Onondaga County Comptroller Bob Antonacci is at the Capitol today to meet with GOP elected officials and discuss his potential bid for state comptroller.

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Up to this point, there hasn’t been much focus on Antonacci, who hasn’t yet announced his candidacy.

He’s received far less attention that his rival for Row B, former hedge fund manager Harry Wilson, who was recently endorsed by both state GOP Chairman Ed Cox and
state Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long (pretty much the only thing those two agree on these days).

Antonacci didn’t have anything negative to say about Wilson, whom he called a “good and capable guy” and hosted in Syracuse several weeks ago at the Syracuse Chiefs opening day.

Antonacci said he won’t primary Wilson if the Westchester County Republican manages to get sufficient support to get onto the ballot, but he also expressed some doubt that might actually occur.

“It’s not over ’til it’s over, as they say,” Antonacci told me when I ran into him outside the Assembly chamber (he was being squired by former Assemblyman-turned-lobbyist Anthony Casale).

“I’m not aware of (Wilson) having enough support of the weighted votes. It’s not over until the votes are counted. But that’s not what we’re here for. We’re here to talk about Bob Antonacci.”

Antonacci said he offers a “completely different set of credentials” than Wilson, who is trying to turn his experience on Wall Street into a positive – a difficult task, given the current climate both in New York and Washington, D.C.

“I’m a local government official, a CPA by trade,” Antonnaci said. “I’m proficient in auditing and government finance.”

Antonacci is scheduled to meet today with Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb and also with Sen. John DeFrancisco. He said he’s gauging support for his candidacy and does not at this moment have a timeline for a formal announcement.

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