The Relationship between New York's Conservative Party and Republican Party

CQ Politics NY Governor: Conservative Party Head Issues Ultimatum to GOP

The chairman of New York’s politically potent Conservative Party has thrown down the gauntlet to the state’s Republicans: Either choose a nominee for governor who suits the third party’s rightward agenda on economic and social issues, or risk a split that would virtually guarantee a Democratic victory in the race to succeed retiring Republican Gov. George E. Pataki.

Conservative Party head Michael Long has thrown his support behind former state Assembly Minority Leader John Faso, calling him the candidate “who best represents the party’s principles.”

Faso is also a candidate for the Republican nomination that will be decided in the Sept. 12 primary. But most state GOP officials are leaning toward one of his rivals, William Weld, the former governor of Massachusetts (1991-97), who they view as a more viable general election candidate in Democratic-leaning New York because of his moderate views on social issues.

Weld spokeswoman Andrea Tantaros said, though, that Weld will continue campaigning for support within the ranks of the Conservative Party, whose executive board still has not made an endorsement. “We’re focused on getting the support of the Conservative Party and every voter,” said Tantaros.

Former New York Secretary of State Randy Daniels and state Assemblyman Pat Manning also are seeking the Republican and Conservative nominations. Both said they would carry on, even though their own hopes of scoring the Conservative nod now look remote.

Manning, who has endorsements from numerous county and local Conservative Party leaders, said he was continuing at the behest of most of those supporters. Daniels adviser Rob Ryan said the race was still wide open, and scoffed that Faso “will need all the help he can get.”

The implications of a split between the oft-allied parties appear dire for Republicans. No statewide Republican candidate has won without being co-endorsed by the Conservatives since 1974.
Long’s challenge to GOP officialdom thus provides a potential boon for the state’s Democrats, who this week are dealing with a potential rift within their own political family.

Party leaders had hoped to keep their primary field cleared for popular state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who currently has huge leads in both poll ratings and campaign funds over all the Republican contenders. But Thomas Suozzi, the elected executive of Long Island’s populous Nassau County, has an event scheduled for Saturday at which he is expected to announce a primary challenge to Spitzer.

Long’s declaration of support for Faso came more than a week after the Conservative Party’s state convention in Albany, at which no endorsement was issued in the race for governor.

Weld is considered the front-runner for the Republican Party’s endorsement at its convention in Albany this May, though that would not preclude the other candidates from pursuing their primary campaigns.

Long has dismissed Weld as too socially liberal. The other candidates offer “many fine qualities,” Long wrote in his letter to the party’s executive board, “[but] John Faso combines a commitment to conservative ideas with a proven ability to run an effective statewide campaign here in New York. That’s why John is the best choice for New York Conservatives.”

Long also wrote that Faso and the party were committed to his candidacy, even if it caused a split with Republicans on the primary ballot. “Let the critics know this is not an outcome we seek, but it is also not an outcome we fear,” he wrote.

On the Democrats’ side, Suozzi is expected to announce his candidacy in a ceremony in front of his grandfather’s home in Glen Cove, a Nassau County suburb of New York City — despite weeks of entreaties from top party officials that he remain out of the race.

Media reports indicate party Democrats may try to freeze Suozzi out at the party convention in May, where he would have to gain 51 percent of a weighted vote to receive the party’s endorsement and 25 percent to get on the primary ballot.

Herman “Denny” Farrell Jr., chairman of the New York State Democratic Party, said it remained to be seen whether a candidate could do that. “As of today, Eliot Spitzer is the only declared Democratic candidate for governor and he has overwhelming support,” Farrell said in a statement.

Should other candidates jump into the race who cannot muster 25 percent of the vote, “they can pursue the petition route to get on the ballot,” Farrell said. He noted that Spitzer did just that in 1994, when he first bid for attorney general. Spitzer failed get sufficient votes at the convention to ensure a place on the ballot, but petitioned his way on.

Though Spitzer lost the primary, it raised his profile, and he rebounded four years later to narrowly unseat Republican incumbent Dennis Vacco. Spitzer was re-elected in a 2002 landslide.

A candidate for governor would have to get 15,000 signatures statewide, a potentially costly undertaking.

Democrats view the seat as ripe for a takeover after Pataki’s three-term reign. Democrats lead Republicans by 30 points percentage points in the state’s voter registration, and Democratic presidential candidates have carried the state five consecutive times — the last four by landslide margins.

Spitzer dominates the fundraising race with $19 million in the bank while Suozzi’s exploratory campaign has $5 million, according to the candidates’ end-of-year filings. This puts them far ahead of the GOP candidates: Weld leads the field with $1.8 million on hand and Faso with $930,000, while Manning and Daniels each had around $25,000.