An Opponent for Aubertine?

After strong words of support from State Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos, St. Lawrence County Clerk Patricia Ritchie, a Republican, may be stepping up to run against Democrat Senator Darrel Aubertine. You may remember her as the County Clerk who started a petition drive and crusaded against Governor Paterson’s proposed license plate fees. Though there has been no official announcement, it appears that Patricia Ritchie’s candidacy may already be a done deal. Another Republican, Jefferson County Legislator Barry Ormsby, is also considering the race.

Potential U.S. Senate Candidate Visits Syracuse

Potential U.S. Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr. was in Syracuse today. On a trip organized by Democrat Party activist Walt Dixie, the former Tennessee congressman toured some local churches and had lunch with Mayor Stephanie Miner. The incumbent, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, took the opportunity to swear that she will visit Syracuse more often. She visited twice in 2009. Republican candidate Bruce Blakeman was in Syracuse two weeks ago.

An Assembly Candidate Surfaces in the 121st District

Donald Miller, a Clay businessman and Republican politico, has announced that he will be a candidate for Assembly in the 121^st District. The incumbent Democrat, Al Stirpe, will be seeking his third term. That’s about as much information as I can muster at this point. I can’t even find a picture of this guy. Go read the linked article. Meanwhile, Al Stirpe will be hosting a weekly television show, which I think is ridiculous and a phenomenal waste of time.

Hanna Seeks Rematch with Arcuri

In a move that was widely expected, Republican Richard Hanna announced that he will seek to unseat Congressman Mike Arcuri, after a razor-thin loss two years ago. A local Democrat activist is also seeking candidates to challenge Arcuri in a primary, though I have my doubts that an opponent will actually surface. Hanna may also face a primary in the form of 25-year-old member of the National Guard.

Joan Christensen Exits the Stage

In a State Legislature where you’re more likely to die in office or resign in disgrace than actually lose an election, Assemblywoman Joan Christensen is leaving on her own terms. Or is she? Envision if you will a political drama filled with revenge, plot twists and backroom deals. Okay, maybe it’s not all that dramatic, but in a race that is far from over, let’s speculate for a few minutes, shall we?

A few weeks ago, when fellow Democrat Jane Fahey-Suddaby announced a primary challenge, Joan Christensen signaled that she welcomed the opposition and was determined to run and win the race. Now, stop right there. In the 20 years that Christensen has been in office, she faced a primary exactly once: the first year she ran and was elected. What could have spurred a primary challenge this year? (This is the fun part, where we get to hypothesize.)

Jane Fahey-Suddaby’s brother, County Judge Joe Fahey, lost a primary challenge for Mayor of Syracuse to Joe Nicoletti in the 1990’s. Joan Christensen endorsed Joe Nicoletti for Mayor last year. Could the primary challenge have been political payback for endorsing the wrong mayoral candidate? After the primary challenge was announced, let’s suppose Christensen went to the local Democrat Party committee to gauge the level of support for this challenger. Now remember that the local committee overwhelmingly favored Stephanie Miner over Joe Nicoletti last year. Having seen the writing on the wall and a coordinated effort to oust her for shunning the party’s preferred mayoral candidate, the Assemblywoman may have decided to cut her losses and move on, announcing her retirement.

That’s where we stand now, with Jane Fahey-Suddaby the only announced candidate in the race for either party. But let’s go a little further. One prominent Democrat who is considering joining the race is City Auditor Phil LaTessa. Guess who LaTessa endorsed in last year’s mayoral primary race: Joe Nicoletti. This is shaping up to be a very interesting, nay, intriguing, race.

Oh, and on the Republican side, preferred candidate Dan Liedka, Mayor of East Syracuse, says he’d rather stay in a crowded State Senate primary to face an entrenched incumbent where he is short on money and support instead of jump into this open seat Assembly race with his party behind him. Huh?

