Jennings, Breslin Join Forces For Rice (Updatedx2)
Here’s an interesting development: Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings and Albany County Executive Mike Breslin, two of the Capital Region’s top Democrats who haven’t always seen eye-to-eye, have put their differences aside to unite behind a single AG contender: Nassau County DA Kathleen Rice.
Rice has also landed the support of Albany Democratic Party Chairman Dan McCoy, (worth 2.597 percent of the weighted vote), bringing her county chair total to four seven, including Nassau, Suffolk, Brooklyn.
UPDATE: A reader writes: While it means she has 4 7 counties, more importantly, she has topped 25 percent of the weighted vote (assuming state committee people vote as their county chairs have endorsed).
UPDATE2: Another reader (thank goodness for you all today!) writes: Greene, Chemung & Oswego would bring the total to 7.
This will certainly fan the flames of speculation still higher about AG Andrew Cuomo’s preference for Rice, as Jennings is a longtime Cuomo ally – he was one of the few elected officials to endorse Cuomo during his short-lived 200 gubernatorial run.
The mayor is even being floated as a potential LG running mate for Cuomo, although he has conveniently been out of town and not answering his phone since his name was first floated late last night.
Breslin, who, along with his brother, Sen. Neil Breslin, have long been at odds with Jennings in the ongoing struggle for Democratic dominance between the City of Albany and its suburbs. They’ve made peace on and off over the years, and obviously have managed to find common ground over Rice.
Here’s what Breslin had to say about the DA:
“As an experienced County Executive, I know that Kathleen Rice is going to be great for Albany County and the Capitol Region. Her position as District Attorney of Nassau County gives her a great understanding of the challenges faced by cities and their suburbs. And her ‘Plan for Rural New York’ demonstrates sensitivity to Upstate issues. I’m proud to endorse her.”
And Jennings:
“The various neighborhoods that Kathleen Rice represents are similar to the neighborhoods of the City of Albany; accordingly, Kathleen Rice is the Attorney General candidate with the best working knowledge of issues facing all of New York State communities. Her tough, but smart approach to day-to-day problems is exactly what we need to improve the lives of all New Yorkers.”
| Print article | This entry was posted by Liz Benjamin on May 21, 2010 at 3:34 pm, and is filed under Albany, Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General, Democrats. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |
-
TallyHo
-
TallyHo
-
GreeneGoblin
-
GreeneGoblin
-
TallyHo
-
TallyHo
-
GreeneGoblin
-
GreeneGoblin
-
TallyHo
-
TallyHo
-
IronMike
-
IronMike
-
TallyHo
-
TallyHo
-
TallyHo
-
TallyHo
-
GreeneGoblin
-
GreeneGoblin



Take Capital Tonight and the State of Politics blog with you everywhere you go with our iPhone app! The mobile application features our blog posts, interviews, and a report news tool to send us your political news tips.