In 2004, 10-term incumbent State Sen. Nancy Larraine Hoffmann narrowly fended off a Republican primary victory from her right by Thomas Dadey. Then she faced Dadey again in the general election, with him coming at her on the Independence and Conservative Party lines.

The move split the Republican vote, allowing Democrat David Valesky to pull out a 1,000-vote victory, and putting Democrats one step closer to their eventual takeover of the State Senate.

Six years later, Republicans appear to have a shot at retaking the seat from Valesky, which would considerably bolster their odds of winning back the upper chamber. But a potentially divisive Republican primary between East Syracuse Mayor Danny Liedka and Andrew Russo, a concert pianist, threatens to again thrash GOP hopes.

In addition, Russo has already gotten the Conservative Party’s endorsement to run on its line in November, which would present problems for Liedka and the GOP if he emerges as their nominee. Russo said that he would run an active general election campaign on the Conservative line regardless, unlike Dadey, who Russo said did not actively campaign on the Independence and Conservative lines in 2004.

The primary was sparked, in part, because local Republican county chairs have unable to pick a candidate in the race, announcing in mid-March that they were deadlocked. (Russo won the backing of Onondoga County, which has the highest Republican registration in the district, while Russo took Madison County, which has the second highest registration.)

Hank Chapman, the Republican chair in the town of Manlius, in Onondoga, said that local party organizations had agreed to mutually disarm until the primary is over.

“All the county chairs and town chairs are staying out of it and they’re going to let the voters decide,” Chapman said.

But fearing the consequences of a heated primary in a district they have serious hopes of winning, the Senate Republican Campaign Committee has made no such promises, announcing in mid-May the unusual decision to back Russo in the intra-party struggle. Leadership of the SRCC says that it will be willing to put staffers into the district and recruit elected officials to campaign on Russo’s behalf.

Fundraising was a major factor in the SRCC’s decision: Russo had $96,000 cash on hand as of the January campaign finance filing, while Liedka acknowledges he has raised far less, though he has not made any official financial disclosure.

Russo said that he hopes his opponent will eventually drop out of the race. Pressure to do so is likely to mount if Liedka does not come in with strong fundraiser numbers in July. Russo said he has already broached the subject with his opponent.

“Obviously, both myself and Mayor Liedka would hate to see David Valesky returned to Albany this November,” Russo said.

Eric Blankenbaker, spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, panned the SRCC’s early endorsement of a concert pianist over a sitting mayor, saying it shows that that the Senate Republicans will endorse a candidate solely because they have raised some money, since the SRCC itself is broke.

Still, Blankenbaker noted that the $100,000 Russo raised as of January is far from the amount he will need to be competitive with Valesky.

“He’s got a little bit of money, so he gets to be the sacrificial lamb,” Blankenbaker said.

Russo estimated that to win the election, the Republican candidate would have to raise up to $1.5 million, though others involved with the race put the number at closer to half that. Valesky had $307,000 as of his last campaign finance disclosure.

For now, Liedka is hitting back hard at Russo, pegging him as the establishment candidate backed by corrupt Albany insiders trying to undemocratically narrow the Republican field.

Liedka, who doubles as a local sports broadcaster, questioned why Russo has only voted in two elections in his lifetime, and why Russo was registered as unaffiliated until a year ago when he switched registration.

“If you don’t vote, you don’t care,” said Liedka.

Though the district was drawn to maximize Republican chances of holding it, voter registration has nonetheless shifted in the Democrats’ favor since 2004—when Republicans had a registration advantage of nearly 3,000—to a current Democratic enrollment advantage of more than 8,000. As Valesky campaigns in one of the most gerrymandered Senate districts in the state, he is expected to highlight the non-partisan redistricting bill he is sponsoring, which has gained steam through the efforts of groups like New York Uprising.

Valesky declined to be interviewed about the race, but his campaign did release a statement saying he was focused on “reforming Albany, creating jobs and holding the line on taxes” and that he would “focus on getting that message and his record to the voters, regardless of what happens in the Republican primary.”

Republicans, meanwhile, say that as the highest ranking upstate Democrat, Valesky has been too quiet in arguing against policies favored by his downstate colleagues, such as the repeal last year of STAR property tax rebate. They also argue that while Valesky pushed reforms to the budget process and Senate rules while as a member of the minority, little has actually changed under Democratic majority his seat was so crucial to securing.

Russo said these failures are what sparked his sudden interest in state politics.

“My main reason for running is that in the first half of 2009, I saw one-party rule hit New York State and how they didn’t follow through on reforming the budget process,” Russo said. “Democrats had success running as reformers in 2008. But they blew it in a major way.”

--
Andrew Russo, above right, is hoping to avoid a costly primary in his race against David Valesky, left.