Politics on the Hudson

Rockland County Executive Scott Vanderhoef, who was just sworn in to a fifth term Tuesday, said he’s been approached by Republican leaders about running for statewide office again, particularly comptroller.

He said he’s “keeping those options open and looking at how this plays out.”

Vanderhoef ran for Congress in 2002 and then was considered for comptroller in 2006, but landed as Republican gubernatorial candidate John Faso’s running mate. The pair got crushed by the Democratic team of Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson.

Vanderhoef said he’s been focused on his new term as county executive, so he hasn’t put much thought into another statewide run, but admitted that the landscape is intriguing as Republicans have renewed hope after they fared well in last November’s elections.

“With the state being in such terrible shape, it’s worthwhile to study it and I think probably other people are studying it too,” Vanderhoef said in the gallery just before Gov. David Paterson started his State of the State speech yesterday.

Republicans are trying to put together a statewide ticket, and polls show that perhaps their best chance of winning a seat is the comptroller’s office.

Democrat Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is unknown to a majority of New Yorkers. A Siena poll in November found that 69 percent of New Yorkers have no opinion of him, but it did show him beating Faso in a potential matchup 41 percent to 25 percent.

As for Faso, he said recently he’s not likely to run this year, leaving Vanderhoef, Scarsdale hedge-fund manager Harry Wilson and Emil Henry as names being mentioned.

Wilson was at the Capitol yesterday for Paterson’s speech, but he refused to discuss his potential candidacy.

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