Yet more proof of the collaboration between GOP gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino and newly minted Conservative gubernatorial hopeful (and Erie County Conservative Chairman) Ralph Lorigo is evident on this invite to a Memorial Day fundraiser in Elma tomorrow.

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The event is being hosted by Paladino’s brother, Joseph, and the contact is Lorigo’s campaign treasurer, Raymon Caputo, who also happens to be the father of Michael Caputo, Carl Paladino’s campaign manager.

Carl Paladino skipped the Conservative Party convention in Manhattan last Friday at which Lorigo conspired with the Long Island chairs (supporters of Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, also a no-show) to get himself and John Andrew Kay nominated to force a primary with Rick Lazio and his running mate, Chautauqua County Executive Greg Edwards.

Lazio earned 53.96 percent of the weighted convention vote, and Edwards got 52 percent. That was sufficient for them to become the party’s official nominees, but not enough to block Lorigo and Kay, who – unlike Lazio (R), Edwards (R) and Levy (D, pending R) – are enrolled Conservatives and therefore don’t need 50+ percent to get Wilson Pakulas.

There has been much speculation that the Lorigo-Kay ticket is really about holding a place open atop Row D until after the Republicans have complete led what’s shaping up to be a real knock-down, drag-out of a convention. But Michael Caputo doesn’t believe it.

“Ralph Lorigo intends to go the distance…He’s in this to save the Conservative Party line,” Michael Caputo told me this afternoon.

“We’re not interested in a placeholder. We’ve recruited more than 200 Tea Party activists and petition training started this week. We have no interest in the Conservative Party line.”

Michael Caputo said Carl Paladino is going to leave the question of what to call his third party up to his supporters, adding he would be surprised if they wanted to call it the Tea Party because most “freedom-oriented activists” feel that’s a “movement” and not an organization.

An interested GOP observer scoffed at the idea that Lorigo might “save” the Conservative Party, noting the chairman has a history of cross-endorsing Democrats (most notably, Sen. Bill Stachowski and Rep. Brian Higgins).

This observer suggested the Lorigo-Kay insurgency is really about an internal battle over control of the Conservative Party and a sign that state Chairman Mike Long – the longest-serving head of a party in New York at the moment – might face a leadership challenge this fall.

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