Posted on 10/18/2006 9:25:06 PM PDT by neverdem
It was the spring of 1994, and one of the greatest moments of John Faso’s political career was about to fall to pieces.
For months, Mr. Faso, an upstate Republican assemblyman, had been campaigning county by county to woo party leaders in his race for state comptroller, New York’s top accounting job, an ideal fit for a self-described numbers nerd.
By the time of the party convention that May, Mr. Faso had all but locked up the Republican nomination. Then the deal-making started. In back-room maneuvering, allies of George E. Pataki, the Republican candidate for governor, decided to deny Mr. Faso the nomination and give it to a member of the rival Conservative Party in exchange for its endorsement of Mr. Pataki.
When Republican emissaries came to deliver the news, Mr. Faso was enraged. “First they tried to kill me, then they sought to persuade me,” he recalled. “I resisted with all my might.”
But Mr. Faso ultimately bowed out, mindful of the greater goal of defeating Mario M. Cuomo, and paved the way for Mr. Pataki’s victory that November.
Now, after years of loyalty to party leaders who have never been especially loyal to him, Mr. Faso has reached the moment of payback as the Republican-Conservative nominee for governor. Still, a shoulda-been-a-contender quality lingers with Mr. Faso, who is far behind in the polls, as he struggles against the juggernaut campaign of the Democratic candidate, Eliot Spitzer, whose party is united behind him in a way Mr. Faso can only envy.
Had Mr. Faso been elected comptroller in 1994 (and many say he was on that track), it is easy to imagine him as the leader of New York Republicans today — perhaps even as governor. More than Mr. Pataki, Mr. Faso is the most clear-spoken and consistent leader...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The New York Times, writing about the Republican candidate for Governor of New York, 20 days before the election, feels it needs to inform its readers about the proper pronounciation of Faso's name. That's not a good sign for the NY GOP in 2006. That they're writing this as a human interest story at all is so sad. Get used to nutcase Spitzer.
FReepmail me if you want on or off my New York ping list.
I don't believe Faso will be too disappointed with this piece.
Spitzer?????????? Governor????
Just another daggoned reason I often bypass the fact that I was born and raised in NYC.....then I grew up, I left when I was 22. Unfortunately I moved to Delaware, home to plagiarizing Plugs Biden, wife beating Crapper, and a Foley-like Castle.
Virginia granted me political asylum 3 years ago.
The NY Times is not just a local paper in a small state.
That they're writing this as a human interest story at all is so sad.
Two Views of a Rising Star: Populist Warrior or Reckless Foe of Big Business (Spitzer)
They did a two part series on Spitzer. They're doing the same with Faso. This is part 1.
Faso is a speed bump.
Faso, by contrast, has a solid record in government office. It won't be enough for him to overcome Spitzer's popularity, but at least none of his voters will be holding their noses.
Spencer. Almost forgot about him.
Faso gets points off for being naive. This is NY politics, you don't get to deal yourself into the game. You gotta be invited into the game. There's too much money at stake to take a chance on "some upstate guy."
Which probably means that liberals in both in the Democrat and Republican parties hate his guts.
Regards, Ivan
Thanks for the ping!
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