N.Y. GOP Fights to Stay Relevant
The first incremental steps in the New York State Republican Party’s journey back to relevance have been taken. For starters, Edward Cox is poised to become the next chairman of the state GOP after his opponent, Niagara County Chairman Henry F. Wojtaszek, bowed out of the race last week. Cox’s acceptance will be made official at the state GOP convention later this month, and his rise to this position injects much needed confidence to many within the party.
Cox has a long history with the Republican party, most recently as John McCain’s New York state party chairman in 2008. His supporters are eager to put his network of political and financial ties to work in an effort to rebuild a Republican brand that has come dangerously close to all but disappearing in the state. It suffices to say there will be no shortage of work for Cox and his team.
Next, we have former four-term New York Congressman Rick Lazio making a bid for governor, and although he will not formally announce until next week, he is off and running. He has his political consultant, Arthur Finkelstein, the man credited with helping put George Pataki in New York’s governor’s mansion. He’s shoring up his staff, and he has his twitter account. Off to the races, right? Well, he’ll need some cash, of course, and he’ll need support, which is in rather short supply at the moment.
Lazio is probably best known on the national scene for taking on Hillary Clinton for the Senate in 2000. It was a rough ride for the Long Island native. He faced an immensely popular challenger who was receiving gobs of campaign money from all over the country. He had entered the race a mere 5 months before the election to replace Rudy Giuliani, who had withdrawn due to a prostate cancer diagnosis. And then there was the debate incident when Lazio crossed the stage and put an anti-soft money campaign pledge in front of Clinton. He was accused of being a big bully as Clinton’s campaign opportunistically cast her in the light of the delicate flower. The moment was trumped up to be much more than it was, and Lazio later regretted his actions, but it was a blow his campaign never recovered from. This time around he will surely need to be more cautious and more prepared.