Heagerty Knocked Off Ballot Line

Mike Heagerty, Syracuse’s 1st District Common Councilor, did not collect enough valid signatures to appear on the Democrat Party line in this fall’s election. The Board of Elections ruled that he was one signature short of the 335 signatures that he needed. Mr. Heagerty did not sign a petition for himself. Let this be a lesson: every signature counts, every vote counts. He will still be appearing on the ballot on the Working Families line and he has plans to create a minor party line as well. In order to obtain another line, he will need to collect even more signatures than he needed the first time, and he will need to do it in much less time. His opponent in the race is Matt Rayo, who is running on the Republican, Independence and Conservative Party lines. Heagerty’s flub gives Mr. Rayo a much better shot of winning this seat. Don’t write Heagerty off yet though, because it ain’t over ‘til it’s over.

Other candidates that have been knocked off major party lines this year include David Baines, who was challenging designated Democrat candidate Nader Maroun in a primary for the 5th District Common Council seat, and Kristen Zimmer-Meile, a Democrat running for a seat on the County Legislature against incumbent Republican Pat Kilmartin, of the 11th District.

Bernie Kraft, Rest In Peace

Long-serving County Legislator Bernie Kraft, of Clay, passed away this afternoon. He was 71 and had just recently announced his retirement. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends in this difficult time. The taxpayers of the county lost one of their best advocates today.

* Indy Party Overruled

A New York State Supreme Court Judge ruled for the Independence Party of New York State in their lawsuit with the local Independence Party of Onondaga County. This list of endorsements no longer applies. The state party has endorsed the candidates listed at the end of this post. Local Chairwoman Maleta Snell plans to appeal the ruling.

One of the biggest curveballs of the ruling is the fact that Republican mayoral candidate Steve Kimatian received the backing of the state party and will appear on the ballot on the Independence Party line (pending the result of the appeal). This means that Stephanie Miner will appear on the Working Families Party line, Otis Jennings will appear on the Conservative Party line, Steve Kimatian will appear on the Independence Party line and the two major party lines have yet to be decided. If Joe Nicoletti wins the Democrat Party primary, there will be four candidates for mayor on the ballot between the five recognized major and minor parties. This is going to get very interesting.

The endorsements coming down from the state party are listed below. (The Post-Standard article wasn’t very clear on the outcome of the endorsements on all of these races, so expect changes and corrections as I track down the correct information).

County Legislature:

1st District: Rich Lesniak, incumbent, (R).

2nd District: David Stewart, challenger (primary), (R).

3rd District: Bill Meyer, incumbent, (R).

4th District: Judy Tassone, challenger, (R).

5th District: Kathy Rapp, incumbent, (R).

6th District: Jim Rhinehart, incumbent, (R).

7th District: No endorsement.

8th District: Unclear.

9th District: Mike Sutton, challenger, (R).

10th District: Kevin Holmquist, incumbent, (R).

11th District: Pat Kilmartin, incumbent, (R).

12th District: Bob Demore, incumbent, (R).

13th District: Bob Warner, incumbent, (R).

14th District: Unclear.

15th District: Bill Kinne, incumbent, (D).

16th District: Kevin Kuehner, challenger, (R).

17th District: Marty Masterpole, incumbent, (D).

18th District: Monica Williams, incumbent, (D).

19th District: No endorsement.

City of Syracuse:

Mayor: Steve Kimatian, (R), open seat.

Common Council President: Van Robinson, (D), open seat.

Common Councilor At-Large: Fanny Villarreal, (R), open seat.

Common Council, 1st District: Matthew Rayo, challenger, (R).

Common Council, 2nd District: Patrick Hogan, incumbent, (D)

Common Council, 3rd District: Ryan McMahon, incumbent, (R).

Common Council, 4th District: Tom Seals, incumbent, (D).

Common Council, 5th District: Tristan Daedalus (R), open seat.

Another Assembly Endorsement for Mayor

No surprise here. Another former New York State Assembly colleague endorsed mayoral candidate Joe Nicoletti. Former Majority Leader Michael Bragman announced his support for Nicoletti, who is challenging Stephanie Miner, the Democrats’ official designee in the race for Mayor of Syracuse. With these staggered endorsements, Nicoletti has done a good job of keeping himself in the news. I can’t say the same for Ms. Miner. Will Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli be the next to make an endorsement? Time will tell.

A NY-23 Update

As both Democrats and Republicans prepare to endorse candidates to run for Congressman John McHugh’s soon-to-be-vacant seat, the National Republican Congressional Committee offers a pre-emptive strike against Darrel Aubertine, the Democrats’ strongest potential candidate.



The effort by the NRCC to attack Aubertine early serves two purposes. The first is to discourage him from running for the seat altogether. The second is, if he chooses to run, to begin defining him in a negative light and get an early start on the race. If Aubertine decides to run, he will immediately receive the blessing of the county party heads in charge of candidate selection.

Things are a little trickier on the Republican side. Liberal Republican Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava appears to have the inside track for the endorsement, but conservative Republican activists are already trashing her as an unacceptable candidate. There is a so far unsubstantiated rumor that if Scozzafava is the nominee, the RNC will not support her financially (although the NRCC clearly already has money invested in the race). We should know the nominees of both parties shortly, so check back for more updates soon.

