Five days after being elected chairman of the Onondaga County Republican Committee, Tom Dadey found himself in a particularly sour political pickle.
On Oct. 1, the former state Senate candidate had prevailed over Salina GOP leader Bill Tassone at the DoubleTree Hotel in DeWitt to take over the county GOP from Tassone’s pal, incumbent chairman John DeSpirito.
Then on Oct. 6 County Executive Joanie Mahoney – a renegade Republican who had backed Dadey’s campaign for the chairmanship – unexpectedly endorsed Democrat gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo.
What would Dadey do?
The county’s top elected official, a Republican, had refused to back Carl Paladino, a fellow Upstater and the GOP’s primary victor in the campaign for governor. Not only did Mahoney reject her party’s candidate, she publicly embraced Cuomo, a downstate Democrat and a liberal to boot.
What could Dadey do?
He did what politicians usually do. He called a press conference.
With a “Paladino for the People” poster gracing the podium, Dadey insisted that Mahoney’s decision to cross party lines “in no way reflects the spirit of the Republican Party, nor does it signal that our party will just stand by and let another Cuomo assume the governor’s mansion.”
Now her critics are calling Mahoney a “RINO” – Republican In Name Only.
Another big RINO
Joanie Mahoney isn’t the only prominent CNY Republican to endorse Cuomo. Former state GOP chairman J. Patrick Barrett of Manlius is also backing “Prince Andrew” for governor.
Though he led the state Republican committee from 1989 to 1991, Barrett appears on a 30-second pro-Cuomo TV commercial and has donated $54,940 to Prince Andrew’s campaign, according to the state Board of Elections.
Now which state department keeps records on how many fat contracts Barrett’s businesses have received from the Democrats who run Albany?
Teachers’ unions blamed
Former U.S. Sen. Al D’Amato minces no words.
On Sept. 29, YNN’s “Capital Tonight” anchor Liz Benjamin asked the prominent Long Island Republican to identify the “special interests in Albany” which he blamed for ruining New York state.
D’Amato promptly named the teachers’ unions as the prime culprits quickly followed by the CSEA and hospital workers’ unions.
Those collective bargainers, D’Amato said, “buy the government in this state,” and the pension and retirement benefits they demand “are choking our cities” and other Empire State municipalities.
Music Mondays at Atillio’s
Hotshot guitar picker Tom Bronzetti, an alumnus of Liverpool High School, is fronting a cookin’ combo at a new Monday-night session in Little Italy at Atillio’s, 700 N. Salina St., down city in Little Italy. Bronzetti’s trio also features his vocalist sister, Alicia Bronzetti, and upbeat bass player Joey Arcuri.
The live jazz will continue at Atillio’s from 7 to 11 p.m. every Monday through October. Admission is free and the food is fine! For reservations, dial 218-5085.
