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Faso chooses mate in the Weld mold

C. Scott Vanderhoef, lt. governor hopeful, once likened himself to Faso's rival in the gubernatorial race

BY MELANIE LEFKOWITZ | Newsday Staff Writer

May 24, 2006

William Weld poses for a photo after speaking to members of the Rochester Rotary Club in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo / February 7, 2006)

Republican gubernatorial contender John Faso yesterday stood beside his new running mate - who once called himself a moderate Republican in the Bill Weld mold - while Weld, Faso's rival, started a storm by criticizing the planned Ground Zero memorial.

In a day of hectic jockeying in the GOP contest, Faso and running mate C. Scott Vanderhoef, the Rockland County executive, accepted the endorsement of the influential state Conservative Party. Earlier, Faso and Weld crossed paths at a New York Building Congress breakfast, where Weld made his remarks about the lower Manhattan site.

"I don't happen to get the idea of a hole in the ground as a memorial," he said, when asked for his thoughts on the World Trade Center redevelopment process.

"That strikes me as a little odd, but assuming that's all what the plan is in January, I'm not going to be saying 'Whoa, Nelly, let's redesign this,' " he explained afterwards.

Gov. George Pataki replied: "I think it's an appropriate memorial. I think it's the centerpiece of what we have to do in lower Manhattan. There are always differences of opinion."

At the breakfast, Weld suggested that Faso's voting record on women's issues is out of step with most New Yorkers' views.

Faso said such attacks show his opponent feels threatened.

"It's a silly accusation and a pretty gross distortion of my record, but you expect that from a candidate who's getting worried," said Faso, who has a slight lead over Weld in statewide polls, though both lag far behind Democratic frontrunner Eliot Spitzer.

Later in the day he announced the selection of Vanderhoef as his running mate and the lieutenant governor hopeful acknowledged that he told a reporter from the Journal News in 1993 that he is a Bill Weld Republican. But Vanderhoef, who, unlike Faso, is pro-choice, said that though "some folks might say there are similiarities" between him and Weld, he supports Faso's mission to reduce taxes and win what he called "grass roots" support.

"I think many different opinions within the Republican party exist, and John Faso's selection of me, I think, proves that he expects it to be a big tent," Vanderhoef said.

It's been more than three decades since a Republican candidate has won statewide office without being on the Conservative Party line, but Weld, who said he will name a lieutenant governor candidate before the Republican convention next week, dismissed the significance of Faso's nomination.

"I really don't buy that. Some have won and some have lost. There are other lines and I've been spending a fair amount of time with the Independence Party," he said.

He responded to critics who say his campaign has failed to gain steam, perhaps because most New Yorkers associate him with Massachusetts, where he was governor for eight years.

"I think you've got to earn it a vote at a time, and particularly having lived for a time in another state I think I have to prove myself every step of the way," he said.