BREAKING: Walsh loses conservative party endorsements
This could be very big in NY-25 (from the Post-Standard):
Rep. James Walsh has lost the endorsement of the Conservative Party in Monroe and Wayne counties for the 2008 election - the first major political fallout from his decision to stop supporting the war in Iraq.
If other county parties and the state party ultimately agree, Walsh stands to lose the Conservative line in the 25th Congressional District. He has run on the Conservative line each of his 10 terms in Congress.
Walsh, R-Onondaga, has always received the vast majority of his votes on the Republican line. But the 11,634 votes he received on Conservative lines last November was enough to make the difference in the closest election of his congressional career. Walsh defeated Democrat Dan Maffei, of DeWitt, in 2006 by about 3,000 votes….
[.....](Thomas) Cook (chair of the Monroe County conservative party) , a Vietnam veteran, said the party’s executive committee voted 29-0 to withhold its endorsement from Walsh because most believe he does not represent conservative ideals. Walsh sealed his fate in an angry letter replying to Cook’s criticism of his new position on Iraq, Cook said.
“This guy writes me a letter and says he’s not a conservative,” Cook said Wednesday. “Never in my 28 years as chair has anybody ever written me a letter to ask for an endorsement and say he’s not a conservative. He’s pro-life, which is nice, but we’re not the Right-to-Life Party.
If someone other than Walsh is on the conservative line in the general election in 2008, he has very little chance of winning.
Wow, that’s incredibly damaging to Walsh… I wonder if the Conservative Party will run their own candidate
Cook should be getting some of the same scrutiny we’ve been giving Minarik.
Sorry for my ignorance, but who is Cook?
Head of the Monroe County conservative party.
He controls an often influential swing vote in this county, which makes him a kingmaker. He wields his authority like Minarik.
He got arrested a few years back for driving a golf cart drunk and threatening to beat up Howard Relin, the D.A., or some scenario close to that. He lost any respect or credibility from many during that incident.
Still one of the go to guys for those seeking political office county wide.
“does not represent conservative ideals”
What are those? All war all the time?
“we’re not the Right-to-Life Party”
We’re the Right-to-Die-for-Nothing Party!
Conservative party endorsements did little to help local elections this year. I think they are less and less influential.