Sheriff Walsh Faces Some Challenges

This year, after many elections where he cruised to victory, Sheriff Kevin Walsh will be facing three challengers from his own department, including one from his own party. Deputy Joe Price, a Democrat, ran against Walsh and lost in 2006, is preparing for a rematch, along with fellow Democrat Sgt. Toby Shelley. The real challenge however, comes from a fellow Republican. Detective Ed Bragg, the President of the Police Benevolent Association, is challenging Sheriff Walsh for the nomination of his own party. Though Democrat registration has edged out Republican registration in Onondaga County in the last few years, I expect the winner of the general election to be a Republican. I wouldn’t count Ed Bragg out. He has already outlined a platform and is moving forward with his campaign. His position as the President of the PBA will help him build support. Plus, incumbency ain’t what it used to be. Keep an eye on this one. It might get interesting.

Here's the Deal

Greetings! I’d like to lay out my agenda for this next election cycle. Hopefully it will work out better than last year, when this blog fell apart shortly before the election. I’m not going to bother updating this site with the results of the 2009 elections. I’d rather just move forward with this year. This is a Central New York/Onondaga County/City of Syracuse blog. Let me explain.

For federal and state races, I will be focusing on regional candidates. For county races, I will focus solely on Onondaga County. Likewise, I will also focus on local races only in the City of Syracuse. I apologize for those of you who may have unnatural interest in say, the 2nd Ward Common Council election in the City of Oswego (a seat currently held by Republican Michael Myers, by the way – I hear Freddy Krueger is a Democrat), but I am Syracuse-based, so I’m sticking to what I know. There are several statewide races this year also, but you’ll only see them mentioned here if there is some local connection. For example, gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio visiting Syracuse or Congressman Maffei suggesting that Governor Paterson should exit stage left to make room for Andrew Cuomo. Below is a basic rundown of some of the races you can expect to find information about here.

Congressional Races:

23rd: Currently held by Democrat Bill Owens, Republican challengers include Doug Hoffman, Assemblyman Will Barclay, Matt Doheny and Franklin County Legislator Paul Maroun.

24th: Currently held by Democrat Mike Arcuri, with Republican Richard Hanna gunning for a rematch.

25th: Currently held by Democrat Dan Maffei, Republican challengers include Paul Bertan, David Gay, Ann Marie Buerkle and Mark Bitz.

29th: Currently held by Democrat Eric Massa, with Tom Reed, Republican Mayor of Corning, in the running.

State Senate Races:

48th: Currently held by Democrat Darrel Aubertine. No competition announced, but Jefferson County Legislator Barry Ormsby, a Republican, is exploring a bid.

49th: Currently held by Democrat David Valesky, Republican challengers include Andrew Russo, Jessica Crawford and East Syracuse Mayor Dan Liedka.

50th: Currently held by Republican John DeFrancisco. No competition announced, but Onondaga County Legislator Tom Buckel, a Democrat, is exploring a bid.

State Assembly Races:

119th: Currently held by Democrat Joan Christensen, with a primary challenge from Jane Fahey-Suddaby. There is no announced Republican candidate.

120th: Currently held by Democrat Bill Magnarelli. There is no announced Republican candidate.

121st: Currently held by Democrat Al Stirpe. There is no announced Republican candidate.

124th: Currently held by Republican Will Barclay, who may be running for Congress instead of re-election this year. There is no announced Democrat candidate.

129th: Currently held by Republican Brian Kolb. There is no announced Democrat candidate.

There are very few County/City races this year, but I’ll get the notable stuff up here. (Expect a short post about the primary race that Sherriff Kevin Walsh will be facing in the fall.)

I’m also going to spend some time revamping the navigation of the site, including adding tags to all of the previous posts, which takes time, so bear with me during the transition. Also, last year you may have noticed that a majority of posts last year were simply aggregations of news stories. This year, I’d like to add more original content (like the multi-part primary candidate analysis in the Syracuse Mayor’s race last fall).

Thanks again for visiting, and continuing to visit, my website. Again, bear with me as I make the transition and gear up for this year’s elections. Check back often.

One Year Later

It was one year ago today that I made the first post to this page. This past autumn, my commitment to this blog was diminished, but I would like the mark this occasion by making an effort to bring The CNY Watch back from the brink. More to come in the next few days.