By William Lewis
The New York State Conservative Party was formed in 1962 and it has had a significant impact on the political way things have been run across the state, with some success closer to Queens.
In New York City, especially in Queens County, the Conservative Party has done quite well.
Around 30 years ago, the Conservative Party helped to elect Republicans to the state Senate and the state Assembly.
It was a significant achievement that there were four or five Republicans elected to the state Assembly who had received Conservative Party endorsement. There were also several Republican state senators elected who were endorsed by the Conservative Party.
Today, the Conservative Party County Chairman is Thomas Long, brother of Michael Long, the state chairman of the Conservative Party.
In a recent interview with him that I had, he seemed optimistic that the Conservative Party would help elect candidates.
He is particularly interested in the two state Senate seats that were held by Frank Padavan (now by Tony Avella) and Serph Maltese (now by Joseph Addabbo).
He is hopeful of a major effort to get one or both of those seats in the Conservative Party column.
The Conservative Party also endorses conservative Democrats.
When it comes to candidates, Long wants to see which candidates emerge.
He believes that any candidate running for the state Senate must be able to put forth a significant amount of money to run for the seat.
He thinks that the major issues voters will care about are jobs, cutting taxes, and immigration reform.
Right now Queens has two members of the City Council from western Queens. Both of them — Eric Ulrich and Robert Holden — have Conservative Party endorsement.
However, as I indicated there was once a time that the Conservative Party endorsement meant a real chance toward election success.
Tom Long has been the county chairman since the early 1990s.
He contends that a lot of people who voted for Donald Trump for president will support Conservative Party candidates.
The procedure is that candidates go before the Conservative Party asking for endorsement.
Usually there is a hearing and members of the party’s County Executive Committee decide if the candidate will get Conservative Party endorsement.
Generally speaking, the Conservative Party has played a major role in New York politics.
Few Republican candidates can get elected without Conservative Party endorsement.
Rudy Giuliani was one of the exceptions who ran on the Republican line — when he ran for mayor — with Independent and Liberal support.
It is the hope of Tom Long and other members of his party that this year and 2020 will be the years when they can take back some of the seats that they lost in the state Senate, state Assembly and Congress.
We can see that a major political battle will take place this year and in 2020. It is going to be an interesting year as we go forth into the campaigns.
Tom Long will be leading his people with the hope of victory.
