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ALBANY — Republican Carl Paladino may have helped sink the GOP in this year’s statewide elections, but he gave a boost to the state’s once-endangered Conservative Party.
The bomb-throwing Buffalo builder got enough votes on the Conservative line in his disastrous gubernatorial campaign against Democrat Andrew Cuomo to secure the No. 3 spot on the ballot for the right-leaning political party, which had once been written off by political observers.
The left-leaning Working Families and Green parties will also boost their ballot status, claiming the No. 4 and No. 6 ballot spots, respectively, for the next four years.
In New York, a party needs to tally at least 50,000 votes in the governor’s race to be guaranteed a spot on ballots and avoid having to petition for them.
The Conservatives tallied 232,263 votes for Paladino, whom longtime party chairman Mike Long once dismissed as “a dangerous candidate.” Long changed his tune after the Tea Party-backed businessman trounced the Conservatives’ first choice, Rick Lazio, in the Republican primary.
Long said his party’s win “sends a message to the ruling class” about support for conservative values. It’s the first time the Conservative Party is on the top rung of minor parties since 1998.
“It certainly is a stronger position,” Long said. “We moved up, and the Working Families Party moved up. I would give them credit . . . The reason we moved up is because both parties represent something.”
Cuomo helped the labor-backed Working Families Party secure the ballot’s No. 4 spot, getting 154,857 on the line, but only after he forced the party to publicly endorse his right-leaning fiscal agenda.
The Green Party pulled 59,928 votes behind perennial candidate Howie Hawkins. “We give people a real alternative,” said Hawkins.
The Independence Party slipped to the No. 5 ballot spot, attracting 146,646 votes for Cuomo.
Narrowly missing an automatic ballot spot was the The Rent Is Too Damn High Party, which got attention for the performance of its candidate, Jimmy McMillan, who was parodied on “Saturday Night Live” and picked up 41,131 votes. The Libertarian Party, which attracted 48,386 for its candidate, Warren Redlich, also fell short.
AP, with additional reporting by Brendan Scott