Topic category: Elections - Politics, Polling, etc.
Flip-Flopper Bob Turner's Still Seeking New York's Republican Senate Nomination. Why?
Expecting to win a three-way race against liberal incumbent Gillibrand and conservative challenger Long is sheer stupidity.
It took rookie Congressman Bob Turner two tries to win a House seat and now he's trying to win the Republican nomination for United States Senator from New York, undeterred by rejections at both the Republican and Conservative conventions last March.
In 2010 Turner, then 70, made his first run for Congress and lost to Anthony Weiner by 22%, 61% to 39%.
After Weiner resigned, Turner took a second shot at winning a seat in the House of Representatives in a special election held on September 13, 2011 and won by 5%, 51.7% to 46.6%.
It was apparent at the time that there would be redistricting and Turner nevertheless boldly pledged to run for re-election to the House.
"People have said the district will disappear,” Turner told reporters the day after his election during a news conference at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers in Manhattan. He added, “I will be ready to take the fight into ’12, no matter what the district is called, and I just don’t know who the opponent will be.”
In 2012 New York's State Legislature failed to agree on redrawn maps and a judicially appointed magistrate then redrew the lines and eliminated Turner’s district.
The announcement of that possibility did not deter Turner. He said that he would run in whatever district his house ended up in after the final decision.
Did Turner's word turn out to be good?
NO!
On March 13, 2012, Turner suddenly released a statement announcing that he would challenge Senator Kirsten Gillibrand instead.
“I will travel to the Republican State Convention in Rochester later this week and humbly ask for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate,” Turner said in a release. “I will respectfully ask for the Conservative nomination a few days later at that Party’s convention. I have made my intentions known to the other Republican candidates in this race."
How receptive were the Republican and Conservative conventions to Turner's "humble" offer to be their nominee?
First the Republican convention gave Wendy Long a near majority. Turner, the last minute candidate, won 27%, while George Maragos, who had been running for many months, barely got the 25% required to run in a primary without having to take the petition route.
Then the Conservative convention nominated Long. She got 91% on the first ballot, to 5% for Turner and 4% for Maragos. Then her nomination was made unanimous.
How respectful of the Convention results was Turner?
Not much. Turner opted to run against Long in a Republican primary and surely plans to induce her to give him her hard earned and fairly won Conservative nomination if he somehow wins the Republican primary.
How many times must Long win to replace Gillibrand?
The answer appears to be four.
Winning the Republican and Conservative conventions was not enough.
Turner and Maragos are contesting Long again in a Republican primary on June 26, 2012 and Long must win that too, and then the general election.
Whether it's sexist reluctance to have the Republican Party run a woman for United States Senator from New York for the first time or just sheer egotism, it's ridiculous.
Certainly expecting Long to cede the Conservative line to one of them if she does not win the Republican primary is sheer arrogance.
Expecting to win a three-way race against liberal incumbent Gillibrand and conservative challenger Long is sheer stupidity.
Michael J. Gaynor has been practicing law in New York since 1973. A former partner at Fulton, Duncombe & Rowe and Gaynor & Bass, he is a solo practitioner admitted to practice in New York state and federal courts and an Association of the Bar of the City of New York member.
Gaynor graduated magna cum laude, with Honors in Social Science, from Hofstra University's New College, and received his J.D. degree from St. John's Law School, where he won the American Jurisprudence Award in Evidence and served as an editor of the Law Review and the St. Thomas More Institute for Legal Research. He wrote on the Pentagon Papers case for the Review and obscenity law for The Catholic Lawyer and edited the Law Review's commentary on significant developments in New York law.
The day after graduating, Gaynor joined the Fulton firm, where he focused on litigation and corporate law. In 1997 Gaynor and Emily Bass formed Gaynor & Bass and then conducted a general legal practice, emphasizing litigation, and represented corporations, individuals and a New York City labor union. Notably, Gaynor & Bass prevailed in the Second Circuit in a seminal copyright infringement case, Tasini v. New York Times, against newspaper and magazine publishers and Lexis-Nexis. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, 7 to 2, holding that the copyrights of freelance writers had been infringed when their work was put online without permission or compensation.
Gaynor currently contributes regularly to www.MichNews.com, www.RenewAmerica.com, www.WebCommentary.com, www.PostChronicle.com and www.therealitycheck.org and has contributed to many other websites. He has written extensively on political and religious issues, notably the Terry Schiavo case, the Duke "no rape" case, ACORN and canon law, and appeared as a guest on television and radio. He was acknowledged in Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson, and Culture of Corruption, by Michelle Malkin. He appeared on "Your World With Cavuto" to promote an eBay boycott that he initiated and "The World Over With Raymond Arroyo" (EWTN) to discuss the legal implications of the Schiavo case. On October 22, 2008, Gaynor was the first to report that The New York Times had killed an Obama/ACORN expose on which a Times reporter had been working with ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief.
Cover
•
Commentary
•
Books & Reviews
•
Climate Change
•
Site Links
•
Feedback
