Opinion

New York’s GOP grapples with its identity

As it is, running against a popular Democrat in a Democratic state is difficult enough, even in this era of anti-incumbent rage. But the burnished image of Attorney General Andrew Cuomo isn’t the only disadvantage facing the state GOP: it’s hobbled, for the moment, by the intra-party squabbling caused by Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy’s entry into the gubernatorial race.

Levy, by the way, was a Democrat until two weeks ago.

On March 19, with the backing of state Republican Committee Chairman Ed Cox, Levy announced that he would be running for governor as a Republican on a platform of fiscal conservatism, backed by his impressive record of closing budget gaps in his own county. Also, he’s got about $4 million in his war chest.

This did not go over well with Republican Rick Lazio, who is best remembered for his comically disastrous run against Hillary Clinton for the US Senate in 2000, but who nonetheless thought his nomination for governor was a lock. (According to BusinessWeek, as of Jan. 15, Lazio’s campaign had raised $637,000.) Also running is millionaire Carl Paladino, who is closer to the Tea Party movement and whose presence in the race is unthreatening enough to be encouraged by Cox.

Largely an unknown quantity in state politics, Levy, 50, was raised as a blue-collar Democrat in Holbrook. A lifelong politician, he served in the Suffolk County Legislature from 1985-2000, spent three years in the state Assembly, and has been Suffolk County executive since 2003. He won his last election, in 2007, with 96% of the vote. He prides himself on extracting concessions from unions, his firm stance on illegal immigration, and his of-the-people image — he makes a point of driving a beater car and staying in no-frills hotels when traveling on business.

“Steve was coming our way,” Cox says. “Given what he has done — closing a huge budget gap, privatizing parts of government, cutting spending, taking on unions — as he puts it, his party’s left him. He hasn’t left the party.”

The conversion and co-option of a Democrat in such a high-profile race is a fascinating choice for the Republican party, which has seen some of its most established members — senators John McCain and Bob Bennett, in particular — fighting off primary challenges from the right wing this year. Cox says he’d heard about Levy through Albany county chair John Graziano: “He’d done due diligence on Levy when he ran for the Assembly,” says Cox. “John said, ‘He’s a political monster — get him on our side!’ It’s a real game-changer.”

So, until Andrew Cuomo announces — and Cuomo’s got about $16 million in his war chest — it’s Levy’s moment. In an hour-long sit-down with The Post, he insists he’s a Republican for good, and says his conversion was not all that wrenching. “When I started my exploratory committee and issued my [policy positions],” he says, “they were so revolutionary and so specific that they caught the eye of various editorial boards around the state that said, ‘It’s about time someone is talking like this in a campaign.’ ”

Also, the Democratic Party already had its nominee.

“Once you’ve made the leap, you’ve made the leap,” Levy insists. “I’m not party-shopping here.”

“We’re not just trying to get a candidate elected,” counters Lazio campaign manager Kevin Fullington. “It’s not about a race; it’s about the future of the state.” (Lazio himself would not be interviewed for this piece.)

Fullington accuses Cox of backing Levy in order to help his son, Chris, who is running in a GOP primary for Congress for New York’s 1st Congressional District, which includes all of Suffolk. It is the younger Cox’s first campaign.

The elder Cox, of course, denies any political horse-trading. “As a parent, I believe your kid’s got to make it or break it on his own,” says Cox, who is the son-in-law of the late President Nixon. “Levy is the real deal. Anyone who thinks I’m doing this for any other reason is just pushing their own agenda.”

Lazio, who has been keeping an oddly low profile, has also become the target of a whisper campaign, begun this week, alleging that party chairs have been urging him to run for something, anything else. Attorney general. For the Senate, against Kirsten Gillibrand. “Too ridiculous to respond to,” responds Barney Keller, another Lazio staffer.

“I know there are a number of people, inside and outside Lazio’s camp — major supporters, county chairs — urging him to do that,” says Cox, who cites the recent elections of two Republicans in left-leaning states — Chris Christie in New Jersey and Scott Brown in Massachusetts — as bellwethers. “That Rick ran a race for US Senate makes him a logical case to run a race for US Senate. Now that there’s another very strong, well-qualified candidate in the race, I think the pressure will keep increasing on him.”

Cox believes that Levy’s strengths as a fiscal conservative who closed a $238 million budget gap in 2004, will override any squeamishness party chairs may have regarding his more liberal bona fides. Levy has run with the endorsement of the Working Families Party. He backed President Obama’s stimulus package. He backed health care reform and advocated for a single-payer system.

Would you be surprised to hear he’s changed his mind about most of that?

“There was a much better way to do this,” he says today of the health care bill, adding that he is no longer for a single-payer system — “not the way they’re talking about it.”

He speaks of union-busting, cost-cutting, pension reform, eradicating corruption in Albany — every New York gubernatorial candidate’s greatest hits. He has said that, upon election, he will declare a “fiscal state of emergency,” although there are no legal means by which he can do that.

“Well, what I mean by that . . .” He pauses. “Is allowing yourself to pass legislation to do things that we would not ordinarily consider.” He adds that he meant his non-binding declaration to be more of an “emphatic statement” than anything else.

His strategy is to focus on the state’s cratering economy and his own fiscal accomplishments while ignoring Lazio and focusing on Cuomo. For the most part. “The minute I announced, Rick Lazio’s campaign is e-mailing reporters, ‘Here’s 10 reasons why people should not vote for Levy,’ ” he says. “This is a problem Rick has always had. He’s got a penchant for going negative in a nuclear way. His theory running against Hillary Clinton was to spend tens of millions of dollars trying to drive up her negatives, which never happened. Had he spent just a little bit of money on saying why people should maybe think about supporting him, he would’ve been a senator. He can’t help himself. And he’s falling into the same trap again. The reason I’m going to win is that while he’s telling people not to vote for me, I’m going to be telling people why they should vote for me. They don’t want to hear about why the other guy’s bad.”

“We are staying on Andrew Cuomo,” says Lazio’s campaign manager Fullerton, who, as it turns out, has more to say about Steve Levy. “Steve Levy has said Andrew Cuomo would be a good governor. Steve Levy voted for the biggest tax increase in the state of New York. He’s a liberal democrat. Steve Levy has no real path to victory. It’s more of an annoyance than anything.”

Lazio has the backing of 50% of Republican chairs (Levy needs 51% to get on the ballot) and the endorsement of the state’s Conservative Party — for now, although they insist it’s for good, no matter the results of the Republican convention in June. “We are clearly in the race with him, all the way to November,” says party chair Mike Long.

Cox isn’t concerned by any of it. “Look, Lazio’s carried our message for a year,” he says. “You’re talking about executive abilities to be governor. His are being an executive at a Wall Street firm.”

Levy, for his part, believes his “very specific plan” — which he has yet to get specific about — will secure him the nomination and eventual election.

“I obviously know what I’m talking about,” he says. “And at least it’s refreshing because you, as a voter, are going to have a choice. You’re not going to have to vote for some guy who’s talking about some namby-pamby nebulous baloney.”