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Conservative Party of New York State

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Conservative Party of New York State
ChairpersonMichael R. Long
Founded1962; 62 years ago (1962)
Split fromRepublican Party
Headquarters486 78th Street Brooklyn NY 11209
IdeologyGun rights Conservatism (American)
Political positionRight-wing
International affiliationNone
Colors  Orange
New York State Assembly
1 / 150
New York State Senate
0 / 63
New York City Council
0 / 51
Other elected offices30 (2015)
Website
www.cpnys.org

The Conservative Party of New York State is a political party in the United States active in the state of New York, holding "Line C" on ballots directly below the Democratic and Republican parties. Although the Conservative Party existed in many other states throughout the 1960s, it now operates only in New York State.

In New York State's elections, the Conservative Party was ranked fourth place in terms of membership in 2010, behind the Democrats, Republicans, and the Libertarian Party, and ahead of the Greens and Constitution Party.[1] As of November 1, 2011, 147,993 voters, or 1.3% of New York State's total enrollment, were registered with the party.[2]

History

Main article: Electoral History of the Conservative Party of New York State

The Conservative Party of New York State was founded in 1962 by a group including J. Daniel Mahoney, Kieran O'Doherty, Charles E. Rice, and Charles Edison, out of frustration with the perceived liberalism of the state's Republican Party. A key consideration was New York's fusion voting, unusual among US states, which allows individual candidates to receive votes from more than one party. The Liberal Party of New York, founded in 1944, had earlier benefitted from this system.

James L. Buckley won a Senate seat in 1970 on the Conservative Party line with 38% of the vote. It has been the party's only statewide victory

The Conservative Party founders wanted to balance the Liberal Party's influence. One early supporter was National Review founder William F. Buckley, who was the party's candidate for mayor of New York City in 1965. In 1970, his brother James Buckley was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Conservative Party candidate; in 1976, he ran for reelection as a candidate of the Republican and Conservative parties, losing to Daniel Patrick Moynihan. In 1978, registered Conservative William Carney, a member of the Suffolk County legislature, was elected to the United States House of Representatives in New York's 1st congressional district, a long-time Democratic stronghold on Long Island, after winning the Republican primary and running on both party lines.[3] He eventually served three terms before retiring. In the 2004 U.S. Senate election, the Conservative Party endorsed Marilyn O'Grady to oppose Republican candidate Howard Mills and incumbent Democratic Senator Charles Schumer.

Chairmen and women
Chair Tenure Hometown while serving
Kieran E. O'Doherty February 1962 – July 1962 Manhattan
J. Daniel Mahoney July 1962 – April 1986 Manhattan
Serphin R. Maltese April 1986 – December 1988 Queens
Michael R. Long December 1988 – present Brooklyn

Policy priorities

The Conservative Party platform addresses a range of fiscal and social issues. In the fiscal realm, the Party supports reduced individual and corporate taxes, right to work laws, tort reform, repeal of inheritance (estate) taxes, and limits on the growth of state spending, and opposes minimum wage increases. Regarding law enforcement, the Party advocates repeal of the SAFE Act, reinstatement of the death penalty, no parole for convicted felons, and the use of "stop-and-frisk" policing, and opposes the legalization of mind-altering drugs. On social issues, the Party opposes abortion except when the life of the mother is in danger, supports educational choice, opposes same-sex marriage, opposes the DREAM Act, and promotes adoption. The Party advocates government reform efforts such as term limits, initiative and referendum, recall, a ban on legislative member items, and voter identification requirements, and opposes taxpayer funding of campaigns.[4]

Strategy

Rather than nominating its own candidates, the Conservative Party usually endorses the same candidates as the Republican Party and campaigns against the Democratic candidates. It withholds this support from the Republicans if it deems them too liberal. For example, the Conservative Party withheld its support from Republican Rudy Giuliani's fusion campaigns with endorsement from the Liberal Party for New York City mayor in 1989, 1993[5] and 1997.[6] The decision not to endorse party-switching Syracuse state Senator Nancy Larraine Hoffmann cost the GOP that seat in the 2004 election. However, the Party has also endorsed Democratic candidates as well, such as controversial former Buffalo mayor and presidential candidate Jimmy Griffin, who was initially elected mayor solely on the Conservative ticket but had Republican support as well for his subsequent campaigns. It also cross-endorsed such Democrats as Asms. Michael Cusick,[7] Michael P. Kearns,[8] and Robin Schimminger,[8] former Manhattan District Attorney Frank Hogan, and former Capital District Congressman Michael McNulty. No Republican has won statewide office in New York without Conservative Party support since 1974.[9]

This list in incomplete.

