Targeted Again, This Year Valesky Fails to Draw Top Tier GOP Challenger
With two candidates in the wings, Republicans play up senator’s Spitzer connections
Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:54:00
State Sen. David Valesky (D-Madison/Onondaga/Oneida) won a surprise victory in 2004, defeating a longtime incumbent in a closely watched race. In 2006, Valesky held onto his seat.
He has yet to start campaigning for re-election this year, but he is definitely running.
And Republicans are already gearing up to mount a challenge, though a heavyweight like Valesky’s last two GOP opponents has not yet emerged.
County Republicans still have to decide between two possible candidates. That has not stopped the state GOP from starting its own campaign against Valesky, attacking his record and playing up his connections to former Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) and his replacement, David Paterson.
“He has been tied far too often to the Spitzer-Paterson team and their wishes rather than the needs of the people in his district,” said Matt Walter, a spokesperson for the state committee.
Spitzer endorsed Valesky in his 2006 re-election campaign against Republican Assembly Member Jeffrey Brown, and shot several campaign commercials for the targeted senator.
The state party has already gone negative, attacking Valesky for opposing tax cuts and what Walter called “certain criminal justice measures.” The two potential candidates, though, are focusing on the positive.
The Republican nomination will rest largely on the endorsement decision of the Republican organization in Onondaga County, where much of the district’s population is centered. Jim DiStefano and Kirk Bristol will be making their cases to the local party during the next few weeks.
DiStefano, a former supervisor in the town of DeWitt, said that if he won the nomination, he would run on a platform that emphasized reducing the tax burden in the state.
“No one seems to be focusing on the issue,” he said. “Everyone’s talking about bringing money back to the districts.”
DiStefano, who now represents accident victims as a civil litigation attorney, said he has some funds left over in a political action committee from his years as town supervisor, but not enough to mount a Senate campaign. He plans to start fundraising aggressively if and when he gets the nomination.
He stressed his high opinion of the man he is looking to beat.
“David Valesky is a good fellow,” he said. “I know him and he’s a likeable person.”
Bristol, a retired school administrator from Onondaga County, was slightly more critical of the incumbent.
He said he was seeking the Republican nomination because he perceived a general disconnect between voters and their elected representatives in Albany.
“Very seldom do we have any communications from the present senator,” Bristol said of Valesky. “Twice we might get a mailing, and that’s after the fact on a lot of the issues.”
Bristol, a former guidance counselor who said he has no experience in politics, is casting himself as an outsider candidate who might not be totally aligned with the Republican Party’s agenda.
“My needs may not meet their needs,” he said, predicting how his forthcoming meeting with the county party leaders might go.
John DeSpirito, chair of the Onondaga GOP, said party leaders have a nominating convention planned for May. Either Bristol or DiStefano would be a formidable opponent for Valesky, he said, though he hedged his enthusiasm.
“He’s an incumbent, but they’d work hard to give it better than a good shot,” DeSpirito said.
Enrollment numbers in the district, which includes four mainly rural counties, may complicate Valesky’s re-election efforts. Democrats have a slim, 2,000-voter registration edge on Republicans. In the 2006 election, the district’s rural areas went heavily for then-incumbent Sen. Nancy Hoffman (R), while Valesky won big in urban Syracuse and the surrounding suburbs.
Since arriving in Albany, Valesky has spent a great deal of time working on issues that affect the rural portions of his district, as the ranking Democrat on the Senate Agricultural Committee.
Late last year, he sponsored a rural field trip for his Senate colleagues from New York City in an effort to emphasize the plight of small-town farmers.
Ruddy said Valesky was considered a top target by Republicans in 2006, but still managed to win re-election by a 15-point margin. That may have dissuaded potentially stronger Republicans from making the race, though Valesky is again listed as a top GOP target.
“We don’t take anything for granted in this office,” Ruddy said. “But the way the senator deals with that is by focusing on serving his constituents and representing the people the best way possible.”
Fundraising is also an ongoing process, Ruddy said. In January, Valesky reported having just over $128,000 in his campaign fund.
Jeffrey Stonecash, a political science professor at Syracuse University, said Valesky is probably safe with voter dissatisfaction with Republicans at an all-time high.
“The Republican Party does not have a good image right now, and as the economy tanks, there’s all the possibility in the world that Republicans could be blamed for it,” Stonecash said. “It’s a bad set of conditions.”
Valesky will be strong going into November, Stonecash predicted. And, he warned, efforts to attack Valesky by mentioning his past support by Spitzer will probably backfire. The former governor did campaign hard for Valesky, but he did that for many Democrats, Stonecash explained, and attempts to tar Valesky by linking him to Spitzer would require Republicans to show that the senator had some direct involvement with any of the Spitzer scandals.