Bernie Kraft to Retire

Longtime Onondaga County Legislator Bernie Kraft will be retiring at the end of his current term. The Republican budget expert cited his deteriorating health as part of his decision not to seek re-election this fall. He has been hospitalized since early May with an infection in his leg. Republicans are expected to name John Dougherty as Kraft’s replacement on the ballot. Dougherty is a Clay businessman/engineer who also serves on the Town of Clay Planning Board. The Democrat/Working Families Party candidate in the 2nd Legislative District is Liverpool School Board member Donna Marsh O’Connor, a local crazy person who thinks that Vice President Dick Cheney planned the September 11th attacks. The Independence Party candidate is corporate lawyer David Stewart.

Howie Picks an Office (CORRECTED)

Perennial Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins has announced that he is running for Mayor of Syracuse the 4th District seat of the Syracuse Common Council. The incumbent is Democrat Tom Seals, who is running for re-election. Howie intends to raise issues that he believes are being ignored, although this time, he believes he has a chance to win. Howie has released a platform that includes his vision of Syracuse and some of his proposals. His campaigns for various offices have been effective in introducing new issues for debate, and, though he has never won, have given people more options in the ballot box and have strengthened our city. Best of luck, Mr. Hawkins.

Four More Dems Running

As the petitioning period draws to a close this week, the Onondaga County Democrats have announced candidates in four more County Legislature races. Teirra Howe, of Mattydale will challenge incumbent Kathy Rapp for the 5th District seat. Karen Hanford, of Marcellus, will run again for the 6th District seat, held by Jim Rhinehart. Jim Scaramuzzino, of Van Buren, will run for the 13th District seat against Bob Warner. Kristen Zimmer-Meile, of the Town of Onondaga, has filed to run against Pat Kilmartin in the 11th District, but will step aside if another candidate emerges. Diane Dwire, the Party Chairwoman, says they are negotiating with another potential candidate for the 11th District seat.

Valesky Gets Screwed

In this blog’s inaugural post, State Senator Dave Valesky was praised for his elevation to the position of Vice President Pro-Tem in the Senate leadership. It was a signal from then-Majority Leader Malcolm Smith that he wanted a greater focus on Upstate issues. No more. With the Senate stalemate over and the leadership reorganization in place, it appears that Valesky’s leadership position was just for show and that Malcolm Smith’s so-called outreach to Upstate New York was a sham. The Majority Leader in the State Senate traditionally served also as President Pro-Tem of the Senate and Conference Chair for the leader’s respective party conference. In the reorganized Senate structure, those three titles were divided. Malcolm Smith is now the Senate President Pro-Tem, renegade senator Pedro Espada is the new Majority Leader and Senator John Sampson is the Conference Chair, a position he attained a few days after the original “coup” vote. These three men represent the geographically diverse New York State locales of Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx. In other words, the New York City State Senate is back to its old ways. Sorry Senator Valesky, but you (and Upstate New York) got the shaft.

Aubertine Files Suit

State Senator Darrel Aubertine, of Cape Vincent, filed suit with the New York State Supreme Court against his former colleagues in the New York State Assembly. Aubertine, a Democrat, alleges that when Senator Frank Padavan, a Republican, walked through the Senate chamber on June 30th while all of the Senate Democrats were present, he provided quorum needed in order to vote on and pass bills. The Senate rules state that, unless a member votes in opposition to a bill, all present senators automatically vote ‘yes’ on any bill that comes to the floor during a session. Aubertine claims that when Senator Padavan walked through the chamber on his way to the vending machine he supplied the Democrats with a quorum and because he didn’t vote against any of their bills, the rules state that he voted for them by default. Padavan and the Republicans insist that he did not provide a quorum. Aubertine wants the court to compel the Assembly to deliver the bills passed in that session to the Governor for his signature.

Joe Gets Joan

Joe Nicoletti continues to roll out endorsements. Assemblywoman Joan Christensen, a fellow Democrat who served with Joe during his brief stint in the State Assembly, endorsed her former colleague in his quest to become mayor of Syracuse. In a developing theme, she cited Stephanie Miner’s temperament as a reason she is supporting Joe over Stephanie, the designated Democrat in the race. Christensen praised Joe’s “ability to cooperate,” noting that Stephanie has “a different technique,” a subtle swipe at Stephanie’s reputation as an obstructionist. Will Stephanie Miner counterattack with an endorsement of her own in the next few days? Time will tell.

Corning Mayor Runs for Congress

Republican Mayor of Corning Tom Reed announced that he would be challenging freshman Congressman Eric Massa (NY-29) in next year's congressional election. The election s sixteen months away, but Reed’s campaign says he needs an early start in order to raise his name ID and introduce himself to voters. Eric Massa defeated former Congressman Randy Kuhl in 2008 in a rematch of their 2006 election battle. Massa received just over 48% of the vote when he lost in 2006 and 51% of the vote when he won in 2008. On the presidential level, John McCain received more votes than Barack Obama, though just barely. The National Republican Congressional Committee is targeting this seat in the 2010 elections and is touting Mayor Reed as an A-list recruit.