Adviser Says Ognibene May Seek GOP Gubernatorial Nomination
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

A top adviser to an erstwhile Republican candidate for mayor, Thomas Ognibene, told The New York Sun yesterday that Mr. Ognibene might seek the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2006.
Mr. Ognibene, who lost his case in federal court yesterday asking that he be reinstated on the ballot for a Republican mayoral primary, maintains he will stay in the race through November on the Conservative Party’s line. He then is likely to run for governor next year, the aide, who asked not to be identified by name, said.
While Mr. Ognibene has not yet formed an exploratory committee, his associates said he would be attending the next screening meeting held by the state Republican Party to allow county committee chairmen to vet prospective gubernatorial candidates. The meeting is scheduled for September 8.
A top state Republican official confirmed to the Sun that Mr. Ognibene’s name had surfaced in Albany in the past two days as a potential gubernatorial candidate.
The mayoral campaign was on the verge of announcing Mr. Ognibene’s statewide candidacy – complete with appropriately modified campaign placards – if the hearing results turned out unfavorably, but it decided to wait until Mr. Ognibene determined whether he should appeal to the Second Circuit court. Last night, Mr. Ognibene, a lawyer who has represented himself in the ballot litigation, said he would appeal.
A former minority leader of the City Council from Middle Village and, of late, a thorn in the side of the administration of Mayor Bloomberg, Mr. Ognibene is a longtime Queens Republican activist. In addition to his tenure on the council, Mr. Ognibene served as executive director of the Queens County Republican Committee. He enjoys the enthusiastic backing of the committee’s current chairman and the founder of New York’s Conservative Party, State Senator Serphin Maltese, and he has been endorsed by the Conservative Party’s chairman, Michael Long.
In his bid for the mayoralty, however, Mr. Ognibene has had difficulty garnering much support elsewhere, particularly outside his home borough. He was eliminated from the Republican primary when a challenge by Mayor Bloomberg’s campaign showed that Mr. Ognibene had garnered only around 5,700 valid ballot-access petition signatures, significantly short of the 7,500 required to appear on the Republican primary ballot.
“I hope he meets with more success than he did in his run for mayor,” a veteran political strategist, Hank Sheinkopf, said yesterday of Mr. Ognibene’s gubernatorial aspirations.
“Can he win? Probably not. He would hurt the Republicans by creating disunity within the party and make it easier for the Democrat to be elected,” Mr. Sheinkopf said. “The Democrats should encourage Ognibene to do this, and raise money for him if they could.”
In his mayoral campaign, Mr. Ognibene – an avowed fiscal and social conservative, and the only candidate in this year’s race to oppose same-sex marriage and abortion rights – has needled Mr. Bloomberg, a lifelong Democrat who switched party affiliation in advance of his 2001 mayoral bid, for being a “Republican in Name Only.” In the process of his attacks on Mr. Bloomberg, Mr. Ognibene has not endeared himself to leaders of the state party, having accused Republicans in Albany of abetting the Bloomberg campaign in its efforts to knock him off the ballot.
Yesterday, Republican leaders in Albany seemed less than enthusiastic about the idea of an Ognibene candidacy for statewide office.
“We encourage all people who are interested in running for governor to go through our process, which is going to our regional meetings,” the chairman of the State Republican Committee, Stephen Minarik, told the Sun. “I think the number of candidates is encouraging. It shows the depth of our party, and some candidates are more credible than others.”
A spokesman, Mark Hansen, for the majority leader of the State Senate, Joseph Bruno, Republican of Rensselaer, said: “It’s going to be up to the voters to decide who is the best person for the job.”
Although Mr. Long has endorsed Mr. Ognibene in his mayoral bid, he declined yesterday to say whether he would back Mr. Ognibene as a contender for statewide office.
“There are a number of potential candidates who are aligned with my views – Randy Daniels, John Faso,” Mr. Long said. “We’re taking a look at it. Certainly, Ognibene would be in line with my thinking. But I think he has to finish the race for mayor first before we discuss anything any further.”
Mr. Ognibene’s chances of acceding to the mayoralty became even slimmer yesterday, however, when Judge Nicholas Garaufis, of federal court for the Eastern District in Brooklyn, ruled that he did not have the authority to place Mr. Ognibene back on the Republican primary ballot.
Mr. Ognibene argued that requiring the same 7,500 signatures for ballot access for both Republicans and Democrats in New York violated the constitutional rights of city Republicans, who are outnumbered by Democrats five to one.
Judge Garaufis ruled yesterday that he lacked the authority to overturn legal precedent on the matter, though he said New York’s ballot-access laws “may unduly stifle democratic politics,” observing that only one Republican, the incumbent mayor, is running for citywide office this year. Judge Garaufis encouraged “the political branches of New York State Government” to address these “crucial public policy issues.”
One member of the state Legislature present at the hearing, Mr. Maltese, said in response to the judge’s exhortation: “I certainly would take a look at it and discuss it with the leadership.”