Stephen Minarik

Michael Bloomberg's change of party registration has kicked off speculation about his presidential run, but also about his time in City Hall.

The former chairman of the state Republican Party, Stephen Minarik, told Capital News 9 last night, “I would say that it’s probably--it’s still speculation now and it’s probably a huge long shot. But frankly, I would look around and I would challenge any of the potential candidates that are on both sides of the aisle in this race, I would challenge them to be able to produce a record of accomplishment like that of Mayor Bloomberg’s.”

He went on to say, “Mayor Michael Bloomberg has done such an outstanding job in running the city of New York that in my estimation, he’s one of the top decision makers I’ve ever seen as a leader in government. And I would say to you that is what we need in the federal government.”

That’s a little different than former Rudy Giuliani adviser Fred Siegel’s take on Bloomberg. Writing for The New Republic [subscription], Siegel said, “Bloomberg's greatest accomplishment has been to continue the Giuliani crime and welfare reforms. But when it comes to his own initiatives, 311 excepted, it's been a different matter.”

Here's a shot of some of the people biding their time at the Sheraton in midtown as they wait for New York GOP chairman Joe Mondello and most of the state party to announce their endorsement of Rudy Giuliani for President.

Republicans notably, and deliberately, steering clear of today's festivities include Mike Bloomberg, Al D'Amato, George Pataki and former state chair Stephen Minarik aren't particpating.

But who's counting?

Democrats want to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq within months.

Nancy Pelosi is backing John Murtha for as majority leader.

Russ Feingold said he won't run for president, and never really wanted to.

Howard Wolfson gets profiled.

Stephen Minarik, the state Republican Party chairman, is stepping down and could be replaced by the chairman in Nassau County, Joseph Mondello.

Newsday says that Minarik has Joe Bruno's support.

Alan Hevesi may step down as state comptroller to avoid prosecution from the Albany District Attorney.

Bill Thompson is reportedly not interested in succeeding Hevesi, opting to stay on as city comptroller and possibly run for mayor in 2009.

Ben has the back story on the angry real estate scion who helped oust Rep. Sue Kelly.

And the Times offers some advice to the state's Republican Party.

"New York's G.O.P. should embrace the city's dynamic mayor as its guiding star."

-- Azi Paybarah

"I think Joe Bruno has articulated to me...that he wants me to stay on."

-- Republican State Chairman Stephen Minarik moments ago on WROW.

-- Azi Paybarah

"There is no better state chairman in the country than Mike Long," said Republican John Faso in his concession speech just now, referring to the leader of the Conservative Party.

Nothing in there for Stephen Minarik, who will be the Republican State Chairman for at least another few minutes.

-- Azi Paybarah

How long does Alan Hevesi have to enjoy his victory, if he wins?

How long does it take Republicans to get out the knives for state chairman Stephen Minarik? Who will replace him?

How many votes will decide this year's rematch between Nick Spano and Andrea Stewart-Cousins?

Does John Sweeney hold on? Or does he lose today because of the national Democratic surge? Or because of allegations that he beat his wife?

Who takes the seat in Buffalo: Tom Reynolds or self-financed Republican-turned-Democrat Jack Davis?

Could singer John Hall upset Rep. Sue Kelly?

In the city, how close does Stephen Harrison get to Vito Fossella?

What do the blogs say about Joe Lieberman's comeback in Connecticut?

If Bob Menendez hangs on in New Jersey, how quickly will this stuff go away?

And of course...What are the headlines in tomorrow's tabs?

-- Azi Paybarah

The Times reports a letter to the board of elections from Stephen Minarik accuses Andrew Cuomo of receiving "substantial unreported and, in certain cases, illegal in-kind contributions."

The Sun reports that a company targeted by Eliot Spitzer last year, offered a close friend $1 million for a meeting with the Attorney General.

The Albany Times Union reports that over two dozen media outlets, including itself, have filed a lawsuit against Sheldon Silver and Joe Bruno for violating "the state Freedom of Information Law by refusing to disclose which lawmakers asked for specific grants for community projects."