Current elected officials

New York State

Cayuga County

  • Hans-Peter Pecher, member of the Cayuga County Legislature from the 8th district

Chemung County

  • Donald Vorhees, town councilman from Catlin
  • Louis F. DeCiccio, town councilman from Veteran

Clinton County

  • Lawrence E. Wolff, town assessor of Ellenburg

Columbia County

  • Jon Mesick, town councilman from Austerlitz
  • Alan G. Miller, town councilman from Canaan
  • Edward Scott, town councilman from Stuyvesant

Erie County

  • Joseph C. Lorigo, majority leader of the Erie County Legislature from the 10th district
  • David L. Cummings, Town Supervisor of Newstead
  • Michael Petrie, Mayor of Blasdell
  • Thomas Fallon, town councilman from Elma
  • Christopher Aronica, town councilman from Grand Island
  • Gary Roesch, town councilman from Grand Island
  • Geoffrey W. Hack, town councilman from Holland
  • Julie Lathrop, town councilwoman from Marilla
  • John P. Jendrowski, Jr., town councilman from Newstead
  • Douglas J. Morrell, town councilman from Sardinia
  • Robert Pearce, Town Justice from Elma
  • Walter C. Cain, Town Justice from Collins
  • Thomas M. Best, Sr., Superintendent of Highways from Hamburg
  • Remy Orffeo, Town Clerk from Orchard Park

Genesee County

  • John Armitage, town councilman from LeRoy

Livingston County

Monroe County

  • Eric G. Peters, Town Supervisor of Hamlin

Niagara County

  • William L. Ross, member of the Niagara County Legislature from the 2nd district
  • Joseph Ohol, town councilman from Cambria
  • Ronald C. Morrison, councilman from Pendleton
  • Tracey Carmer, Town Clerk from Somerset

Ulster County

  • Mary Wawaro, member of the Ulster County Legislature from the 1st district

1990 gubernatorial election

Herbert London was the Conservative Party's nominee for Governor of New York in 1990; that year, the party broke from the Republican Party, declining to cross-endorse Republican nominee Pierre Rinfret.[10][11] London ran a strong campaign statewide and finished one percentage point behind Rinfret, while Democratic Governor Mario Cuomo easily won re-election.[12]

2006 elections

The party lobbied against Jeanine Pirro's candidacy for the 2006 Senate election against Hillary Clinton. Pirro was a liberal Republican and was supported by Governor George Pataki and other GOP leaders who saw her as the only candidate who could compete against Clinton. Under pressure from the Conservative Party and factions within the GOP, Pirro withdrew from the race in November 2005 to run for state attorney general (this time, with the endorsement of the Conservative Party). She was defeated in that race by Andrew Cuomo. Most Conservative Party state and county leaders supported John Spencer, former mayor of Yonkers, New York. While Spencer received the Republican nomination, he was defeated by Clinton in the general election.

In the race for Governor, Conservative Party Chairman Michael Long endorsed John Faso, the former Assembly Minority Leader and Republican State Comptroller nominee in 2002. Faso also received the endorsements of county branches of the Conservative Party. Bill Weld, John Faso's primary contender, received lukewarm support from the Conservative Party due to his support of abortion and same-sex marriage; Weld considered running on the Libertarian Party ticket. Faso was the nominee of both the Republican and Conservative parties, but was defeated by Eliot Spitzer.

2008 presidential election

Strength of Conservative Party by county, 2008
  <1.5%
  1.5 - 1.9 %
  2.0 - 2.4 %
  2.5 - 3.0 %
  3.0 - 3.9 %
  >4.0 %

The Conservative Party nominated Republican candidates John McCain and Sarah Palin for president and vice president in the 2008 election.[13] The graph shows how it did throughout the state.

