GOP Chair In Trouble

GOP Chairman Joe Mondello is taking heat and feeling threatened in his position as the state GOP leader. In multiple media reports Friday (one here) NYC Mayor Bloomberg is advancing his candidate for chairman retiring Congressman Tom Reynolds and Rudy Guliani is advancing his longtime aid Tony Carbonetti.

Chairman Mondello is an ally of Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. Mondello's departure will be all but guaranteed if the Senate does not keep the majority after this fall's election.

Party Chairs rarely survive losses in elections, this is their primary job; raise money, build the party and elect their candidates.

The same could hold true for local GOP Chair Sandy Corey, she has pressure to perform this fall. The 118th Assembly seat is open and there is no advantage from the Democrats as they did not have a candidate groomed to take over from Aubertine. Corey chose not to back the GOP candidate who had the most favorable public polling, now she has an uphill battle to get little known Cantwell elected.

The 48th Senate district race is a hotly contested race between Aubertine and Renzi with Renzi having a real potential to win this seat. The GOP Chair, who was absent for the special election and heaped on the criticism afterward for how that election was run, has plenty to make up for her absence.

Likewise, the State Chair criticized the candidate Will Barclay, after the special election. Therefore, State and Local GOP Chairs both have their work cut out for them and pressure to win the Senate and Assembly in the North Country, failure to win this fall should rightfully result in change of leadership.