Aubertine out, others in for race for 23rd
By NATHAN BROWN, Enterprise Staff WriterArticle Links
» Follow the race on the Enterprise's Election Inbox blogState Sen. Darrel Aubertine has said he will not run for New York's 23rd District Congressional seat, and a Wilmington Conservative Party activist and Plattsburgh lawyer have both expressed interest in running.
"My priority must continue to be the work I have started in the state Senate, representing Oswego, Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties," Aubertine said in a prepared statement Thursday. "Before I could even consider the possibility of serving another eight counties, I had a duty to finish out this year's session."
The seat's current occupant, longtime U.S. Rep. John McHugh, is expected to vacate it soon, after he is confirmed as Army secretary. No timeline has been set for the confirmation hearings, McHugh spokeswoman Stephanie Valle said Thursday.
The Republican county chairs in the 11-county district nominated Assemblywoman Dierdre Scozzafava of Gouverneur as their candidate Wednesday.
The National Republican Congressional Committee had apparently assumed Aubertine would be the candidate and already started taking out advertisements criticizing his record in the state Senate. Meanwhile, the state Democratic Committee has been criticizing Scozzafava, seeking to tie her to unpaid taxes at Seaway Capital Partners, where she is an investor and her brother, Tom Scozzafava, is CEO. Among Seaway's properties is the Hacketts chain of department stores.
The deadline for Democratic candidates to submit their resumes to the county party chairs was Thursday. Plattsburgh lawyer William Owens has announced he will seek the nomination, according to the Press-Republican of Plattsburgh. Former McHugh opponents Mike Oot of Munnsville and Dan Francis of Watertown have said they plan to run, and several other people have said they are running or considering it.
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Kelly
Jim Kelly, a retired New York City police officer and Conservative Party activist who managed Republican John Spencer's unsuccessful 2006 U.S. Senate run against Hillary Clinton, e-mailed media Thursday saying he will run as a Conservative and that Scozzafava is too liberal, pointing to her support for abortion and same-sex marriage.
"As soon as (state Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long) gives me the green light, I'm going to jump into this thing," Kelly told the politickerny.com blog. "I'm going to bring newspaper reporters with me, and we're going to trash the Republicans on this for running a RINO (Republican in Name Only)."
Long told politickerny.com he had spoken with Kelly, and "I'm sure most of the Conservative leaders would support him," but said he would wait until the seat is vacant before making a move.
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Contact Nathan Brown at 891-2600 ext. 26 or nbrown@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.
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contrary1
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07-25-09 7:58 AM
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Open your eyes a little wider Pompous, and you might see that the anti-Aubertine ads running on your TV set are funded and produced by the RNC. It isn't a conspiracy theory when they proudly advertise. Talking about getting the comrades together, did you see that Dick Cheney had a secret program to provide for the utilization of death squads to eliminate America's (BushCo's) enemies? Between that particular secret program, and the 600 or so detention centers built on American soil by KBR, Halliburton, and the rest of our war profiteers, I think America probably dodged a fascist bullet by electing Obama. Death squads followed *****ponte for years all over Central and South America, then Bush brought him home. Follow the papertrail Mr. Pompous. It's no longer a conspiracy theory, it's our history.
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adk777
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07-24-09 2:37 PM
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Just what we need, a retired NYC conservative cop. What will his campaign be based on, lynching??
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contrary1
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07-24-09 12:44 PM
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Gee, it looks like the Republican National Committee is suffering from a case of premature denunciation. They've gotten themselves all excited over the prospect of fighting Aubertine, and began running their predictably hypocritical anti-tax and spend advertisements in a premature Swift Boating of his candidacy. It might have been a good thing for them if he was actually running. But he isn't, and they'll have to change the name on their ads. The rhetoric hasn't changed since they doubled the size of our Government during the Bush years, so it isn't going to be hard, but they might need to have a little more control over their emotions. Premature denunciations can be a little embarressing.
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FreedomFighter
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07-24-09 11:45 AM
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Anyone But Dede Say no to Dede
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