Free Republic

New York State is in financial shambles; we know it and the politicians know it too, yet tax payer funds are squandered budget after New York State budget. Due to a bad economy and bad management, our deficit amounts to $40 billion over the next several years. The result is New York families are hurting; they have lost their jobs, depleted their savings, and at this point –fuming with out of control spending in Albany. New Yorkers are searching for a leader who has a record of saying NO to a bulging government and will provide solutions to difficult problems....

ALBANY -- A stunning new poll released yesterday shows controversial megamillionaire Buffalo builder Carl Paladino overtaking former Long Island Congress man Rick Lazio in Tuesday's Republican gubernatorial primary. The Siena College Research Institute survey found that the hard-charging Paladino (pictured) -- who has vowed to turn state government "upside down" -- is now trailing Lazio by just 43-42 percent among likely GOP voters, a dramatic change from a Siena poll last month that showed him trailing Lazio by 43-30 percent.

[This is the original title- Try not to laff at 'hammer'] Rick Lazio Continues to Hammer Cuomo On Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf Rick Lazio, the Republican and Conservative candidate for Governor, sent a follow-up letter this week to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo regarding the Attorney General's refusal to investigate the Ground Zero mosque. Meanwhile, an Egyptian-born businessman who lives on Long Island - and who once gave thousands of dollars to a Hamas front group - has been revealed as a major investor in the proposed mosque, in the first disclosure of the money behind the controversial project. What follows...

I am currently on a townhall call with the head of the Democrat Party in NY state, Michael Short. He is talking about Little Ricky Lazio. He has said it's a matter of public record that Lazio wears Hillary's heel marks from his last pitiful showing in a debate against Hillary. They also said he smells funny. This man, Little Ricky Lazio, is claiming conservative credentials when he is a LOSER RINO who likes abortion.

Cut taxes and spending by ten percent in the first six months of his administration and cut spending by a total of twenty percent in his first year; Review every department and agency of state government to evaluate efficiency, effectiveness and necessity and cut programs not benefiting the taxpayer; Cut the State’s income tax on manufacturing to keep these businesses in New York, preserve jobs, and attract new ones here; Cut optional Medicaid benefits back by $20 billion - saving New Yorkers $10 billion; Limit the total time a State Legislator can serve to no more than 8 years; Eliminate...

(ELMIRA, NY) - Chemung County Committee Republican Chairman Michael Krusen endorsed Buffalo businessman Carl Paladino for Governor of New York. Chairman Krusen joins a growing trend of seven Republican County chairmen endorsing Carl Paladino as the candidate who best represents the interests and values of their constituents. "I enthusiastically endorse Carl Paladino for Governor of the State of New York," said Michael Krusen Chemung County Republican Chairman. "As a businessman and attorney, Carl knows how to make New York's government work for the people again. Carl has the passion, knowledge and ability to make the tough decisions that so desperately...

The New York PRIMARY is only 3 weeks away and although the media wants to ignore it there IS a tea party candidate surging ahead in the polls against RINO Little Ricky LAzio. The Media would love nothig more than a Cuomo/Lazio race for New York Governor. This is a win by default for Cuomo who has $20 million in the bank -vs- Loseio's $400 Thousand But Little Ricky has to make it through an UNHEARD OF Republican Primary. Lazio was the hand-selected candidate of the old time establishment New York GOP who appear to have just picked a name...

Balloons bobbed brightly Thursday evening where the renaissance was taking place at the edge of a desolate post-industrial stretch of Ohio Street in Buffalo’s Old First Ward. Across from the baseball game in Father Conway Park, beyond a bison-shaped sign that read Buffalo Scholastic Rowing Association, a crowd of about 100 had gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the official opening of a white canvas arch of a building a few steps from the bank of the Buffalo River — the club’s temporary boathouse. “We looked at 45 sites all over Western New York before we saw this one,”...

The debate over a debate between Republican gubernatorial hopefuls Rick A. Lazio and Carl P. Paladino seems to be over. There won’t be one. “We have a full schedule between now and the primary, and that will not include any plans for a debate,” said David James, communications director for the Lazio campaign. “We look forward to debating Andrew Cuomo many times before Nov. 2,” he added, referring to State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, the Democratic candidate. The Lazio statement Thursday put the kibosh on growing speculation about a possible Republican gubernatorial debate before the Sept. 14 primary. That...

GOSHEN — Rick Lazio seems like he's always blasting the Islamic center proposed near Ground Zero. Lazio, the Republican candidate for governor, rails against the project on a TV commercial — over images of a skeletal World Trade Center. His website challenges Democratic opponent Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to investigate the finances behind the project and debate it. Lazio — down some 30 points in the polls and $23 million in campaign money — has made the issue such a big deal, a French TV reporter came to Goshen Wednesday to ask him about it at a campaign stop. So...

