New York Republicans yesterday put forward former Long Island Rep. Rick Lazio as their candidate for governor — but failed, by all appearances, to calm the turmoil roiling the party.
Pity for New York: If ever there was a time when the state needed a genuine contest for its future, this year is it.
Albany’s broke. Taxes are suffocating. Corruption is rife. Voters are angry.
Democratic nominee Andrew Cuomo has issued a detailed reform agenda, and has promised more to come.
But there are holes a-plenty in his plan, and questions to be asked about Cuomo’s animating visions and philosophy.
Yet nobody was asking them yesterday, least of all Lazio.
Part of the problem lies with state Chairman Ed Cox, who would do the party a service by stepping down.
He recruited Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, a Democrat, into the race — yet didn’t have the clout even to get Levy on a primary ballot against Lazio.
Cox says he’s not leaving, but he’s already presided over one train wreck; does he propose another for the fall?
Indeed, to compound Cox’s humiliation, Levy yesterday pointedly refused to endorse Lazio — saying he’s thinking about running on a third-party line. Then, when Cox told reporters that Levy would back Lazio, Levy flatly denied it.
Also not going away is Buffalo bigmouth Carl Paladino, who got but 8 percent of the floor vote for governor but vowed to devote his personal fortune to petition onto the GOP primary ballot.
No wonder the state Democratic Party dispatched a clown to the GOP convention to mock the proceedings.
It now falls to Lazio to unite his splintered party, no small task.
And it wouldn’t hurt for him to explain why he’s running in the first place.
New York needs new ideas.
If not from the GOP, then from where?