It's mostly work for Republican delegates

BY JOSEPH MALLIA | Newsday Staff Writer

June 1, 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)

True leisure seems to be off the agenda this week among Republicans convening at Hofstra University for their state convention. Even the partying, some delegates say, is an extension of politics by other means.

Wine-and-cheese receptions at the Garden City Hotel, open-bar hospitality suites, a party at the hotel's Posh discotheque - all were proving to be rife with electoral chit-chat.

Stacks of tourist pamphlets outside the hotel's Grand Salon tout Long Island's beaches, golf courses, boating, fishing and historical sites. But delegates whisked right by them.

"We'll do the receptions. We'll do the meetings. There's time to see Garden City - it's a beautiful town, by the way - but no, we won't have time to go to the beach," said William O'Reilly, an aide to U.S. Senate candidate KT McFarland, of Southampton and Manhattan.

The two-day convention is tightly programmed with events from last night's reception with departing Gov. George Pataki to today's breakfast with State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Brunswick).

Gubernatorial candidate William Weld, a Smithtown native and former Massachusetts governor, arrived at the hotel about 9 p.m. Tuesday after hosting a Rockville Centre fundraiser ("Six figures in 45 minutes," he boasted). He said he's wooing delegates from rival John Faso.

"I think it's a pretty gemutlich [friendly] crowd, to use a good Long Island German expression. It's not a World War," Weld said. "I've got to hold up my end. That's why I've got to get up to Room 803 for my own hospitality suite." Weld said he skipped a reception held by Nassau GOP chairman Joseph Mondello to attend the fundraiser.

Vincent Reda, chairman of the Rockland County Republican Committee, said it was too late in the game to sway votes by schmoozing delegates. "The people here," Reda said, "already know who they like."

Douglas Colety of New Rochelle, a Faso supporter, disagreed, saying candidates are using spare social moments this week to seek delegates' votes. "This year the rank-and-file will decide" the choices, he said.