SD-59: Paladino Snubs DiPietro?

Carl Paladino has come out endorsing former Erie County Republican Chairman Jim Domagalski for the 59th State Senate District, much to the shock and dismay of Domagalski’s primary candidate, David DiPietro.

According to DiPietro, Paladino is the one who urged him to run for the position.

DiPietro, the endorsed Tea Party candidate in the race, stood outside Erie County Republican Party headquarters during the news conference. He told reporters that Paladino had shown up at his house late last night to apologize for endorsing Domagalski after lending DiPietro his support for months.

“I said, ‘Carl, tell me this isn’t true,’” DiPietro recalled.

DiPietro said Paladino told him he owed the Erie County Republican Party for endorsing his candidacy, despite the fact Paladino has contributed to DiPietro’s campaign and the two men have been friends for several years.

He added that Paladino was the one who personally convinced him to run for the Senate seat and encouraged him to stay in the race even though DiPietro offered to withdraw if it would harm Paladino’s run for governor.

At the news conference, Paladino said he strongly endorsed Domagalski to replace retiring Sen. Dale Volker in a district that stretches across parts of four counties.

“He’s an attorney; he’s a talented man,” Paladino stated. “I need a guy like that by my side.”

This was a dumb move on Paladino’s part, for a lot of reasons. Assuming DiPietro’s account is true, what does it say about Carl Paladino to urge one guy to run then endorse another? I can’t imagine that there was any pressure involved or dealmaking here. Paladino has already been endorsed by the Erie County GOP for his gubernatorial bid, they jumped on the Paladino ship rather early. So if there had been a deal or pressure, I suspect that this endorsement would have happend a while back, to get more mileage out of it. Paladino was best to make no endorsement in this race if he had split loyalties. This endorsement, based on the information we have, says more bad things about Paladino’s character than good things about Domagalski’s candidacy.