Joe Rutkowski says that he is at the top of the list of the Republican Party for the Congress in the expected special elections of the 21st district, even if the party leaders in the district seem to argue about who they will choose for the job.
In an interview in Albany, Rutkowski, 52, said one of the leading names because of his background; He has been a veteran, has been working on federal building contracts for years and has a security approval for classified information, he worked as a citizen in his homeland Pennsylvania and has worked as a federal entrepreneur for years and conveyed a clear understanding of how things work at the top level.
“My strengths are able to speak to the Highway Bill, difficult civil work, the work of the Army Corps, I built camps at the border,” he said.
However, he admitted that the stools of the district have not yet come together with a candidate, and opinions are largely different in the 15 GOP County Chairman in NY-21.
“They all have their favorites,” he said.
Sources within the regional GOP conference state that the opinions are very different, who should be the next republican candidate for the district-a list of over 10 candidates, with names such as Rutkowski, Member of the Member Chris Tague, R-Sharie and Elizabeth “Liz” Joy, former candidate for the district of Capitol region. But the party has held a last election, also because Congressman Elise M. Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, has not yet resigned from its position. They wanted to avoid that another Republican in NY-21 is prominently on site to avoid potential disagreements or political differences, some of which are displayed.
In the meantime, an intra-party sparring has been reported that the GOP chairman of Fulton County and the deputy chairman of the regional chairman of North Country for the Sue McNeil state party has pushed to support Joy, who has lost two congress campaigns in the capital region against a incumbent Democrat again campaigned.
The party leaders meet on Wednesday to discuss the path forward and possibly narrow down the list of candidates under consideration. It is not clear who could give up, but several sources show that Joy and Tague are the two best names on the list.
For his part, Rutkowski said it was important that the candidate is closely connected to President Donald J. Trump. Rutkowski said he was fully agile and praised his early efforts to reduce the size of the federal government or the renegotiation of trade agreements with narrow US partners such as Canada and Mexico.
“I fully agree with Trump's agenda,” said Rutkowski. “And in my opinion he plays chess, and the rest of the people who do business with the USA play checks.”
Other candidates have worked hard to close Trump closely – and criticized their competition for a perceived lack of sufficient Trump support. Amsterdam businessman Anthony Constantino, who is not considered a leader among the local party leaders who chose the candidate but tried to tie Trump as close as possible for weeks, has candidates like the Senator of North Country, Daniel G. Stec, R-Queensbury because he supports the president inadequate.
Sources within the local party said that loyalty to Trump is certainly a factor in this process, but it is far from the only metric for which you are looking for. They want a candidate to reach the voters, to present a concrete argument to counteract the democratic message and make meaningful progress in Washington in questions that do not affect the positions of the President.
“We want a fully realized candidate here,” said a source on the condition of anonymity. “You can't just be” Trump, Trump, Trump “, you have to be able to actually talk to the why of Trump.”
Constantino also showed Rutkowski attacked notes in 2019 because of a donation to Anthony Brindisi's campaign that Rutkowski donated $ 2,500 to the congressman at the time.
Rutkowski explained – he was closely associated with the team of Congressmen Claudia L. Tenney, whom Brindisi had just beaten in the 2018 elections. In fact, the former campaign manager of Congressmen is the one who proposed Rutkowski for NY-21.
But when she lost the re -election, Rutkowski had to make a political calculation: how to build a relationship with the new MEP for his area.
“My business, our business contingent is around 90% covenant,” he said. “At that time, my contract negotiations and efforts were to include large federal projects in the Griffis International Business Park. That is why I made a decision at that time. Anthony Brindisi came to my office, and I will never forget the meeting, the first thing I do not support, I didn't vote for you, but I have a bridge built here.”
Rutkowski announced a text message with Johnson newspapers, which showed that on the day he voted for Trump's first elevation, he was on Brindisi, and expressed the disappointment that he had decided to vote for the measure.
Rutkowski said that he had not seen much recognition for Constantino, who was a registered democrat at the time, to support a friend of his friend for the mayor of Albany City, who was attacked at the time.
“My position is that we have enough of this attack in politics,” said Rutkowski. “I never want to cut someone on my knees to make me look bigger. As a businessman, I have to recognize when I have to work with another representative, regardless of whether it is genetic bodies or another person, it is bad if I attack them. Let them make their own mistakes.”
The next steps in the Republican selection process remain unclear -while the Democrats have their alleged candidates in Blake Gendebien, a farmer from St. Lawrence County, who has collected over 2.5 million US dollars since the start of his campaign, the Republicans have divided the Republicans into the Democrats in the amount of more than 2.5 million US doors have collected.
There are some suggestions that Congressmen Stefanik and President Trump will reject the candidate as soon as Stefanik has resigned shortly. Any nomination that is officially cleared before your seat, and the governor a special election is non -binding, only for the time being – while the Democrats probably do not change your choice, the Republicans could be brought into a tough place if they contract behind a candidate who is not supported by Stefanik or Trump.
Stefanik's final confirmation and withdrawal date is not clear at this point, but the two free congress seats in Florida will be occupied on April 1 to free them to step back without bringing a wrench in the Republican majority operations in the house.