Conservative Party of New York State - 2010 Actions

2010 Actions

Party chairman Michael Long publicly endorsed Rick Lazio for the New York gubernatorial election, 2010, and directed his allies to do the same. However, several county chairmen refused, and coalesced behind vice chairman Ralph Lorigo to assure Lazio would have a Conservative Party primary opponent. Long sent a letter demanding Lorigo to either cease his gubernatorial campaign or resign his position within the party, accusing him of being a stalking horse for another candidate, Carl Paladino, whom Long refused to consider (an allegation that, to this point, Lorigo has at least publicly denied, though his campaign is being run by family members of the Paladino campaign). Long did not state any consequences for refusing to do so. The Conservative Party insisted it would continue to campaign for Lazio regardless of whether or not he won the Republican primary, assuming that he would win the Conservative Party primary; if he had lost both primaries, which Long dismissed as an impossibility, he would have been off the ballot. The presence of Lorigo on the primary ballot had no effect on the party's eagerness to promote Lazio as their presumed candidate.

Lazio defeated Lorigo in the primary election by a roughly 60-40 margin, though write-in candidates were significant in several upstate counties, many of which voted for Lorigo over Lazio. Paladino defeated Lazio in the Republican primary. Since that time, Long has barred Lorigo from party meetings. Lazio dropped out of the race on September 27, requiring a vacancy committee to convene and select a replacement; Lorigo claims that Suffolk County chairman Ed Walsh held a meeting among his party's members that claimed a 90 percent support rate, at odds with Long's claims. Long eventually endorsed Paladino, and the vacancy committee followed, placing Paladino on the line.

Paladino eventually drew 232,264 votes on the Conservative Party line, propelling the party past the Independence Party of New York to retake Line C for the first time since the 1998 elections. The surge came at the expense of Paladino's Taxpayers Party, which did not qualify for automatic ballot access.