Rick Lazio is polished and pragmatic, the kind of guy you'd expect to step out of a corporate boardroom or an executive suite. Carl Paladino is blunt and confrontational: he talks about cleaning up Albany with a baseball bat. These are the two candidates in the September 14 Republican gubernatorial primary, and their personal styles couldn't be more different. Several Republican leaders and elected officials say that's what this race is about: personality. The candidates are close as far as the issues are concerned. Neither strays far from the party's ideological mantra of cutting government spending, fostering business growth, and...

Insurgent candidate for Governor calls for Lazio to "stand up for his beliefs" (BUFFALO, NY) - Buffalo businessman Carl Paladino, a Republican candidate for Governor of New York, today accepted the invitation of the Association of Public Broadcasting Stations and the League of Women Voters to debate his opponent Rick Lazio before the Republican Primary. "I am delighted the League and PBS extended their deadline for acceptance of this invitation," Paladino said. "The voters want a debate and this is the only statewide televised opportunity remaining since lobbyist Rick Lazio started dodging the challenge." "Campaign schedules have tightened up quite...

(AP) The increasingly heated Republican race for governor includes accusations of extremist views and smear campaigns, but it apparently won’t include a debate. Each citing prior commitments, designee Rick Lazio and Carl Paladino, who forced the Sept. 14 primary through a petition drive, say they won’t debate on Aug. 30. Paladino committed to a televised debate in Syracuse that day and had sent a staffer to Lazio events dressed in a chicken suit trying to embarrass Lazio to accept. In recent weeks, the Paladino campaign has sent this protestor to various Lazio events, trying to draw attention to the lack...

Beaten badly by Hillary, does Lazio refuse to debate ever again? (BUFFALO, NY) - Buffalo businessman Carl Paladino, a Republican candidate for Governor of New York, today bashed Rick Lazio for declining a debate on statewide television and offered his opponent additional debate venues and dates. "Rick Lazio has an obligation to stand up and tell Republican voters what he believes in," Paladino said. "Sadly, he just refuses to debate. I want every Republican in New York to know I will meet Rick to debate the issues on any street in any town in any county of this great state."...

It's less than a month before Primary Day in New York and GOP conven tion-endorsed gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio is rapidly losing ground to challenger Carl Paladino of Buffalo. According to the latest Siena College poll, Lazio's 20-point lead over the gadfly businessman, registered a month ago, has shrunk to 13 points, 43-30. And in recent days Paladino has been endorsed by several upstate GOP county chairmen and such elected officials as Assemblywoman Jane Corwin of Nia- gara. Yes, there's a regional element to some of this -- Paladino is something of a hero in the Buffalo area -- but...

Great lengths some supporters will go for the candidate of their choice, particularly in a hotly contested election cycle. Lie, steal, cheat and beg, in fact. It is the nature of the beast. Politics is a people’s game, a turf war, a struggle to come out on top. Power corrupts even the best. The tea party is no different, a political animal all in itself, where you will find much weakness and much strength. Politicos and patriots alike will pick and choose candidates, smile and shake hands, and at the end of the day, voters will have their say, and...

PALADINO HITS LAZIO'S FEAR OF DEBATE "What's he afraid of - I'm no Hillary Clinton" (BUFFALO, NY) - Buffalo businessman Carl Paladino today called on his opponent Rick Lazio to debate for the third day, invoking a name the career politician and lobbyist would rather forget: Hillary Clinton. "I don't know why Rick is so afraid to debate me on the issues New Yorkers care about the most. I'm no Hillary Clinton," Paladino said. Republican donors invested $45 million in Lazio's 2000 US Senate race against Clinton. Many attribute his spectacular failure to his poor performance in a Buffalo debate...

GOP gubernatorial hopeful Rick Lazio yesterday called on the Public Service Commission to zap the Ground Zero mosque because of the revelation that Con Ed owns half the site. "As governor I will appoint commissioners . . . who, like me, oppose this group's plan to build a mosque at Ground Zero -- and I encourage New Yorkers to call the Public Service commissioners and tell them the same," he said. The disclosure in Sunday's Post about the property's ownership proves the mosque's developers "have been operating under false pretenses," he said.

<p>ALBANY (AP) -- Republican candidate for governor Carl Paladino is reversing course, saying he may secure a "Taxpayers" minor party line for the general election after all if he loses the Republican primary in September.</p> <p>The result could be a split of the Republican and conservative vote. Front-running Republican designee Rick Lazio has the Conservative Party line...</p>

Republican Rick Lazio, the party’s nominee for governor in New York, called on his Democratic opponent Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo to open an investigation into the funding sources for the Cordoba Mosque, planned for Lower Manhattan near the site of the September 11 terror attacks. Lazio said that there were serious questions about the funding and the intent of the developers behind the mosque. “We seek a clean accounting of all the funding sources for this mosque," Lazio said. “Where did the $5 million come from that were used to purchase the land? Where will the $95 million in addition...