After Being Attacked Himself, Ed Cox Calls On GOP Mayoral Candidates To Play Nice

Here is the expanded second item from my "Albany Insider" column today:

Some Republicans are miffed that state GOP Chairman Ed Cox hasn?t called on his son?s father-in-law and mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis to tone down the late primary season attacks on Republican mayoral frontrunner Joseph Lhota.

Cox during his tenure has consistently defended primaries as long as Republicans follow Ronald Reagan?s 11th commandment by not attacking each other.

Now a number of GOPers complain that Cox has stayed silent as Catsimatidis has gone increasingly negative on Lhota, who a recent poll had up by a 50-28% margin.

?Lhota?s the only chance we have to win the mayor?s race and you have Catsimatidis clearly emptying his clip and the state party chairman hasn?t stepped up to tell him to quit it,? said former state GOP executive director Ryan Moses.

Moses said he believes the fact that Catsimatidis? daughter is married to Cox?s son is the reason why. ?He has to be the leader of the party,? Moses said. ?It?s not about who he?s going to be eating Christmas dinner with.??

Told of the comments yesterday afternoon, Cox said the party has done its best to keep GOPers from attacking each other--?but it clearly hasn?t worked.?

?I call on both parties now, given where it?s been going over the last week, to conform to Reagan?s 11th commandment, especially in New York City where we are at a 6 to 1 registration disadvantage and negative attacks on a fellow Republicans seriously damage our ability to win in the general election.?

Several hours later he released the following statement to the Daily News:

"With just over a week to go in the Republican Primary for Mayor, I call on all of the candidates to follow President Reagan's eleventh commandment: thou shall not attack a fellow Republican.

"I urge the candidates seeking the Republican nomination to focus on the issues facing our city, rather than engage in personal attacks.?

"The next Mayor of the city of New York will face issues ranging from an impending budget crisis to education reform and they will have to ensure that New York City remains the safest big city in the world. ?

"The candidates seeking the Republican nomination are eminently more qualified than their opponents running on the democrat side of the aisle - who have proven themselves not to be serious about the issues facing our city and have shown a complete inability to lead.?

"Regardless of next week's primary results, we look forward to a spirited general election where our candidate will present a positive, pro-growth, pro-opportunity, pro-jobs agenda and most of all, will keep our city safe."

Source: http://feeds.nydailynews.com/~r/nydnrss/blogs/dailypolitics/~3/y93UYaGBAx4/story01.htm

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