Rob Ryan

After hisa press conference on Rudy Giuliani and the presidential race in midtown yesterday, I asked former congressman and Staten Island Borough President Guy Molinari about the Republican Party here in New York.

“We are struggling for survival--that’s how serious it is,” he told me.

To save it, it’s going to take “strong leadership, people that have access to money. Money is necessary to rebuild the party to where it was, and good candidates. So a lot of recruiting has to go into the future. And it can be brought back.”

But Molinari isn’t too excited about John Catsimatidis, a late addition to the Republican Party and likely 2009 mayoral candidate.

(After the jump.)  read more »

In an interesting bit of 2009-related news, The New York Sun noted that John Catismatidis, a fund-raiser for Hillary Clinton who said he wants to run for mayor as a Republican, just hired a Republican advisor, Rob Ryan.

Ryan, you may recall, worked for former Yonkers mayor John Spencer in a no-hope Senate bid against Clinton during the course of which he found himself explaining Spencer's contentions that Hillary had had plastic surgery and that she was of a piece with Osama Bin Laden.

Ryan told me he doesn’t see any problem having worked for a bitter Clinton opponent last year and for one of her major financial supporters this year. And he noted that Catsimatidis was a contributor to another former boss of his: George Pataki.

“If my criteria was working with people I totally agree with, I wouldn’t have too much work out there,” he said.

 

More praise for Andrew Cuomo, at Eliot Spitzer;s expense, from an odd source:

"He has the opportunity to become what Spitzer wanted to be: the guy who cleans up Albany," former George Pataki aide Rob Ryan told me. "And that’s what people want.”

Andrew Cuomo isn’t doing interviews. (Really.)    read more »

Also in this week's paper, I look how Andrew Cuomo is winning over critics in uncharacteristic fashion: by doing his job and not letting self-promotion get in the way.

"What we're seeing is a guy who sees the value of letting the work speak for itself, as opposed to engaging in gratuitous public relations," said Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf, who spent the 2006 election cycle tauntingly referring to Cuomo as "Andy" on behalf of Mark Green.

Toughguy Republican consultant Rob Ryan put it this way: "Maybe the guy's better suited for the job than I thought."

-- Azi Paybarah

While Eliot Sptizer, Joel Klein and other officials are conducting public efforts to win over their critics, one office-holder you'd think would be rushing into the spotlight is keeping a low profile.

75 days into Andrew Cuomo's tenure as Sherrif of Wall Street Attorney General, he's among the least attention-seeking officials. Just like his campaign, the strategy in office seems to be to keep a low profile, and do whatever reformers and editorial boards say.

And it's working.

"Maybe the guy's better suited for the job than I thought," said Republican strategist Rob Ryan. "That's how you get things done."

Ryan, who laughed when I asked if he voted for Cuomo, said Cuomo "isn't rushing into things. He reacts more judiciously than he has in the past which is a great improvement."

-- Azi Paybarah

Don't expect any last-minute attacks on Hillary Clinton from John Spencer in these waning days of the campaign.

"We're running a campaign on principles," Spencer's spokesman Rob Ryan told me. "We're talking about issues that are core republican issues, and we're talking about Senator Clinton's failure to properly serve the people of New York."

"It's obviously a tough year for Republicans in New York State and for that matter, nationally. So we're going to make the best effort possible. This has been an issue-oriented campaign and it's going to remain one. And we'll see what happens on Election Day."

How bad is it this year?

Ryan said, "This is pretty much what it was like 30 years ago. It was 1976, you were coming out of Watergate, Nelson Rockefeller was out of New York State and no longer governor...this is the state things were in." But, he said it's times like these that "open up the shot at rebuilding."  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

A reader notes John Spencer is in a category of his own.

Unlike John Faso, Jeanine Pirro and Chris Callaghan, Spencer hasn't come out with an ad criticizing his opponent for being "friend" or "running mate" of Alan Hevesi.

(Hillary, who is flustered with answering questions about Hevesi, called him a friend and stood by him with conviction.)

"We put out statements and have gone on record saying he should resign," Spencer spokesman Rob Ryan told me, by way of explanation. "We've gotten the message out there. And remember, those other people are running for state office."

-- Azi Paybarah

While things may look grim for John Spencer, who is once again in the position of having to deny his own quotes, he's certainly getting more attention now.

He'll be on NY1 tonight, Fox News this afternoon and he'll appear tonight on Inside Edition. (Seriously.)

As for apologizing to Hillary for the comments, don't bet on it.

Spencer's spokesman Rob Ryan called to say, "There's nothing to apologize for. John Spencer never said she was ugly. Never said she had plastic surgery. And that's a fact."

-- Azi Paybarah

So if you think turnout is going to be low for the Democrats, just think about the Republicans. Without primaries for governor or attorney general to attract voters to the polls, the only thing going for them -- from the perspective of moving voters to polling places -- is the Jerry Springer-esque Senate contest between John Spencer and KT McFarland.

