Blakeman starts with a fiasco

Daily Point

Bruce's hard lesson — the No. 2 spot is often a trap

The moment a new governor is elected, he or she becomes the de facto head of their state’s political party. But on the cusp of his nomination for New York governor, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, in tandem with his still-fledgling campaign, has failed a basic big-league skills test – the ability to court and vet a candidate for the number two spot in his prospective administration.

Suddenly, with Republicans from across the state gathering at the Garden City Hotel, on his home turf, to start their convention on Monday, came word of an unanticipated fiasco. Hours after sources close to the campaign confirmed that the lieutenant governor candidate would be Fulton County Sheriff Richard C. Giardino, word spread that the candidate was withdrawing.

Giardino’s answer as to why raised only more questions as to why. During his fleeting moment in the spotlight, Giardino told reporters he didn't think he could balance campaigning full-time while serving as sheriff, so his running would not be fair to the county voters who’d elected him.

There are about 53,000 people living in Fulton County. Blakeman is running for the top spot while running a county of 1.4 million people. One would have thought the potential “balance” issue for either man would have been resolved long before this convention. Since Giardino’s public rationale for suddenly bowing out sounded more than a bit thin, the narrative vacuum so far is filled by Laura Loomer, a far-right online “influencer” and loyal ally of President Donald Trump. Soon after The New York Post, Blakeman’s preferred designee as the official newspaper of Nassau County, reported Sunday night that Giardino was the choice, Loomer published on X a document stating that in 2024 Richard C. Giardino of Mayfield, New York, filed and then withdrew as a GOP candidate in the New Hampshire presidential primaries.

On another website, however, he was listed as filing to run in the Democratic primary. So either way he’d made moves to oppose Trump, currently a mortal sin in the party. Giardino has told Politico he filed “on a lark” based on a joke that he had run for everything but president. For Blakeman, the filing was no joke.

By 9:26 a.m. Monday Loomer was tweeting: “Bruce Blakeman @NassauExec just cost himself the New York Gubernatorial election. Such a shame. It was a winnable race. It’s over now. Totally embarrassing for whoever told President Trump to endorse him.”

Loomer added, in characteristic conspiratorial fashion, that Blakeman’s whole effort is “a throwaway campaign to help @GovKathyHochul win again.”

Some political observers wondered to The Point if this public hit, seemingly from out of nowhere, deliberately echoed some Republicans’ bitterness over the fact that Trump’s tilt to Blakeman forced Rep. Elise Stefanik out of a primary-free path to the nomination. She withdrew from the race in December and said she would not run for reelection. Fulton was one of the small counties included in her solid-red district.

Fairly or not, this passing episode makes Blakeman look like he fumbled the ball at a time when he needs to convince the public he will competently lead a unified state GOP ticket and a sprawling government.

By 4 p.m. Monday it was revealed that Blakeman’s substitute running mate would be Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood, another MAGA backer just reelected in November. Hood has been allowing some of his deputies to take part in immigration enforcement in a declared partnership with ICE.

Gov. Kathy Hochul is no stranger to the failure to properly vet a lieutenant governor candidate — her first appointed LG, Brian Benjamin, resigned following an indictment on bribery charges. The current LG, Antonio Delgado, is running against her.

But this time, her campaign got to throw stones. One release carried the headline: “NY GOP issuing thoughts & prayers for an LG pick who sticks with Blakeman longer than one Super Bowl.”

It happens. Forty years ago, the GOP gubernatorial candidate Andy O’Rourke, the Westchester County executive, had to quickly eject running mate Jeanine Pirro from the ticket because of her husband’s alleged mob connections. She’s now Trump’s U.S. attorney in Washington. But that’s another story. O’Rourke lost in a landslide that year to Gov. Mario Cuomo.

— Dan Janison dan.janison@newsday.com

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Quick Points

Bruce gets Loomered, called a 'sleeper cell' for Dems

• Not only did President Donald Trump-whisperer and MAGA social media influencer Laura Loomer sucker punch Nassau County Executive and Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman Sunday night over his reported first pick for lieutenant governor, she may also have demolished his entire campaign. On X, Loomer wrote, "[Blakeman] is a sleeper cell pulling for the Democrats ... Kathy Hochul is going to win AGAIN." Does Loomer realize that Trump endorsed Blakeman over Rep. Elise Stefanik?

• The recurring proposition of Long Island becoming the 51st state cropped up against last week when Rep. Nick LaLota posted the idea on Instagram. LaLota wrote that "Albany has to agree first — and if it doesn't, the idea goes nowhere." Long Island will become its own state when Hempstead Lake State Park freezes over! Wait — that happened ...

• The aforementioned Hempstead Lake park was opened to ice skating on Sunday. Officials said the ice has to measure at least 6 inches in thickness to remain safe for skating. Nothing says Long Island like frostbite.

• South Sudan's president fired two aides recently for making a political appointment who turned out to be dead weight — literally. The appointee, who was supposed to serve on a panel on elections discussions, died five years ago. Guess the choice was dead wrong.

• One unnamed NFL player criticizing Super Bowl halftime performer Bad Bunny, who is Puerto Rican, for not being American is like the cerebral statements by former NFL players Joe Theismann: "Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein," and Michael Vick: "I have 2 weapons: my arms, my legs and my brain." This is what happens when a human battering ram opines on politics.

— Mark Nolan mark.nolan@newsday.com

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