Democratic Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, who has publicly coveted the Governor’s Mansion, will be making his gubernatorial run on the Republican line. In the past, Levy has also run on the Republican, Conservative, and Independence lines.
Political insiders say that Levy was frustrated that he was blocked from running as a Democrat by party leaders who have all but anointed presumptive candidate Andrew Cuomo. It’s reported that Levy thinks that Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio is much easier to pick off.
Levy’s run on the Republican line has been orchestrated by none other than New York GOP Chair Ed Cox, who’s son Chris will likely get the party’s nod to challenge Democratic Congressman Tim Bishop in the 1st Congressional District, which includes much of Suffolk County. The elder Cox is using Levy’s candidacy to create regional coattails for his son, the grandson of disgraced former President Richard M. Nixon. In essence, Cox is using Levy’s power lust and his role as State GOP Chair to promote the career of a family member.
Some Republican leaders are calling for Cox to resign his chairmanship, claiming the backing of Levy is nothing more than a smoke screen for nepotistic machinations. Former Erie County GOP Chair Bob Davis gone as far as accusing Cox of undermining the party’s efforts to elect a real Republican governor in favor of his own self interest.
In an open letter to New York Republicans, Davis said Cox’s real agenda in giving the GOP nomination to a “liberal” Democrat was to boost the younger Cox’s chances of getting the GOP nomination and beating Bishop in the fall.
“If he wants to be his son’s campaign manager he should resign as Chairman and run his son’s campaign,” said Davis.
While this may be a bit messy for the Republicans, it leaves the Suffolk Democratic Party infrastructure in ruins. The popular, titular head of the county party now plays for the other team. Not only is the carpet pulled out from underneath Bishop, other significant reform candidates such as Regina Calcaterra, who is running for State Senate in the 1st District, can no longer depend on the crucial backing of the County Executive in her race.
Once again, these backroom deals remind me that just because politicians have big “D” following their names, it doesn’t make them loyal Democrats and many of political leaders have no problem selling out their party, hard-working Democratic committees, and alienating the party base for their own self interests. Past disloyalty by Levy is not much different than the unfaithfulness we’ve seen from Rockland County political leaders such as Alex Gromack, Christopher St. Lawrence, Ilan Schoenberger, Paul Piperato, and Charlotte Madigan in the past few years—politicians who seemingly cherish their own careers much more than they do Democratic Party core values. Party disloyalty on their part is not just poor judgment, it’s an ethical problem. And as Democrats, can we ever trust the fidelity of any of these politicians going forward? I doubt it.
Like Levy, these regional politicians have unwittingly aligned themselves with the sleazy right-wing political machine. They have been so consumed by their narcissism that they fail to realize the damage they have done—and likely continue to do—to Democratic slates.
Ten months ago, I wrote a diary on this site warning that this blurring of the lines between parties would eventually hurt other Democratic candidates. I said that the actions of Madigan, St. Lawrence, Gromack, et al. might seem harmless while the Democratic Party was enjoying a wave of popularity, but when the national sentiment changes, the Democratic Party would suffer because of a poor political infrastructure. Unfortunately, that time has quickly past and these politicians have continued to support and even mollycoddle the Republican opposition. Now we’re left with a significant Democratic leadership gap in Rockland County with Statewide and regional elections looming.
Last year was no time for our supposed Democratic leaders to abandon their party. I am calling on Rockland County Democratic Party Chairman Vincent Monte to formally censure the ongoing disloyal and harmful actions of St. Lawrence, Schoenberger, Madigan, Piperato, Gromack, and any other local politician who has given aid to the Republican Party over the past year.
This is no time for us to have a Democratic Party leadership crisis in Rockland like they’re now enduring in Suffolk.
Not to mention the absence of any organized effort in Nov of ’08. Organizations with .01% of the membership did more.