NY Republicans Designate Faso As Candidate, But Weld Showing Ensures Primary
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HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) – New York Republican delegates on Thursday designated John Faso as their candidate for governor, but the race that has divided party leaders will go to a September primary because former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld landed enough support to earn a spot on the ballot.
Faso received 61.2 percent of the weighted vote to become the party’s state convention designee after attempts to avoid a primary and unite the ticket failed. The talks, which included outgoing Gov. George Pataki, lasted into early Thursday, said state Republican Chairman Stephen Minarik, a Weld supporter.
“Today we begin a battle for the hearts and minds of our fellow New Yorkers,” said Faso. “Our message is clear: We need to cut taxes, we need to create jobs and we need to restore opportunity, and we need to reform New York state’s government.
“Our message is the message that the vast majority of New Yorkers agree with and it is a message that we will win with in November,” Faso said.
Delegates stressed Faso’s social conservative values while he was the Assembly’s minority leader and his two decades of work for the party. He also has the endorsement of the state Conservative Party, which has been critical to Republican victories in statewide races for three decades.
Even Weld supporters, including Minarik, said Faso earned the designation by campaigning tirelessly in counties statewide, including going door-to-door with local candidates in a special election last winter in Suffolk County.
Republican leaders were hoping to avoid a primary because it could hamper and divide fundraising and resources to take on the Democratic front-runner and that party’s state convention designee, Eliot Spitzer. He has large leads in early polls and in fundraising.
Weld congratulated Faso, then made it clear he wasn’t bowing out.
“This is the first day of the rest of the campaign,” said Weld, who scored a a come-from-behind victory in his first race for governor of Massachusetts in 1990. “I’ve done it before. I’ve seen this movie.”
Weld pledged to cut taxes and spending as he did in Massachusetts, then took a rare shot at Faso, who spent two decades as a Republican in the Democratic-controlled Assembly.
“It’s important never to confuse effort with results,” Weld told the delegates. He then noted he was an executive who achieved, not a “backbencher,” referring to powerless lawmakers who accomplish little.
“I simply have not spent my career hobnobbing on the taxpayers’ dime,” Weld said.
Faso and Weld have scheduled televised debates and Weld said he will have television ads on the air in two weeks as part of a stepped-up campaign.
“I’m very confident of winning the primary in September,” Weld said, arguing he has the best shot against Spitzer. “A broader election is more my turf” including frequent visits with ethnic groups, rather than the “insider game” of the convention with party officials that Faso has known for 20 years.
Weld is a former Reagan administration prosecutor and is considered more socially moderate than Faso, who opposes abortion and gay marriage. Weld favors abortion rights and supports gay civil rights although he has said he does not favor New York recognizing gay marriage.
Later Thursday, delegates named Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef as their designee for lieutenant governor, but Weld’s choice, state Secretary of State Christopher Jacobs will also appear on the September primary ballot.
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