Closed and corrupt – that’s how political parties die in New York. The Democrats in New York City lost legitimacy because the club-house process for climbing the political ladder weeds out the best citywide candidates. Now Republicans in New York State are facing a similar crisis. Their success since the early 1990s has made the party soft and insular, which has led to in-fighting.

On Monday, the Republican Party county chairmen will meet in Albany to decide its slate of preferred candidates for 2006. State Party Chairman Steven Minarik has come under widespread criticism for his sometimes awkwardly impolitic attempts to stack the deck with his own candidates.

Some, like Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, have proven disastrous – just not up to prime time, even without the significant albatross of an indicted and jailed husband.

But others do make sense – most notably William Weld, the former Massachusetts governor who, of all the candidates, best embodies the spirit of New York’s Teddy Roosevelt Republicanism. Not coincidentally, Mr. Weld also represents the best chance to beat Eliot Spitzer in the Fall of 2006.

The fact that a spirited fight has emerged over Mr. Minarik’s picks proves that the party is not completely anemic in the post-Pataki years. However, their bench is not deep or organized.

Former party faithful and influential fundraisers like Georgette Mosbacher are sitting out this cycle, frustrated by New York Republicans’ lack of focus.

State Senate Leader Joe Bruno, seeking to preserve his threatened majority, has encouraged mutiny by suggesting that billionaire new party member Tom Golisano be considered for governor while Jeanine Pirro runs for attorney general. Bruno wants the collateral benefit of Golisano’s Bloomberg-esque campaign spending statewide, while Mrs. Pirro’s candidate coronation would stop state senators from swing districts, like Nassau County’s Mike Balboni, from running for Attorney General, leaving their seats to be picked up by Democrats. Simultaneously, conservatives are crying foul about Mr. Minarik’s preference for centrist candidates instead of ideological guerrilla warriors like Patrick Manning or John Spencer.

But the desperate machinations of leaders and the pressures of conservative purists should not distract the party from confronting the problem they face directly – without renewed energy and a clear sense of purpose, New York Republicans could be wiped from power entirely in 2006.

First, the party needs to decide what it stands for – this should not be a difficult question. It is a simple equation: in New York, Republican equals reform. That has always been the case from Teddy Roosevelt to Fiorello La Guardia to Rudolph Giuliani to today. Rather than being distracted by divisive debates on social issues, New York Republicans should focus on common ground and face the future as a party that is low-tax and pro-business, tough on crime and corruption.

A 2006 ticket led by William Weld would best advance this agenda. He has experience as an effective state executive with a national reputation, cutting taxes and reforming out of control entitlements like Medicaid. He is a former Reagan Justice Department official and U.S. Attorney who brought the Massachusetts Republican Party from the wilderness to control of the governor’s mansion for the past 15 years. An Albany outsider, he is attempting to build a campaign of based on forward-looking ideas, witnessed by a November Nassau County speech outlining his vision for an Empire State Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

Mr. Weld’s campaign would be best supported by having fiscal conservative-favorite John Faso serve as candidate for Lieutenant Governor. If Mr. Faso declines to serve on the ticket, former Secretary of State Randy Daniels could add some much needed diversity and oratorical skills to the state G.O.P. (Mr. Daniels, a Bronx resident, might also want to begin lining up support as a possible successor to Mayor Bloomberg in 2009.) In the event that Mrs. Pirro drops down or out, Mr. Golisano’s dollars would be far better used in a campaign against Hillary Clinton, while dark horses like Pataki Criminal Justice Director Chauncey Parker or Staten Island’s District Attorney Dan Donovan could prove to be competitive candidates for attorney general.

The resurgence of the statewide Democratic Party from near irrelevance in the late 1990s occurred because ambitious figures like Eliot Spitzer and Nassau County’s Executive Tom Suozzi made reform the focus of their efforts, even at the expense of party bosses like Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Mr. Spitzer has continued that theme as a candidate for governor, recently backing needed but Albany-feared measures such as redistricting reform. Republicans should not surrender the reform mantle without a fight.

Facing budget deficits and an aging population with a dysfunctional state legislature and an economically stagnant upstate region, New York state needs a competitive New York Republican Party in the coming years. Reforming the nominating process should be part of the party’s future agenda, but a compelling agenda to reform the state should be first at this time. As the county chairmen mull Monday’s meeting over the weekend, they should recall Pierre Rinfret’s 22-point campaign against Mario Cuomo in 1990, and then remember the late Sun columnist Jack Newfield’s wise warning that “ignoring electability is the fingerprint of fanaticism.” The reality is that state Republicans are one election away from irrelevance, and now is not the time for ideological infighting. A relevant, competitive party puts forward candidates who can win.