—Nicole Brydson

Bill Weld entered the New York Governor’s race as a red-haired, ruddy-cheeked savior for the s  read more »

So we checked in with the KT McFarland's campaign, which is busy crossing the state for "KT Kitchen Talks," to see how they are feeling a day after Stephen Minarik implored the candidate to drop out of the race.

On the topic of forcing a primary against John Spencer, press secretary Morgan Ortagus-Dobbs said McFarland "clearly had the momentum at the convention" and that "she did it with the party leaders working against her." She added that McFarland was not "scared or intimidated" by the prospect of a primary contest.

"I'm from Florida and we have huge primary contests there," said Ortagus. " I don't know why it would be any different for New York."

New York's singularity seemed to be made achingly apparent to Bill Weld. We'll see how long McFarland can withstand the party's pressure.

-- Jason Horowitz

Besides the influence of George Pataki, and the future of Bill Weld, another state Republican big shot who comes out limping from yesterday's convention in Hempstead has to be Stephen J. Minarik III, the party leader who publicly and staunchly backed Weld and predicted that John faso would fail to break 16 percent. During a press conference in the "Pride Room" at the Hofstra arena after winning the party's endorsement, John Faso was asked repeatedly whether he felt Minarik should step down as party chair because he was out of step with the wishes of county leaders.

Faso dodged the question, but he didn't exactly give Minarik a ringing endorsement.

"I have always had cordial relations with Steve, a few bumps in the road perhaps," said Faso, "but I want to have all the Republicans in this state supporting me and helping me."

Minutes later, Minarik was questioned on the convention floor about once saying that Faso was in "La-La land."

"That was taken out of context," said Minarik.

Welcome to La-La Land.

—Jason Horowitz Misspellings corrected.

Could John Faso, in his wildest dreams, imagine that it would come to this?

Just a few months after the always-measured Stephen Minarik accused him of living in "la-la land" over his political strength, there was a satisfied-looking Faso on NY1 accusing Bill Weld of being the "desperate candidate" in the Republican primary.

Giving the knife an extra half-turn, considering Weld's view of himself as the rhetorical heir of either Lincoln or Douglas (or both), Faso also had this to say about his learned opponent: "I think that you can't run for governor of New York and hide from the press and hide from the media."

Watch the actual segment here.

UPDATE: Urban Elephants finds additional momentum for Faso. FURTHER UPDATE: Speaking of rhetorical airs, a helpful commentator points out that I meant "heir." Thanks.

The Daily News reports that Stephen Minarik may quit later this year; and Tom Suozzi is going on the offensive against Joe Bruno and Sheldon Silver.

The Times rounds up Cory Booker's win in Newark; and investigates the Clinton-Murdoch alliance.

The Sun reports on John Faso's tax plan; and that George Pataki will use his last months in office to push for two projects, Javits expansion and Moynihan Station.

—Nicole Brydson

AP's Marc Humbert got Steve Minarik to raise the carpet-bagger issue again, in a conversation about Hillary's plans to deliver a speech about job creation tonight in Chicago.

"She's quite at home there," Minarik said. "Do I need to say anything else? You can fill in all the rest, about how perhaps she can help create jobs in her hometown as opposed to here in New York state where she hasn't done anything."

Wolfson points out to Humbert, less interestingly, that lots of New Yorkers are from elsewhere. (Really?) Including William Weld. (Ah, there you go, Howard.)

Wait a minute. Weld is from New York. So maybe he was a carpet-bagger when he became governor of Massachusetts?

- Tom McGeveran

What a strange place Reagan advisor Ed Rollins has occupied in this year's Senate races.

Down in Florida, he trashed his candidate, Katherine Harris, and is now -- no surprise -- leaving that campaign.

Here in New York, Steve Minarik has decided that picking a fight with Rollins might be the last straw for KT. But she's standing by her man. Here's her statement:

While I respect Mr. Minarik's power as State Party Chairman, I do not believe it extends this far. Who I choose to advise me is my business and my business alone. Ed Rollins is not only the best in the business, he is a friend and he is staying. This is non-negotiable.

