Rumblings within the state GOP's ranks
Sen. Mark Grisanti, R-Buffalo, walks in the Senate Lobby at the Capitol in Albany. (June 21, 2011) Credit: AP
For clues to the state Republicans' immediate future, look north and west.
Distant Buffalo, home base of last fall's landslide loser for governor, Carl Paladino, helped recapture the State Senate for Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre). There, longtime Democrat Mark Grisanti ran on the GOP line and unseated a flailing Democrat, Antoine Thompson.
Six months into his term, Grisanti -- elected with help from ex-Sen. Alfonse D'Amato's partner in consulting, Republican Buffalonian Joel Giambra -- helped vote same-sex marriage into law.
Having presumably sacrificed the Conservative Party nod next year, Grisanti promptly drew fire from Nick Langworthy, the Erie County Republican chairman. "For Mark to go back on his word that he gave to his constituents and to me [during the campaign] -- I am deeply disappointed," Langworthy told reporters.
Some GOPers now worry Grisanti may turn back to Democrat, which could threaten Skelos' one-vote majority. The pro-gay Log Cabin Republicans chided Langworthy. The whole argument shows an essential, long-lived strain within the New York GOP between more-flexible players, who are sometimes ex-Democrats, and ideological conservatives -- and the continual difficulty of their coalition.
NEW HYBRIDS: Speaking of intraparty tension, former Democratic Assemb. Richard Brodsky of Westchester says in a provocative opinion piece: "Gov. Andrew Cuomo is the most outspoken exponent of a new kind of politics. He's creating a new kind of beast: the 'Progractionary' . . . the 'Congressive' . . . the 'Coniberal' . . . the 'Libactionary.' It's a high-risk, high-reward kind of politics, and the outcomes are unknown."
STIRRINGS: Despite talk of revamping redistricting, the legislative task force that's carried out the process since 1978 rumbles to life again with a meeting in Albany on Wednesday and public hearings in Syracuse and Rochester the week after next. Task force member Assemb. John McEneny (D-Albany) said Friday that several factors -- including the prospect of an earlier primary and a U.S. mandate for earlier absentee ballots -- meant it was time to get started.
BEEN THERE: Cuomo prevented party primaries by choosing Primary Day, Sept. 13, for a special election to replace ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner. That's just what ex-Gov. David A. Paterson did, also in Queens, two years ago, to replace convicted Assemb. Anthony Seminerio.
