Senator Flanagan and what’s left of the Republican minority
leadership are doing everything that they can to erase the achievements of
former Senator Cathy Young. Last summer
Flanagan removed Cathy from directing the campaigns for the NYS Senate. The result was a Republican disaster in the
Senate races. Subsequently Senator Young
unsuccessfully challenged Flanagan’s leadership and was removed from all major
committee positions. In what was now a
minority party and under constant pressure from the bumbling Senate leadership,
Cathy resigned from her Senate seat.
However, Flanagan and his cohorts have refused to drop the matter. They have handpicked a candidate from the
distant northwest corner of the 57th District---far removed from Cathy’s usual
supporters---to represent the District.
The facts are clear on this point. When it appeared that Curt Crandall from
Allegany County would also be running for that Senate seat, Flanagan’s
assistant in leadership called the Allegany County GOP Chair and asked him to
tell Crandall to withdraw from the race, as he and Flanagan did not want a
primary. (The County Chair declined to do so.)
Despite the fact that Crandall drawing on local supporters, not paid
petition carriers trucked in from other counties, easily obtained enough
signatures to be certified as a GOP candidate.
The NYS Republican Senate Campaign Committee, basically a tool of
Flanagan, has financed numerous ads and campaign efforts by Crandall’s
opponent. Flanagan and his colleagues,
primarily from downstate, are trying to remove any vestige of Cathy Young’s
influence from the 57th District, and to overwhelm any opposition to their
handpicked candidate. Thus, the facts
are clear, and the choice is clear for Republican voters in the June 25
primary. They can support Flanagan’s persistent, and blatant, efforts to
tarnish the legacy of one of the most effective, hardest working State Senators
we have ever had, or they can support Curt Crandall, a person who has worked
closely with Cathy Young since she was first elected to the NYS Legislature,
and who is both a neighbor and friend to the folks in Allegany, Cattaraugus,
Chautauqua, and Livingston Counties.
Rob Christman
Allegany County Clerk
Former GOP Chairman