At some point one has to ask: Who cares?

One in five people who paid to sleep in the Clinton White House are paying to send Hillary back to the senate, The Post says.

Fred Dicker notes in his column that evangelicals won't get in bed with KT's senate run. Dicker also notes that State GOP Chairman Stephen Minarik will get behind John Spencer.

While Pataki was in a hospital bed, his PAC got $75,000 in donations from groups dealing with the state, The Times reports.

And finally, what discussion of politics and beds would be complete without a word from hunky Syriana actor George Clooney, who, Daily News reports, says F#$&! You to some Democrats.

--Azi Paybarah

On a summer evening in 1999, Republican stalwart and then–State Assembly Minority Leader John Faso  read more »

Can this marriage be saved?  read more »

Can this marriage be saved?As all 62 Republican county chairmen get set to meet on Dec.  read more »

On a summer evening in 1999, Republican stalwart and then–State Assembly Minority Leader John  read more »

Here's a lifeline for Steve Minarik: He's not the only party chairman facing calls to resign these days.

Robert Ginsberg, a Manhattan State Committeeman and longtime critic of Democratic chairman Denny Farrell, is circulating a letter blaming Denny, in part, for Freddy's loss, and calling for his resignation.  read more »

"The recent mayoral election was the worst debacle in history for the Democratic Party candidate," he writes, almost accurately. "While certainly Freddy Ferrer was not blameless...equal blame must fall upon the State Democratic Party. We did absolutely nothing to help Freddy's campaign!"

At some point soon, someone will have to say, "Stop picking on Steve Minarik." But not today. The State Democratic Party just sent out this little help-wanted ad (.pdf) for a GOP gubernatorial nominee.  read more »

Having chided Steve Minarik for a ridiculous attack on the Drum Major Institute, I can't avoid mocking Drum Major's response as well.

Andrea Batista Schlesinger, who (not Freddy Ferrer) actually runs Drum Major, posted her response to Minarik on the Hollywood liberal organ Huffington Post, of course. She portrays Drum Major's bad press as a Republican conspiracy against liberal ideas. This plot is spearheaded by Bloomberg aide Bill Cunningham, whom she describes as a noted Republican operative. (It was open-minded of the New York State Democratic Party to allow a Republican like Cunningham to serve as its executive director, come to think of it.)

"[E]ach time DMI raises critical questions about social and economic policy in New York, the conservatives says it's tacit support for Mr. Ferrer's campaign.

"A bit of a stretch? You better believe it."

OK, I'm more or less with Andrea to this point.

But the article continues:

"Between Minarik writing letters asking for investigations and Bill Cunningham calling every newspaper reporter in sight to plant a story asserting connections that don't exist, it is clear that theirs is a press strategy designed to undermine our credibility and, ultimately, to bring us down. If they wanted simply to attack Fernando Ferrer, they would pick a better story line than affiliation with a civil rights organization....

"It is hardly news that the right-wing of the GOP has re-adopted the Nixonian strategy of seeking to silence any and all dissent by undermining its credibility with baseless attacks, rather than by taking on opposing ideas on their merits.

"What is news it that the Right Wing is now focusing its attacks on progressive think tanks, the most fertile breeding grounds for progressive thought and policy development in our nation."

There's an instinct on the left nationally, and in New York, to conflate classic, non-ideological local hardball politics with national, ideological movement politics. Karl Rove, puppet-master.  read more »

But the idea that this is anything other than Bloomberg vs. Ferrer misreads the local scene in a serious way.

On the other hand, maybe some of those folks reading Huffington Post will give Drum Major some money.

Westchester  read more »

A lovely coincidence: On the same day Mike's allies are lecturing his rival on the appropriate relationship between politics and non-profit groups, New York's favorite anonymous donor has channeled another $20 million to a long list of non-profit groups, via the Carnegie Corporation.

