NY-24 - From the Department of Bad Timing

[Lunar]

http://capitaltonight.com/2010/06/indy-party-under-investigation-for-hanna-contribution-endorses-hanna/

Perhaps they might have held off on this , given what’s going on at the other end of the state: http://capitaltonight.com/2010/06/haggerty-indicted/

The state Independence Party committee of Oneida, Herkimer and Cayuga announced this afternoon it has unanimously endorsed Republican Richard Hanna against Democratic Rep. Mike Arcuri in NY-24.

State Vice Chairman John Dote, who also heads the Oneida County Independence Party, is quoted in the candidate’s press release announcing the endorsement thusly:

“With the money spent in Washington on the stimulus bill – only to find out that we created 2,000 jobs in China – along with the money spent on cash for clunkers program, profiting foreign car manufacturers while we bail out our domestic manufacturers who are laying our workers off, I can’t imagine that too much thought was put into these programs before the action was taken to protect the American way of life. So, this endorsement was very obvious and coming.”

The Oneida County Independence Party is under investigation by the local DA in connection with a $4,698 contribution it received from Hanna two weeks before the 2008 election.

The cash was purportedly to pay for political advertising, but the party never reported using it for that purpose.

The Independence Party endorsed Hanna in 2008, too, giving him a coveted third line on the ballot (along with the GOP and Conservative Party lines). Despite that extra edge, he fell just short of managing to oust Arcuri, who was then a freshman in the House.

This time around, Arcuri is at an extra disadvantage as he is running without the benefit of the Working Families Party line, due to his “no” vote on health care reform.

[Lunar]

I should say, this is also from the Department of Not Going to Matter, but when a high-ranking operative in your third party just got charged with political corruption that rocked the state today, at least the afternoon before the budget extender bill became news, might want to hold off on the endorsement for, say, next week?

Especially when there's a simultaneous ongoing investigation into your very own county's third party?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I have got bad news Lunar. Look closely at the Article then at the title of the thread.

[Lunar]

I have got bad news Lunar. Look closely at the Article then at the title of the thread.

I was too busy cleaning up all my many typos. Whoops.

[Lunar]

But, you know, Cuomo's not going to announce taking the Working Families line, should such an event happen, on the same day they get charged with many serious felonies.  Although the Independence Party as a whole wasn't charged today, it makes for poor optics considering the County-level Independence Party in the district is very much in some hot water.

It seems that Haggerty basically got Bloomberg's bribe money confused, it, like the millions of dollars he gave to the City GOP parties, was for the endorsement line on the ballot and supposed to go to party operations.  It wasn't supposed to be a direct bribe to a specific individual's bank account.

[Lunar]

Actually, it's turning into quite a brawl:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/maggiehaberman/0610/Indy_fight_over_Hanna_.html

[Lunar]

Actually, this Haggerty indictment looks like the State Independence Party could see itself be indicted before election day.  Considering that Cuomo's explanation of not accepting the WFP party was that the "party" was under investigation, it's theoretically possible that he could kick the Independencedents to the curb before November and then be single-handedly responsible for killing three third parties in New York (since he killed the Liberal Party in 2002).

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Actually, this Haggerty indictment looks like the State Independence Party could see itself be indicted before election day.  Considering that Cuomo's explanation of not accepting the WFP party was that the "party" was under investigation, it's theoretically possible that he could kick the Independencedents to the curb before November and then be single-handedly responsible for killing three third parties in New York (since he killed the Liberal Party in 2002).

Lazio should throw of the GOP endorsement and destroy the state GOP. At this rate I think the Conservative Party would be more effective opponents to the Democrats.