for a donkey himself on the Democratic line. But that’s the way it is. Keep in mind, for roughly 90 years that’s the way it was for Republicans, as they won nearly every race in sight. All the blog-arguments won’t change any significant number of minds.
The real battles are and will be in the Democratic Primaries to come. That’s where influence will be found – for Yonkers Mayor in 2 years, or the Alvarado County Leg. seat this year; in the race to succeed Lois Bronz. In the Mt. Vernon Comptroller race. And there will be more of that coming – when Andy Spano leaves, when Nita Lowey leaves, when Richard Brodsky leaves, etc.
In certain places- Harrison, Eastchester, Mt. Pleasant, sections of Yonkers and New Rochelle, some up-county towns, Republicans still have juice. But the overwhelming votes in White Plains, Greenburgh, Mamaroneck, Mt. Vernon, Ossining, New Rochelle, Scarsdale, Chappaqua, Rye Brook, etc. will wash away the few Republican bastions. And the trend line will grow.
Wise conservatives should head to Dutchess and Putnam where they still can win elections. The tide has already reshaped the Westchester political shoreline, and it ain’t changin’ back.
DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOFUS!
At least in the old days around town, one knew who was a Republican and who was a Democrat. They walked the walk. No matter what your ideology or which way you voted, you at least knew what you were getting. Today, they’re all in bed together, screwing and pleasuring each other for their own benefit, not the public’s. It might be justifiably called political incest. Not only are they in bed together, they’re related!
Doofus that was well said! I remember the days of the top republicans calling all the shots, Albanese, O’Rourke, Pirro (Al and Jeanine), Tenore, Brady, Pataki, etc. Back in those days you had to kiss the ring of the Chairman of the Republican Party just to get a crumb. Now that the republicans lost all their juice and steam they are crying about politics. Politics is politics and when you are in the game you win some and you lose some, or maybe you lose because the way you play the game is flawed. The bottom line is the democrats have the enrollment and they have the platform that plays to their party members and when you add the two together you have a victory in November – end of story.
rj is correct that to the extent that republican took
for granted the support of the conservative party even
before there was an IND party..it put them over the top
in a lot of close elections..then the IND party started
making the difference but as long as republicans were
the beneficiaries they didn’t complain..now the shoe
is on the other foot…because the registration almost
dictates a democratic win..the minor parties now feel
that they would be taking a real chance in baking a losing republican when they can go with a sure winner ..that
however is not corruption..it is political gamesmanship
change the law about cross endorsments and you put
the game back where it belongs in the hands of the
voters not the minor party leaders
Like college sophomores who got a ‘B” in ‘Introduction To Literature,’ and now, over beers, solemnly and pompously define and explain the intricacies of ‘Ulysses’ to one another, you’re all missing grasp of the larger and essential philosophical, moral, and ethical tenets necessary for a successful, intelligent method of governance. It is unfortunate that too many people who reach an intellectual roadblock in the study of an important, intricate issue, resort to cynicism and ‘street smarts’ to justify faulty conclusions. Reminds me of Joe Kennedy wanting young Jack to study at the London School of Economics so that, eschewing a personal, philosophical center, he would be in a position to take power no matter which way the political winds were to blow.
where is greg ball in all this? he is close to burns, and schorr. maybe this was his work, create an illusion, energize the conservative base and force difiore into a two-way primary for the C and D three-way primary for the I. signatures start tomorrow. forget opportunity ballot, people are annoyed enough to give schorr and astorino the signatures they need for a full-blown C-primary. sounds like classic ball behind the scenes…
I, for one, am tired of looking at the fat ass on this site.
you can’t give either schorr or astorino a primary try
without a wilson pickula..they are not registered conservatives…this has nothing to do with greg ball
you are giving him credit for something he is totally
out of the loop on…why don’t you ask yourself why
it is that conservatives choose to nullify what cavalo
and zherka were trying to engineer.?
So, basically, if you would like to be a political pawn this year then vote for Mrs. Janet DiFiore this September primary. Thank you, have a nice day.
well jason it really doesn’t work like that. if you examine
the conservative votes at the convention you will see that
ms difiore got way more against schorr than spano did
against astorino..that means plenty of conservatives
supported her for other reasons besides party affiliation
remember they supported her four years ago as a republican
so actually it was quite consistant that they support
her again..the conservatives demonstrated as most voters
surely will that when it comes to the da’s race party
affiliation is far less important than competence, professionalism and integrity