2009 elections

Main article: New York's 23rd congressional district special election, 2009

The Conservative Party nominated Doug Hoffman for the special congressional election in the 23rd congressional district, an election won by the Democratic nominee, Bill Owens.[14] The Conservative Party chose Hoffman, a fiscal and social conservative, in reaction to the Republican Party's nomination of pro-choice, pro-same-sex-marriage, pro-union Assemblymember Dede Scozzafava, who Chairman Mike Long declared to be a "nice lady who is too liberal."[15] On October 31, 2009, Dede Scozzafava suspended her campaign,[16] leading prominent Republicans such as national chairman Michael Steele to endorse Hoffman.[17] The final election results showed that Owens prevailed over Hoffman by a margin of 48.3% to 46%.[18] According to one commentator, "tea party conservatives see the GOP loss as a victory for conservativism over mere political party loyalty. They’re describing the defeat as a warning shot fired in defense of principle."[19] In addition, elected officials and observers opined that the congressional race had an impact on the New York State Senate's December 2, 2009 vote against same-sex marriage legislation.[20][21][22]

Stephen Christopher, the party's nominee for Mayor of New York City, came in third in that race with 1.7% of the vote.[23] The party's nominees for Public Advocate and Comptroller also came in third with 3.5% and 2.3% of the vote respectively.[24][25]

2010 activities

Party chairman Michael Long publicly endorsed Rick Lazio for the New York gubernatorial election, 2010, and directed his allies to do the same. However, several county chairmen refused, and coalesced behind vice chairman Ralph Lorigo to assure Lazio would have a Conservative Party primary opponent. Long sent a letter demanding Lorigo to either cease his gubernatorial campaign or resign his position within the party, accusing him of being a stalking horse for another candidate, Carl Paladino, whom Long refused to consider (an allegation that Lorigo publicly denied, though his campaign was run by family members of the Paladino campaign). Long did not state any consequences for refusing to do so.[26]

Lazio defeated Lorigo in the primary election by a roughly 60-40 margin, though write-in candidates were significant in several upstate counties, many of which voted for Lorigo over Lazio. Paladino defeated Lazio in the Republican primary. Afterwards, Long barred Lorigo from party meetings.[27] Lazio dropped out of the race on September 27, requiring a vacancy committee to convene and select a replacement; Lorigo claims that Suffolk County chairman Ed Walsh held a meeting among his party's members that claimed a 90 percent support rate, at odds with Long's claims.[28] Long eventually endorsed Paladino, and the vacancy committee followed, placing Paladino on the line.

Paladino eventually drew 232,264 votes on the Conservative Party line, which allowed the Party to overtake the Independence Party of New York and retake Line C for the first time since the 1998 elections.

2012 activities

Following the passage of same-sex marriage legislation in 2011, the Conservative Party stated that it would withdraw support for any candidate who had voted for the bill.[29][30] Four Republican state senators−Sens. James Alesi, Mark Grisanti, Roy McDonald, and Stephen Saland−voted in favor of same-sex marriage. Alesi did not run for re-election,[31] while Grisanti, McDonald, and Saland faced challengers who received the Conservative Party's endorsement. Grisanti was re-elected to the State Senate in 2012,[32] while McDonald was defeated in a Republican primary[33] and Saland was defeated in a general election in which a Conservative Party-endorsed challenger acted as a spoiler.[34]

2014 activities

The party endorsed Rob Astorino very early in the gubernatorial election process.[35] In the comptroller election, the party threatened to nominate its own candidate if the Republicans could not find a candidate from their party to run on the line.[36]

Grisanti, the last remaining Republican to have voted for the Marriage Equality Act, was again denied a cross-endorsement and the party instead endorsed dummy candidate Timothy Gallagher for the position. Grisanti lost in the Republican primary but remained in the general election on the Independence line; Gallagher, despite not campaigning at all, won 8 percent of the vote. The vote split between Gallagher, Grisanti and Republican primary winner Kevin Stocker allowed Democrat Marc Panepinto to win election to the seat with only 34 percent of the vote.

