Vanderhoef Wins Republican Nod for State Senate

At a political convention in New City that kept Rockland Republicans in suspense right up until the last moment, County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef was nominated late Monday as the GOP's candidate to run for the state Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Thomas Morahan, R-New City.

Rockland County Legislature member Ed Day, R-New City, who challenged Vanderhoef for the nomination, lost in a 114-221 vote at a combined convention of Rockland County and Orange County Republicans at Clarkstown Town Hall. Although Day had previously indicated he might run a primary if he did not win at the convention, he announced Monday night that he will support the party's choice and will not challenge Vanderhoef's nomination.

Rockland County Republican Chairman Vincent Reda said that by coming out of the convention as a unified group, Republicans have a better chance of holding on to Morahan's seat.

Morahan, 79, is fighting leukemia and decided against seeking re-election because of his illness. Morahan's daughter, Joan Silvestri, told Republicans at the convention Monday night that her father is back home after another hospital stay because of his illness.

Vanderhoef's nomination sets up a race for the Nomvember election between the 16-year county executive and Democratic candidate David Carlucci of New City, who is in his third term as Clakrstown Town Clerk. Carlucci, 29, won the Democratic nomination last week, however, he is still waiting to see whether several other contenders will be challenging him in a primary.

In the days leading up to Monday's convention, Rockland Republicans were uncertain who would get the party's nomination for the 38th District senate seat, which represents all of Rockland County and part of Orange County. Although Vanderhoef has been a popular county executive - having just won re-election in November 2009 - many local Republicans were concerned about losing the county executive's post to Democrats.

If elected to the state Senate, it would be the Democratic-controlled Rockland County Legislature which would fill the vacancy for a year through appointment. With control of the county executive's seat also comes control of who holds many jobs throughout the county government.

Right up until Monday night's convention voting, many Rockland Republicans had suggested the concern over losing the county executive's seat could swing the convention in favor of Day, a private security consultant who is a former commander of detectives in the New York City Police Department.

"I gave it my best shot, now I go back to my job and I go back to serving the people as a county legislator," Day said after the convention. "I have no problem being judged like this by the people of the Republican Party and I will support their decision."

Going into the voting, however, Day was concerned about political rules being used at the convention. Although Rockland Republicans used a secret ballot method for voting in the convention, Orange County Republicans operate under different rules.

Although there were some Orange County Republicans at the convention who voted using traditional lever-pull voting machines, there were 50 paper proxy votes sumbitted to the convention as votes from Orange County Republicans. Reda said Orange County's political rules allow for such proxy voting.

All 50 of the proxies submitted Monday were votes for Vanderhoef. Because of problems verifying two of the proxy votes, only 48 were counted. Day said he was concerned the bloc of proxy votes was an organized effort by state Republican Party leaders to impact the selection of a nominee. State GOP officials have backed Vanderhoef, looking to him as a strong candidate who could keep Morahan's seat in Republican hands at a time when Republicans statewide are attempting to win several other Senate seats away from Democrats.

"I fully understand where the proxies came from," Day said. Since Vanderhoef's margin of victory went beyond the 48 Orange County proxies, Day said he would not challenge the legality of any of those proxies that were counted.

In his campaign for the Republican nomination, Day said that he represents rank-and-file Republicans who are looking for change in Albany and aren't happy with the direction taken by statewide GOP leaders. While focusing on Albany reforms, Day tried to win local support by highlighting the fact that he was not the choice of the "Albany power brokers" to run for Morahan's seat.

During an emotional speech to the Republicans Monday night, Vanderhoef said that while he has the support of state GOP leaders he too wants to bring change to Albany.

"I am not an Albany insider," Vanderhoef said. "As your county executive I fight Albany every day."

Vanderhoef said that 70 percent of the efforts of county government go toward implementing state-mandated programs. Vanderhoef and Day have been critical of the state Legislature for putting more responsibility on local government, without financial support.

In his address to the convention, Vanderhoef said that when he decided to seek re-election as county executive in 2009 he fully expected Morahan would be seeking re-election to the Senate. Morahan did not announce his plans until May.

"I am proud to be your county executive," Vanderhoef told the convention. "The reason I am seeking your support tonight is the New York State is out of control. It's a disgrace."

Vanderhoef said he is not looking to abandon Rockland, but instead to ensure the county had good representation in Albany. Vanderhoef downplayed the impact his election to the Senate would have on the Republican Party in Rockland.

"We have candidates in this room who can win the county executive's office back from the Democrats," Vanderhoef said.

Republicans, however, would not speculate yet on who they would run to replace Vanderhoef in a county executive election. Democrats also do not yet have a clear contender for the job.

Throughout the night, Vanderhoef put the focus on changing the status quo in Albany.

"We need to win this seat for Republicans across New York State," Vanderhoef said. "We need to win it for a balanced state governement."

Both Vanderhoef and Day applauded Morahan for his work in the state Senate. While Morahan did not openly endorse anyone to be his successor, Day told Republicans Monday night that Morahan had encouraged him to run.

After both of the top contenders for the nomination spoke, Morahan's daughter, Silvestri, asked to address the convention. "The Senator wants you to decide who should be your candidate," said Silvestri, noting she had spoken with her father on the phone earlier in the night. "Do what you think is best for the State of New York."

Vanderhoef said he was pleased with the convention and it outcome, with Reda especially pleased that Day had pledged to support the choice of the convention.

Clarkstown Republicans said the convention was a tough one for the GOP because both Vanderhoef and Day are population and have good political creditials.

"We had two great candidates," said Clarkstown Town Board member Frank Borelli, who had also considered a possible bid for Morahan's seat. "In the end, we picked a strong candidate who I think will win the Senate seat. Scott Vanderhoef will be able to get to Albany and he has a road map to fix it."

Clarkstown Town Board member George Hoehmann said the selection process gave Republicans a contrasting view of the candidates.

"What happened tonight will go a long way toward retaining the Senate seat," Hoehmann said.

Clarkstown Republican Phillip DeGaetano, who is also president of the Clarkstown school board, said Day and Vanderhoef were both good candidates for the Senate seat.

"Now we will be united behind Scott Vanderhoef," DeGaetano said.