State Sen. Switches To GOP (NY)

Newday.com ^ | December 3, 2002 | Jordan Rau

[Ed_NYC]

State Sen. Switches To GOP

By Jordan Rau

ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF

December 3, 2002

State Sen. Olga Mendez, who had rankled Democratic leaders by endorsing Gov. George Pataki, plans this afternoon to announce that she is switching to the Republican Party, giving the GOP an unprecedented 38 out of 62 seats in that chamber, according to people familiar with her decision.

Mendez, who represents parts of Upper Manhattan and the Bronx, is the first Puerto Rican woman elected to the State Legislature, and her change is a coup for Pataki, who aggressively courted the Latino vote in winning his third term last month

[Torie]

He won't last.

[Senator Pardek]

Guys named Olga rarely do.

[shiva]

LOL!!!

[NativeNewYorker]

For those who don't know that area, there are more
GOPers on FR at this instant than there are in Olga's district.

[pulaskibush]

State Sen. Olga Mendez, who had rankled Democratic leaders by endorsing Gov. George Pataki, plans this afternoon to announce that SHE is switching to the Republican Party

Am I missing something here?

This is a great victory for the GOP. I'm sending this article to hispanics everywhere.

[timestax]

bump

[fieldmarshaldj]

The victory isn't the switch, the victory is the switch coupled with reelection to a heavily Dem district AS a Republican. The last Hispanic Senator that just did that in NY (Pedro Espada) lost reelection, and they took it out on his son, too, who was running for the Assembly.

[solo gringo]

Way to go Olga "LETS ROLL"

[Tribune7]

Absolutley right! Ditto bump

[The Old Hoosier]

Pataki will leave office once he has completely destroyed NY's Republican party. That's what RINOs did in TN and IL this cycle. You can play the game of running to the left to win, but the long term effects will always be bad, both morally and politically. Just you watch.

[The Old Hoosier]

Of course, I don't mean to say I don't like to see Hispanics voting Republican. I just mean that Pataki, who will sign the special-rights-for-homosexuals-bill next year, is not such a great man to have in office.