The list of nominators and seconders for the four gubernatorial hopefuls has been released, and it is as follows (in the order that everyone will appear on the convention stage):

IMG_1912

- Rick Lazio: Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks, Westchester County GOP Chairman Doug Colety.

- M. Myers Mermel: GOP consultant Ed Rollins, Cayuga County GOP Chairwoman Cheryl Heary. UPDATE: Instead of Rollins, Queens GOP Chairman Phil Ragusa, who flipped from Levy to Mermel, is seconding his nomination.

- Carl Paladino: Erie County GOP Chairman Nick Langworthy, no second.

- Steve Levy: Suffolk County GOP Chairman John Jay LaValle, Franklin County GOP Chairman Jim Ellis.

Some thoughts:

Brooks is a GOP rising star and was considered a potential LG contender for Lazio, but wasn’t interested in the post. The GOP ticket is shaping up to be all-male (not to mention all-white), and while this matters less to the Republicans than to the Democrats, it’s nevertheless an issue that may have been on Team Lazio’s mind when Brooks was tapped as the first nominator.

Westchester is Lazio’s home county, and Colety (who also nominated another of the county’s hometown favorites, state comptroller contender Harry Wilson) was present at a meeting early on in the whole Levy-Lazio mess where some fellow county chairs called for state GOP Chairman Ed Cox to resign.

Rollins is a veteran conservative/GOP consultant generally more connected to the national political scene, although he has done some work here in NY. Mermel has received encouraging words from RGA Chairman Haley Barbour, whose organization initially indicated it might be interested in helping Levy (at least that’s what Levy says).

Heary was a Levy supporter and flipped into Mermel’s column after he switched from the LG’s race to the governor contest.

Langworthy is Paladino’s only county chair backer (he sort of inherited this position from his predecessor, Jim Domagalski, who stepped down to run for retiring Sen. Dale Volker’s seat). He has insisted to be that he’s not going to flip, but on the second vote – after Paladino doesn’t get 25 percent – he could be instrumental in either helping – or blocking – Levy’s quest for 50 percent.

LaValle has long been among Levy’s most outspoken supporters. He has arguably the most to gain from the county executive’s party switch.

He now has a GOP county executive who may or may not be successful in seeking re-election next year (assuming he doesn’t make it statewide). There has also been some speculation that LaValle has designs on running for county executive himself, should Levy pull this off.

LaValle was widely believed to have cut a deal with Cox on Levy to help Cox’s son, Chris, in the NY-1 race where three Republicans are fighting to take on Democratic Rep. Tim Bishop.

LaValle and Cox insisted that’s not the case, and LaValle has since declined to endorse a favorite, allowing the three-way primary to take place.

Ellis is the northern regional vice chairman of the state GOP. Most of the vice chairs followed Cox in backing Levy over Lazio.

Share|