The dean of New York City’s Republican elected officials is backing Joe Lhota for mayor, The Post has learned.
“I’m a Lhota guy. Joe Lhota is the only guy who has a chance to win,” said state Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn).
And Golden predicted that most — if not all — of the city’s eight elected GOP lawmakers will end up supporting Lhota.
“A lot of the elected leaders will go with Lhota,” he said. “There will be an endorsement across-the-board.”
Golden’s endorsement of Lhota puts him at odds with his GOP Brooklyn chairman, Craig Eaton, who is backing former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, a former Democrat turned independent who is expected to run on the Independence Party line while also seeking GOP support.
Golden, a 15-year legislative veteran, said he also admires supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis, whom he described as a “great guy” and a “real leader.”
But he concluded that Lhota, the former MTA chairman and deputy mayor under Rudy Giuliani, has “been on the ground longer” with more knowledge to address city issues.
The Independence Party is expected to endorse Carrion at a meeting tonight.
But because he’s not a registered Republican, Carrion needs support from three of the city’s five GOP county committees for the right to run in a Republican primary. He only has the support of two — Eaton of Brooklyn and Bronx GOP chairman Jay Savino.
Meanwhile Catsimatidis today will press for a break on property tax assessments for owners whose homes were damaged or destroyed during Hurricane Sandy.