It wasn’t unanimous, but very close to it. Carlucci was up 150-2 over his three rivals before tired Rockland Democratic Committee members pleaded that they would rather endorse the Clarkstown Town Clerk by acclamation. Candidate Grant Valentine received two votes. Lou Tharp and Tuxedo Town Supervisor Peter Dolan received no votes before the Committee switched to an acclamation vote.

To get the endorsement, a candidate needed 122 votes, just over half of the number of those in attendance plus known proxies being carried.

Although Carlucci won the endorsement of the committee by a decisive landslide, some political leaders in Ramapo are unhappy with the way the evening played out.

County Legislator Bill Darden and Ramapo Town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence led a very small group who sought to block the gathered Democrats from backing any one candidate. Their effort failed when a motion was made on the floor to force the vote to go through with large majority of those present backing it.

Ironically as this drama played out, Rep. Eliot Engel made a passionate speech from the floor, and one of its main themes was Democratic Unity. Engel’s speech received resounding applause, but I think the message was lost to some.

This effort by a small faction of Democrats to change the rules int the middle of the game was disappointing. And after their efforts failed, St. Lawrence and several Ramapo Committee members left the Convention as the votes were tallied. Many Ramapo Democrats, however, stayed to vote for Carlucci.

The Rockland’s convention fast on the heels of the Orange County Democrats’ and Rep. Nina Lowey’s resounding endorsements of Carlucci.

Valentine, Tharp, and Dolan all appear to be remaining in the race.

The next major event on the State Senate contender’s schedule is the Meet the Candidates night at the Nyack Public Library on June 7 at 7 pm.

Carlucci was in attendance at the Orange County Convention.

“I’m couldn’t be more pleased and humbled, and I want to thank everyone who showed up tonight to participate.” said Carlucci in a press release. “It’s important that we all come together this fall to elect someone who is willing to fight for reform and not just use it as a campaign slogan. I am that candidate. “I’m looking forward to the Rockland County Convention tonight where we hope to gain their support as well,” Carlucci said.

The Rockland County Democratic Convention is tonight at Clarkstown Town Hall.

Rep. Nita Lowey (l) and David Carlucci

In a press release sent by Carlucci’s campaign, Lowey is quoted:

David Carlucci has the experience to deliver for his district, and his attitude and abilities are just what the district and state needs[...]I look forward to working with David to protect taxpayers at every level of government, create jobs in our communities, strengthen our schools, and keep our families and streets safe and secure.

Lowey’s district includes parts of Rockland County and much of Clarkstown. the 38th State Senate district is also served by the 17th and 19th Congressional districts, with Democrats Eliot Engel and John Hall respectively representing these districts.

Lowey’s endorsement is the first major endorsement by a high-ranking elected Democratic official for the State Senate district. Nyack Mayor Richard Kavesh also endorsed Carlucci on the Left of the Hudson webcast on Memorial Day. Part of the village of Nyack is in the town of Clarkstown.

The other State Senate candidates include Ramapo resident Grant Valentine, Tuxedo Town Supervisor Peter Dolan, and Upper Nyack resident Lou Tharp.

C. Scott Vanderhoef

“Ed’s not waiting for Scott to get out of the way anymore,” a source close to both men revealed to Left of the Hudson. “He thinks Scott has a lot of negatives.”

Day will announce his candidacy next Tuesday, according to the Journal News.

Locally, Republicans rarely run primaries. Instead, the party prefers to keep control centralized among party stalwarts through a process through secret balloting at a County Convention. This year’s convention will be held June 7 at Clarkstown Town Hall. Democratic Chairman Vincent J. Monte told Left of the Hudson Radio that this might work to Vanderhoef’s disadvantage.

“Scott has demonstrated that he has had enough of being County Executive,” said Monte. “But he may have a problem getting endorsed by the Republican Committee.”

Monte said that Vanderhoef’s many political appointees, more than 200 at the County level, might not want him to leave the Executive’s job.

“A lot of these people are party people who get rewarded for working for them [the Republicans].” Patronage is not a bad thing, but when it’s abused it becomes bad,” Monte said. “And what will happen is that those people, who are committeemen who vote…many of them may not want to see Scott leave as County Executive.”

For some time, it had been assumed in political circles, and reported here, that Day would seek the Senate Seat if Morahan chose not to run.

However, when it began to become clear that the Democratic Party intended to run a strong candidate—four are currently running—a rumor that Vanderhoef would run was leaked to the this blog and some statewide media outlets. Minutes after our report, Vandherhoef quickly denied he was running to Nyack News and Views.

After State Senator Thomas P. Morahan announced his retirement, Vanderhoef did confirm his interest in the State Senate seat. This came to nobody’s surprise as Vanderhoef has been a serial job seeker while in office. He announced in January—the very day after he was sworn in to a fifth term as Executive—that he was considering running for State Comptroller. Weeks later, Vanderhoef announced that he had begun an exploratory committee to look into a run against Kirsten Gillibrand for United States Senate only to drop the idea. While Executive, Vanderhoef has also run for Congress, Lieutenant Governor and sought the Presidency of Rockland Community College. Sources inside County government told Left of the Hudson that Vanderhoef also sought employment with Giuliani Partners in early 2009.

The salary of a State Senator is notably less than the $152,000 Vanderhoef makes as County Executive. But as the $79,500 a year Senate seat is only part time, sources have speculated that Vanderhoef would be set up with secondary employment with a local law firm to make up the difference. Some County Legislators are miffed that they recently voted Vanderhoef a hefty 12.5 percent raise, hoping that he would be focused on his duties as County Executive during dire times.