References

  1. ^ "U.S. House National Totals by Party: Comparing 2010 with 2006". Ballot-access.org. Retrieved 2012-01-02.
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ Spitzer, Robert, "Third Parties in New York State", in Jeffrey M. Stonecash, John Kenneth White, and Peter W. Colby, edd., Governing New York State (1994, Third Edition).
  4. ^ "Goals 2015 | Conservative Party of New York State". Cpnys.org. Retrieved 2015-05-05.
  5. ^ James Bennet (May 16, 1993). ""Giuliani is endorsed by New York Liberal Party"". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-05-05.
  6. ^ [2][dead link‍]
  7. ^ Tom Wrobleski (2014-05-29). "Conservatives back 4 incumbents, but lack candidates against 2 Democrats". SILive.com. Retrieved 2015-05-05.
  8. ^ a b "Conservatives biding time on Grisanti seat - City & Region". Buffalonews.com. 2014-05-22. Retrieved 2015-05-05.
  9. ^ Michael Gormley (2010-09-27). "Rick Lazio drops out of New York governor's race, critical of both remaining candidates". CSMonitor.com. Retrieved 2013-07-14.
  10. ^ Lynn, Frank (May 29, 1990). "Conservatives Balk as G.O.P. Prepares to Back Rinfret". The New York Times. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  11. ^ Lynn, Frank (October 30, 1990). "Rinfret and London Running Even in Polls". The New York Times. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  12. ^ "Pierre Rinfret; Economist, Cuomo Rival in N.Y". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  13. ^ [3][dead link‍]
  14. ^ Bacon Jr, Perry (November 4, 2009). "Democrat wins hard-fought N.Y. House special election". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  15. ^ "New York Trading Down". Human Events. Retrieved 2012-01-02.
  16. ^ "Scozzafava drops out of NY-23 special election". The Washington Post. October 31, 2009. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  17. ^ Nagourney, Adam; Peters, Jeremy W. (November 1, 2009). "G.O.P. Moderate, Pressed by Right, Abandons Race". The New York Times. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  18. ^ "Special election results certified". Watertown Daily Times. Retrieved 2012-01-02.
  19. ^ John Tomasic (2009-11-04). "Musgrave to GOP: 'Don't just assume we're yours'". The Colorado Independent. Retrieved 2012-01-02.
  20. ^ [4][dead link‍]
  21. ^ Vick, Karl (December 3, 2009). "N.Y. State Senate votes down gay marriage bill by wide margin". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  22. ^ Hakim, Danny (November 6, 2009). "Marriage for Gays on Agenda in New York". The New York Times. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  23. ^ "Election 2009". The New York Times. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  24. ^ [5][dead link‍]
  25. ^ [6][dead link‍]
  26. ^ "Long To Lorigo: Stop Running Or Resign". Capitaltonight.com. 2010-06-28. Retrieved 2012-01-02.
  27. ^ "Long: Even Without Lazio, Conservatives Won't Back Paladino". Capitaltonight.com. 2010-09-17. Retrieved 2012-01-02.
  28. ^ Jerry Zremski, Tom Precious and Robert J. McCarthy (2010-09-28). "Lazio's exit opens door for Paladino". The Buffalo News. Retrieved 2012-01-02.
  29. ^ New York’s Approval of Same-Sex Marriage Spurs Opponents for New Fights
  30. ^ Nahimas, Laura (June 29, 2011). "Will voting for gay marriage help or hurt Republican senators". The Capitol. Archived from the original on 2011-07-06. Retrieved May 17, 2012.
  31. ^ Lovett, Kenneth (May 9, 2012). "State Sen. who voted for gay marriage one of 4 GOPers who voted for gay marriage last year, won't run for reelection - believing that vote weakened him politically". New York Daily News. Retrieved November 26, 2012.
  32. ^ Kaplan, Thomas (December 13, 2012). "In Final Tally, Vote for Gay Marriage Costs 3 Republicans". The New York Times.
  33. ^ Kaplan, Thomas (September 27, 2012). "Roy J. McDonald, Republican Who Voted for Gay Marriage, Won't Pursue Third-Party Bid". The New York Times.
  34. ^ Kriss, Erik (2012-12-14). "Dem win still a loss | New York Post". Nypost.com. Retrieved 2015-05-05.
  35. ^ Dicker, Fredric U. (February 10, 2014). Conservative Party boss says Rob Astorino to run for gov. New York Post. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  36. ^ Lovett, Ken (April 14, 2014). Mike Long says NYS Conservative party will choose own controller candidate if GOP can't (sic). New York Daily News. Retrieved April 14, 2014.

Bibliography

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