George Demos, the former SEC attorney who’s battling in the GOP primary for a Long Island congressional seat, announced today that he’s endorsing Rick Lazio – who’s fending off a potential primary challenge from Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy.
“Rick has been a consistent conservative for his entire life and has always fought for our conservative principles, both in the Suffolk County Legislature and in the United States Congress,” Demos said in a statement.
“Rick’s core conservative convictions have been tested during a lifetime of service- they didn’t simply materialize when he decided to run for office. Unlike other candidates in this race, Rick is running because of a commitment to principles rather than a commitment to his own personal ambition.”
He added Lazio would focus wisely on the economy and said, ” Rick will also fight the corruption and backroom deals so prevalent in our politics today, and he will do so with the same character, courage, and vigor he has always exhibited in his distinguished career.”
Demos’s endorsement statement about “backroom deals” seems like a veiled double-jab.
It hits Levy, a Democrat who’s being pushed by state GOP chairman Ed Cox. But it also hits his own primary opponent, Randy Altschuler, a businessman who recently got the Conservative Party endorsement in Suffolk – and who Demos has been hitting for what calls fake conservative creds (the same claim he’s lobbing at Levy)..
Demos has been trying to frame the race as a two-man fight between him and Altschuler, but the contest also features Cox’s son, Christopher. There have long been speculations raised (and vehemently denied by the chairman and others) that Levy’s elevation was somehow tied to his son’s campaign.
Lazio’s camp didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
UPDATE: Lazio spokesman Barney Keller said, “”Throughout New York, Republicans are uniting behind Rick Lazio. George Demos, a former prosecutor, longtime Republican, and a lifelong Suffolk County resident, is another example of the breadth of support that the Lazio candidacy has inspired.”
“Rick Lazio is garnering new supporters every day. Our internal count, including at least half of Queens, at least a quarter of Suffolk, and the addition this week of Greene County pushes the firm Lazio vote to around 55 percent, with still more than 20 percent undecided including Erie and Manhattan. The Lazio campaign is confident of an overwhelming convention victory and once again calls on the party to unite behind the party’s nominee, Rick Lazio.”
(Levy’s camp insists that the bulk of Queens will be with him, just to note. Also in disclosure, Lazio and Demos have overlap in terms of some of their advisers, including the Shawmut Group).