“Unless they’ve got some real evidence,” Stonecash said, “I’d call that a serious reach.”
He has yet to start campaigning for re-election this year, but he is definitely running.
And Republicans are already gearing up to mount a challenge, though a heavyweight like Valesky’s last two GOP opponents has not yet emerged.
County Republicans still have to decide between two possible candidates. That has not stopped the state GOP from starting its own campaign against Valesky, attacking his record and playing up his connections to former Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) and his replacement, David Paterson.
“He has been tied far too often to the Spitzer-Paterson team and their wishes rather than the needs of the people in his district,” said Matt Walter, a spokesperson for the state committee.
Spitzer endorsed Valesky in his 2006 re-election campaign against Republican Assembly Member Jeffrey Brown, and shot several campaign commercials for the targeted senator.
The state party has already gone negative, attacking Valesky for opposing tax cuts and what Walter called “certain criminal justice measures.” The two potential candidates, though, are focusing on the positive.
The Republican nomination will rest largely on the endorsement decision of the Republican organization in Onondaga County, where much of the district’s population is centered. Jim DiStefano and Kirk Bristol will be making their cases to the local party during the next few weeks.
DiStefano, a former supervisor in the town of DeWitt, said that if he won the nomination, he would run on a platform that emphasized reducing the tax burden in the state.
“No one seems to be focusing on the issue,” he said. “Everyone’s talking about bringing money back to the districts.”
DiStefano, who now represents accident victims as a civil litigation attorney, said he has some funds left over in a political action committee from his years as town supervisor, but not enough to mount a Senate campaign. He plans to start fundraising aggressively if and when he gets the nomination.
He stressed his high opinion of the man he is looking to beat.
“David Valesky is a good fellow,” he said. “I know him and he’s a likeable person.”
Bristol, a retired school administrator from Onondaga County, was slightly more critical of the incumbent.
He said he was seeking the Republican nomination because he perceived a general disconnect between voters and their elected representatives in Albany.
“Very seldom do we have any communications from the present senator,” Bristol said of Valesky. “Twice we might get a mailing, and that’s after the fact on a lot of the issues.”
Bristol, a former guidance counselor who said he has no experience in politics, is casting himself as an outsider candidate who might not be totally aligned with the Republican Party’s agenda.
“My needs may not meet their needs,” he said, predicting how his forthcoming meeting with the county party leaders might go.
John DeSpirito, chair of the Onondaga GOP, said party leaders have a nominating convention planned for May. Either Bristol or DiStefano would be a formidable opponent for Valesky, he said, though he hedged his enthusiasm.
“He’s an incumbent, but they’d work hard to give it better than a good shot,” DeSpirito said.
Enrollment numbers in the district, which includes four mainly rural counties, may complicate Valesky’s re-election efforts. Democrats have a slim, 2,000-voter registration edge on Republicans. In the 2006 election, the district’s rural areas went heavily for then-incumbent Sen. Nancy Hoffman (R), while Valesky won big in urban Syracuse and the surrounding suburbs.
Since arriving in Albany, Valesky has spent a great deal of time working on issues that affect the rural portions of his district, as the ranking Democrat on the Senate Agricultural Committee.
Late last year, he sponsored a rural field trip for his Senate colleagues from New York City in an effort to emphasize the plight of small-town farmers.
Ruddy said Valesky was considered a top target by Republicans in 2006, but still managed to win re-election by a 15-point margin. That may have dissuaded potentially stronger Republicans from making the race, though Valesky is again listed as a top GOP target.
“We don’t take anything for granted in this office,” Ruddy said. “But the way the senator deals with that is by focusing on serving his constituents and representing the people the best way possible.”
Fundraising is also an ongoing process, Ruddy said. In January, Valesky reported having just over $128,000 in his campaign fund.
Jeffrey Stonecash, a political science professor at Syracuse University, said Valesky is probably safe with voter dissatisfaction with Republicans at an all-time high.
“The Republican Party does not have a good image right now, and as the economy tanks, there’s all the possibility in the world that Republicans could be blamed for it,” Stonecash said. “It’s a bad set of conditions.”
Valesky will be strong going into November, Stonecash predicted. And, he warned, efforts to attack Valesky by mentioning his past support by Spitzer will probably backfire. The former governor did campaign hard for Valesky, but he did that for many Democrats, Stonecash explained, and attempts to tar Valesky by linking him to Spitzer would require Republicans to show that the senator had some direct involvement with any of the Spitzer scandals.
“Unless they’ve got some real evidence,” Stonecash said, “I’d call that a serious reach.”
