Gristedes Chief Hires Adviser Who Could Boost Mayoral Bid

By JILL GARDINER, Staff Reporter of the Sun
August 6, 2007

Supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis is beefing up his staff for a possible 2009 mayoral run.

Mr. Catsimatidis, the president of the New York supermarket chain Gristedes, said yesterday he has hired a Republican political operative, Robert Ryan, as an adviser.

Mr. Catsimatidis, a longtime supporter of Senator Clinton and President Clinton, has been a Democrat for years, but says if he runs for mayor he'll do so as a Republican in the mold of Mayor Bloomberg.

The hiring of Mr. Ryan, who has worked in Republican politics for more than 30 years, could be a significant step in helping Mr. Catsimatidis make crucial GOP connections. He has said he would spend between $30 million and $40 million of his own money on the race. The partnering of Messrs. Ryan and Catsimatidis is interesting particularly because the GOP operative worked for a former mayor of Yonkers, John Spencer, when Mr. Spencer was challenging Mrs. Clinton in her 2005 Senate reelection bid. Mr. Spencer billed Mrs. Clinton as an opportunist, saying she was simply using the Senate as a launching pad to the White House.

Mr. Catsimatidis said yesterday that "one thing has nothing to do with the other."

"It was a non-campaign," he said, referring to the Spencer bid. "They had no money."

Mr. Catsimatidis said Mr. Ryan's resume in Republican politics is what's important.

Mr. Ryan, 51, ran Governor Pataki's winning 1994 campaign. He also managed the short-lived gubernatorial campaign of Randy Daniels, a former New York secretary of state, and has worked in a slew of government and political jobs.

Yesterday, he said he would be helping Mr. Catsimatidis, who has recently been popping up at Republican galas and meetings, "decide whether he wants to make a run at becoming New York's next mayor."

Mr. Catsimatidis is also the CEO of the Red Apple Group Inc., a privately held company with investment holdings in wide variety of areas, including oil, aviation, supermarkets, and real estate.

He said yesterday that he has about five advisers and election lawyers reviewing a possible mayoral campaign. He declined to name the others on his payroll.

The CEO of Time Warner, Richard Parsons, has also been named as a possible 2009 Republican mayor candidate, as has the city's police commissioner, Raymond Kelly. Both have denied that they intend to run.

Gristedes Chief Hires Adviser Who Could Boost Mayoral Bid

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