Posted on 02/17/2006 2:10:50 PM PST by neverdem
The Nassau County executive, Thomas R. Suozzi, will announce his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for governor on Feb. 25, aides to his campaign and his administration said last night.
He will face Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who has a huge lead in early fund-raising, opinion polls and endorsements. As a moderate from the suburbs, Mr. Suozzi poses a counterpoint to Mr. Spitzer, who is a liberal from the city.
Also yesterday, in another contested Democratic race, H. Carl McCall, the former state comptroller and 2002 Democratic nominee for governor, bypassed some better-known candidates in the race to succeed Mr. Spitzer as attorney general and endorsed Denise O'Donnell. She is a Buffalo resident and the former United States attorney for the Western District of New York.
Mr. Suozzi, 43, a photogenic campaigner and a forceful speaker, has made a career of being underestimated. Roaming the state recently in "exploratory" tours, he sounded the themes of cutting taxes, eliminating fraud and waste in Medicaid, uniting the state by addressing the needs of all regions and making state government function better.
As mayor of the small city of Glen Cove, Mr. Suozzi revived its ailing finances. In 2001, he upset the party favorite in a primary for county executive, then won the general election, becoming the first Democrat to hold that office in three decades. He won re-election handily last year.
As the executive, Mr. Suozzi helped rescue Nassau from the brink of bankruptcy, cutting its work force, wringing concessions from unions, reducing borrowing and winning many credit upgrades from bond-rating agencies.
In the attorney general's race, many Democrats looking for a more balanced ticket have put Ms. O'Donnell's candidacy under the political spotlight since Mr. Spitzer selected State Senator David A. Paterson of Harlem to run as lieutenant governor. Both are...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Suozzi is a horrible county executive. NYC is run far better then "suburban" Nassau county. there was even talk of the republicans crossing to nominate Suozzi in the general election (after he loses to Spitzer in the Dem primary), since they have no other viable candidate.
To Market a City Condom, Make It Catchy but Tasteful (NYC)
FReepmail me if you want on or off my New York ping list.
How I enjoy the Donner Party rearing up once again.
God help NY if Spitzer becomes governor.
God help the country. The next step will be the Oval.
I can't see who could stop him. Suozzi running as a republican? could he win? do we even want him to win?
I agree.
Attorney General was just "something to do" 'til he could run for Governor.
Governor will be just "something to do" 'til he could run for President.
Spitzer has as much chance of getting to occupy the White House as Schumer could be considered "mainstream". A NYC liberal, it will never happen in my lifetime, IMHO.
i don't know too much about suozzi. i know that he figured out that medicaid was a problem for local governments, and seemed to beat out the LI repubs in terms of grabbing this issue.
what has he done in nassau that is so bad? (I'm not defending him; i am asking this seriously.)
I agree that medicaid is a problem for local governments as well as a big pain for health care workers who have to deal with bureaucratic regs that do not enhance patient care.
So what did he do about it?
he talks about problems, then does nothing to correct them. taxes are too high he says - ok, so reform the assessment system and advocate reigning in the public school taxes. no, just complain, and ask for more money from albany. he talks about quality of life in nassau, then he advocates building apartment buildings everywhere to increase population density, so he can increase the tax base and take in even more money. he talks about corruption, yet there is plenty of it here in his adminstration. but its a lost cause for nassau, the voter base of ethnic catholic republicans, have all moved out of state.
i'm not sure if he did anything, other than bring up the issue. apparently medicaid is bancrupting local governments.
the relationship between suozzi's complaints and the bush administration's decision to enact Medicare Part D is not clear, but there might be a connection.
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