Spin Cycle

Being John Faso cannot be easy.

Here's a true Republican Party loyalist from Columbia County who by all rights should have had the nomination for state comptroller in 1994, but was forced off the ticket in a deal between the GOP and Conservative leadership.

Herb London, who got the comptroller's nomination that year, quickly became a low priority for those same leaders. He proceeded to mount a miserable candidacy and lose to Democrat H. Carl McCall in what was otherwise a good year for Republican candidates.

Cut to 2002. Faso, after serving as Assembly minority leader, gets the nomination for comptroller in and, with the position now vacated by gubernatorial candidate McCall, Faso almost makes it.

He pulls up just short of Democrat Alan Hevesi on Election Day.

Four years later Hevesi is looking like a cinch for re-election when lightning strikes. He falls into scandal, its impact assisted by a suddenly-animated state Ethics Commission and a suddenly-relevant Gov. George Pataki.

Where's Faso when this happens? Unfortunately for him, he's out running for what turns out to be the wrong job, governor, against a seemingly unstoppable foe.

Republicans seem to be paying more attention to Chris Callaghan than John Faso these days, but the Republican gubernatorial nominee has released two ads that will begin airing later this week.

The first commercial is on income taxes. Faso, seated in a chair, says, “Taxes in New York are 53 percent above the national average and people are leaving this state. The solution: cut taxes to make New York more competitive. Under my plan a couple making less than $50,000 will pay no tax. Everyone earning more will see a 25 percent tax cut. And we’ll eliminate capital gains taxes to help create new jobs. You can bank on the fact that Eliot Spitzer will raise your taxes. I will cut them. I’m John Faso and I ask for your vote.”

Here Faso appears to be referring to a phrase from a Spitzer “To Do List” ad in which the Democratic nominee ends by saying, “There’s one thing we’re not going to raise, your taxes. You can take that to the bank.”

Errol A. Cockfield Jr.

A very entertaining new TV commercial just arrived from John Faso, the Republican candidate for governor, in which he intersperses images of his opponent, Democratic AG Eliot Spitzer, and Comptroller Alan Hevesi.

The link is here.

Eliot is cast in an ominous yellowish hue, while Alan -- in slow motion -- licks his upper lip with his tongue, a pretty bizarre touch that can only be meant to disgust the viewer.

The commercial then quotes from the state Ethics report, says Hevesi stole tens of thosuands of taxpayer dollars, and zooms in on Spitzer from the first guv's debate calling Hevesi an "honest, stupendous public servant." It hammers him for refusing to investigate the chauffeur-gate scandal or asking Hevesi to resign, and accuses Spitzer of "stupendously protecting his cronies at our expense."

In fact, Spitzer's office eventually started looking at the amount Hevesi has repaid the state for his wife's driver, and yesterday he revoked his endorsement, although he still hasn't asked Alan to resign.

As for Faso, who tried twice and failed to become state comptroller, how he must be wishing he could put on a bow tie right now and insert himself on the ballot for the man from Saratoga, Chris Callaghan.

Michael Rothfeld

If the first gubernatorial debate between Eliot Spitzer and John Faso will be remembered for anything it will be Faso's statement that Spitzer's "going to force gay marriage down the throats of New Yorkers."

That drew laughter from the crowd here at Cornell University and then Spitzer said he would respond to Faso without responding to his "use of metaphors."

Spitzer then repeated his pledge to sign a bill legalizing gay marriage, legislation Faso opposes.

Errol A. Cockfield Jr.

John Faso is playing directly to his base with an attack ad against Eliot Spitzer that begins airing only in upstate markets today. The ad is pretty grim. It features a single lightbulb hanging in a dark, smoke-filled room along with an image of Spitzer juxtaposed with the words "New York." Faso is nowhere to be found in the ad. Instead, the voice of a female narrator says:

"New Yorkers already pay some of the highest taxes in the nation. Our kids are moving elsewhere for better jobs and some can’t even afford to pay the taxes on their homes. Now candidate Eliot Spitzer is making promises to his special interest friends, almost $70 billion in new spending. His new spending will mean thousands more in new taxes for every New York family. If Eliot Spitzer gets his way, it may be time for the last one in upstate New York to turn out the light."

Can Faso make up his 50-point deficit in the polls with this strategy?

Errol A. Cockfield Jr.

Last night's non-debate upstate had its own special tone. Predictably, Spitzer was the pinata in absentia.

A new Marist poll has no surprises. Spitzer demolishing Suozzi (75-10) and Faso (69-20), Clinton demolishing Tasini (83-13), McFarland (61-32) and Spencer (61-34). The AG race is still competitive. Cuomo leads Green 40-25, but he's not gaining ground -- he led 40-18 in January -- and 25 percent are undecided. For the general, Cuomo leads Pirro 51-37, Green leads Pirro 49-35.

John Riley

An interesting side note to the Newsday/NY1 poll question on whether to fund schools with a local income tax instead of the property tax is the fact that Eliot Spitzer is the only one of the three candidates for governor who has publicly embraced the idea, as noted in a Newsday story today, although yesterday his campaign backtracked from that position.

Spitzer endorsed gradually moving to a local income tax during a Q & A at the Nassau Council of Chambers of Commerce in East Meadow on Jan. 26. He called the property tax "a fundamentally bad tax," saying that senior citizens, for instance, see their property values rise but don't have the income to pay the ensuing tax increases. Then he was pretty definitive about thinking income taxes were a better idea:

"What we have to do over time is shift from a property tax foundation to an income tax foundation," Spitzer said. "Because then the tax at least is imposed upon the revenue people are getting. Most people agree it is more equitable."

In today’s paper I have a story that examines the depth of Republican gubernatorial nominee John Faso’s opposition to abortion. He reiterates his position that if elected he would submit a budget that limits Medicaid funding of abortions to cases of rape, incest or when a mother’s life is in jeopardy.

During an Assembly floor debate in 1987 Faso gave an emotional speech about the issue when he was a freshly minted assemblyman. Here’s the full text.

Faso has tried to downplay his conservative positions against abortion and gay marriage. The former Assembly Minority Leader believes this year’s election will hinge on proposals for tax cuts and economic revitalization. We'll see.

Errol A. Cockfield Jr.