Posted on 11/01/2006 9:23:32 AM PST by neverdem
ALBANY, Oct. 31 — Polls say New York Republicans are on the ropes, but the State Senate’s majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno, and his Republican conference are ending the 2006 election season with a gusher of cash, showing they remain a formidable political force.
In the last week, since the Board of Elections began requiring 24-hour notice of contributions in excess of $1,000, the New York State Senate Republican Campaign Committee has raised $720,000. That is roughly 10 times the $72,500 raised by its rival, the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, according to filings late Tuesday afternoon. And it does not include the $500,000 recently donated to the Senate Republicans by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.
The money comes as Mr. Bruno works to preserve his 35-to-27 majority in the Senate, a majority that could get slimmer but that few expect the Republicans to lose. With the Democratic candidate for governor, Eliot Spitzer, well ahead in the polls and the State Assembly overwhelmingly Democratic, Republican donors see the Senate as something of a last redoubt in state politics.
“There’s no secret that we believe that the Senate Republicans have kept some sanity in the state and have been very pro-business,” said Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, whose political action committee donated more than $72,000 to Senate Republicans in the last week. The Senate has supported the board on several issues, including rent control.
Other recent donations to the Senate Republican committee include $25,000 from Leonard Lauder, the cosmetics billionaire, and $25,000 from William Mack, a real estate developer. From the business world, there was $5,000 from Pfizer, $5,000 from AT&T, $40,000 from Cablevision and $10,000 from Goldman Sachs. Beer wholesalers pitched in $50,000.
Two former candidates for governor, William F. Weld and Tom Golisano, donated $5,000...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
There is a longstanding arrangement in New York that the Democrat-controlled Assembly draws its districts and the GOP-controlled Senate draws its districts. so for a long time, the Legislature has remained divided, with a GOP Senate and a Democrat Assembly. it's set up that way.
So they don't really need all that money. They have rigged the system.
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