“We feel betrayed on both sides,” said one County Legislator talking about colleagues from both parties. “We gave him that raise in good faith, hoping that he would focus on Rockland County’s problems. Some of us are definitely not happy that he’s going to be spending his time campaigning…again.”

If Vanderhoef holds off Day at the Republican Convention, he may still face opposition from the right as some “Tea Party” conservative groups have talked about fielding a State Senate candidate.

This will be an incredibly enlightening and informative show. Vince and I will talk about the upcoming State Senate election, the candidates, and some radical state reform ideas. If you have a question for Vince, send me an email before the show. The live show is available on Rockland World Radio‘s main page and the archived show will be available here afterwards.

According to Capital Tonight:

Republican Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef is poised to announce his bid for the state Senate seat expected to be vacated by ailing veteran incumbent Tom Morahan, who has been battling Leukemia and is expected not to seek re-election this fall, a Hudson Valley GOP source confirmed.

The five-term incumbent won’t mount a primary challenge against Morahan, who has insisted his illness won’t prevent him from running, but insiders – including retiring Sen. Dale Volker – have suggested their colleague’s health concerns might ultimately trump his desire to stay in office.

Capital Tonight is a new statewide political television show that is broadcast on YNN, exclusively to Time Warner Cable customers. Benjamin is a former political reporter and blogger for the New York Daily News.

Benjamin’s report echoes the content of an e-mail tip sent to Left of the Hudson on Sunday. It had been widely assumed in political circles that County Legislator Ed Day would seek the Senate Seat if Morahan chooses not to run. But the candidacy of popular Clarkstown Clerk David Carlucci might be a game changer for the GOP. Carlucci’s run may have prompted the County Republicans to find a stronger candidate than Day. Former Republican and State Parole Board officer Grant Valentine is also running as a Democrat.

State Senate Republicans have found themselves in an unusual position of being in the minority and having several open seats to defend. Several State Senators have retired or are seeking other offices and some seats that have been weakly contested in the past now have strong Democratic challengers. Statewide GOP fundraising is reported to be abysmal. Vanderhoef would bring instant name recognition and fundraising resources to the race.

Vanderhoef was quick with a denial this morning:

At a ribbon cutting ceremony for the opening of Chef’s Market in Nyack this morning, Vanderhoef was asked if he was running for the State Senate. He replied “no.” Reliable sources say that Morahan will soon announce his retirement from the senate and that Vanderhoef will declare his candidacy.

Vanderhoef has been a serial job seeker while in office. He announced in January–the very day after he was sworn in to a fifth term as Executive–that he was considering running for State Comptroller. Weeks later, Vanderhoef announced that he had begun an exploratory committee to look into a run against Kirsten Gillibrand for United States Senate. Last month, he announced he dropped the idea. While County Executive, Vanderhoef has run for Congress, Lieutenant Governor and sought the Presidency of Rockland Community College. Sources inside County government told Left of the Hudson that Vanderhoef also sought employment with Giuliani Partners while County Executive, delaying the announcement of his 2009 campaign.

The salary of a State Senator is notably less than the $152,000 Vanderhoef makes as County Executive. But as the $79,500 a year Senate seat is only part time, sources have speculated that Vanderhoef would be set up with secondary employment with a local law firm to make up the difference.

This article is crossposted at Left of the Hudson.

Carlucci joins Grant Valentine, a Ramapo resident, senior New York State Parole Board officer, and a former Republican, who announced his candidacy last month. No other candidate has emerged, but Tuxedo Town Supervisor Peter Dolan has also indicated some interest in running for the Senate post.

I called for the meeting of the Rockland Progressive Dems last month when no clear picture of the State Senate race had emerged. Incumbent Republican Thomas Morahan has not indicated whether he will run for another term and sources have told me that Republican Rockland County Legislator Ed Day is considering his own run for the Senate District. Morahan has recently dealt with health concerns, but he’s been notably active at his job since returning.

Acknowledging that two or more candidates for the State Senate job might mean a Democratic primary for the nomination, some in attendance believed that a primary would be costly and would not help the candidate who emerged as the Democratic nominee in the long run. Others disagreed and indicated that the Democratic Party is “the party of primaries” and welcomed a preliminary race between several candidates.

For their part, both Carlucci and Valentine indicated that a primary might not be necessary. Valentine said he was optimistic that an informal vetting process by party members before a primary would disclose a front runner. Both Carlucci and Valentine indicated that they would support whoever would be the eventual nominee.

Both candidates said that they believe that Albany was broken. Valentine indicated that he’s seen problems at many different levels in his nearly three decades as a civil servant. Carlucci said that the State Senate had particular problems. He further indicated that he would support legislation for fair, non-partisan redistricting and many other reform measures to help fix what he feels is a broken State Senate.

Morahan, should he decide to run again, remains an entrenched incumbent and Carlucci further indicated that he would be running more against the abysmal record of the State Senate body.

The executive committee of the Rockland Democratic Committee will meet soon with prospective State Senate candidates.

This article is cross-posted at Left of the Hudson.

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.

Verizon’s FIOS service has not offered MSNBC in much of the NY/NJ Metro area because of a deal it’s parent company, NBC struck with Cablevision several years ago. The contract blocked the news channel from appearing on services that compete with Cablevision’s Optimum service.

Verizon had filed complaints with the Federal Communications Commission in order to get the network on FIOS. It is not clear whether intervention by the government led to this development. Nor is it clear that this is a result of an agreement betweeen Cablevision, FIOS, and NBC’s new corporate parent, Comcast, which is yet another cable television provider.

Progressive stalwarts such as Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann, and Ed Schultz can now be watched on channels 103 and 1545 (in high definition). The service on FIOS begins February 2.