Rob Ryan, Spencer's spokesman, said he doubts that the Republican turnout will even break 200,000 statewide. And naturally, he predicts that the low turnout would work to Spencer's advantage: "A lot of this is going to depend on who can bring out the vote; she (McFarland) has no base except for a couple of matrons on the Upper East Side. We have Yonkers and the Republican party getting out the vote for us."

Ryan also pointed out that Yonkers is bigger than Syracuse, which, if we follow his logic, is a good thing. McFarland's campaign counters that her "kitchen talks" with voters across the state have won her the support of women outside of Park Avenue, who will come out to the polls in droves.

"We believe we are going to have strong support among women," said Morgan Ortagus-Dobbs, McFarland's spokeswoman. "We have been to the homes of so many women."

Ortagus-Dobbs also had this piece of speculation about what would happen if, in the end, Spencer prevails:

"I don't know how he (Spencer) thinks he is going to be able to debate Hillary Clinton if he can't even stand up to KT."

--Jason Horowitz

John Spencer is going statewide with the 30-second biographical ad he released right before his debate with KT McFarland last month. A Spencer spokesman said they'll be running the ad on cable, since, according to their research, Republican primary votes watch plenty of cable news (read: Fox News).

Spencer's other ads, with images of Hillary Clinton and the president of Iran, are not scheduled to run for the rest of the primary, according to spokesman Rob Ryan. Either Spencer is taking the high road, or his campaign is pretty confident KT McFarland won't be on air any time soon.

-- Azi Paybarah

Apparently Rob Ryan and the John Spencer campaign team have hit a nerve.

Morgan Ortagus, KT McFarland's usually mild-mannered and sweet-natured spokeswoman, just sent Ryan an angry letter accusing the Spencer campaign of falsely claiming the support of National Republican Senatorial Committee chair Elizabeth Dole. Here's are a couple of samples:

"The fact that he needs to pretend he has Mrs. Dole's support is a little sad, frankly."

"Trying to gain advantage in the Republican Primary by spreading falsehoods--wrongly using the good name of a prominent and respected U.S. Senator in the process--only belittles your candidate. It makes him look small. Please stop doing it."

The NRSC folks must be thrilled.  read more »

(Full text after the jump.)

--Jason Horowitz

As KT McFarland shakes off today's Post report and prepares for her big fund-raiser tonight with all those Reagan-era Cold Warriors, Rob Ryan wonders (aloud, to us) what one attendee thinks about a recent statement from KT campaign manager Ed Rollins.

The attendee: General P.X. Kelley, former commandant of the Marine Corps.

The statement, from a recet New York Magazine story, was that "There were so many guys getting killed in Vietnam that it wasn't so difficult [for Spencer to be made first lieutenant]--and it wasn't so difficult to get a Bronze Star."

McFarland's campaign said that Rollins has already addressed the comment ("I never intended to cast aspersions on John Spencer's military record. I have only respect for anyone who has served or is serving our country,") and argued that they are focused only on Spencer's record as Mayor of Yonkers.  read more »

Ryan doesn't buy it: "KT McFarland has Ed Rollins and his surrogates throw mud and then she sits there and acts oblivious to everything that goes on around her. She has to be accountable for the actions of her staff."

- Jason Horowitz

On Urban Elephants, Rob Ryan explains the recent lull in John Spencer's public campaign activity:

"It's f****** summer in New York... No one pays attention until 3 weeks out... And by the time the primary comes, Joe Six-Pack just wants to know who the conservative is."

-- Josh Benson UPDATE: It has been pointed out to me that this is a more current photo of Ryan than the one next to the post, which seems to have been taken under extremely unpleasant circumstances. FURTHER UPDATE: I'm taking the original picture down and erasing the comments on this post. I mean, really.

According to January's filing, Randy Daniels has spent 93% of his cash on hand since July. The GOP gubernatorial hopeful spent 144% of contributions raised in the same period, 95% of which went to fundraising/consulting fees. This leaves him with $24,755.44.

Most of the money went to what looks like a pretty unsuccessful fundraising push, but the campaign doesn't seem to have been pinching pennies on other fronts, with the campaign spending $10,467.26 on car services and $9,396.94 on airfare.

Asked about the campaign's expenditures, Daniels campaign manager Rob Ryan said, "When you're running for governor in a state like New York you have to lay the groundwork and that takes a lot of money." He also noted that they've paid their bills on time.

Daniels' spending during this period is on par with Bill Weld--who spent $253,545.56 (about 14% of what he raised) and currently has $1,837,630.95 in the bank--yet leaves him with the same amount as Pat Manning.

Eliot Spitzer's spending in the same period was $1,919,377.58 (about 23% of what he raised), a chunk of the $19,080,213.17 in his coffers.

Later, when asked about Daniels' use of car services, Ryan had no comment but to say, "He takes the subway almost everyday."

—Nicole Brydson