"The Corporation is honored that the donor has chosen us once again to identify and distribute this extraordinary gift," says Carnegie's president, Vartan Gregorian, in the press release.

(We're not sure if you can both take credit for the being modestly anonymous and leak to the press that you're the modest donor, as Mike annually does, but never mind.)

Anyway, in the spirit of Steve Minarik's letter, it's worth noting that the list includes some groups that do policy work: the Vera Institute of Justice, the New York Urban League, and the Partnership for the Homeless. Vera -- Gasp! -- has even worked with the Bloomberg Administration.  read more »

Are we supposed to call in the prosecutors?

The State Republican Party tends not to meddle in local politics, so it seems safe to assume that the Bloomberg campaign is behind this letter to Eliot Spitzer released today. The letter demands that Spitzer investigate the Drum Major Institute for "unlawful partisan political activity."

Now this makes superficial sense. Freddy used to be president of the think tank, which is the baby of one of his top fund-raisers, Bill Wachtel. The GOP's other pieces of evidence are that Ferrer has incorporated a Drum Major report into his policy work, and that another report attacked the Mayor on education policy. The idea that DMI is a Ferrer campaign adjunct is something that lots of reporters have toyed with and rejected, though Mike's campaign has been pushing it hard.

But while it's an appealing theory, it happens not really to be true. The closer you look, the more the story with Drum Major -- as The Politicker has noted before -- is how little it has to do with Freddy's campaign, not how much. Much of the group's work has focused on rating federal legislators. And Drum Major's recent attack on the Mayor's school policy blew up in Freddy's face without Freddy gaining from it in any way.

What's more, GOP Chairman Steve Minarik's stance seems to have some rather harsh consequences for free speech, and for any kind of politics of ideas. Even if a politician leans more heavily than Freddy has on the work of a non-profit, that's a crime?  read more »

Rudy Giuliani and the Manhattan Institute would have been in big trouble. The American Enterprise Institute would shut its doors tomorrow, and the Progressive Policy Institute would have been indicted during the Clinton campaign.

Ed Cox's website is up and running. Given that GOP chairman Steve Minarik has spent much of his tenure trying to scuttle Cox's Senate bid, we think it's sorty of ballsy of Cox to put, under the heading "Friends of Ed," a nice little picture of the candidate with his arm around Minarik.  read more »

Some interesting stuff floating around on the New York political blogging scene.

Slant Point takes a shot at Steve Minarik for trying to tilt the Senate playing field toward Pirro, and against Cox.  read more »

Gawker notes that these days, Rudy even gets a shout-out at Webster Hall.

And Gotham Gazette has a funny little political quiz, for the real junkies.

Of what happens when Republicans have to scrounge for candidates: Pierre Rinfret's personal Web site. Subjects range from images of his detailed model of the U.S.S. Constitution to an attack on Fred Dicker that would make even Steve Minarik wince.  read more »

Rejoice Steve Minarik. You have a candidate!

CNS News reports that one William A. Brenner has emerged as the "anti-Hillary candidate" for U.S. Senate.  read more »

Ann Lewis, meanwhile, is trembling. Indeed, her latest plea for money for Friends of Hillary includes this:

"We know that our opponents will examine these filings, hoping for any sign of weakness that they can exploit. We can't let that happen! "They may have their 'swift boat ads' ready to launch - but we have something more powerful: your support. With your help, we can demonstrate that we will have the resources to fight back against whatever may be coming our way."

We hear that State Party types here and around the country have been shocked to learn that they're getting only a handful of tickets to President Bush's inaugural ball, in contrast to the dozens or hundreds they were able to distribute last time.

Who's getting all the tickets? Big donors, of course.  read more »

You might imagine that this is some of the...freedom...that comes with a second term. An inaugural committee spokesman, Kevin Sheridan, however, assured us that "our ticketing operation is doing its best to accommodate the thousands of requests."

Anyway, Hillary Clinton's not using her tickets. Maybe GOP Chairman Steve Minarik should ask her for them. Or maybe not.