Randy Altschuler Gets G.O.P. Endorsement
Randy Altschuler has gained the endorsement of the Suffolk County Republican Committee in his Congressional run against Representative Tim Bishop, a Democrat seeking re-election in November.
Last week, John Jay LaValle, the county G.O.P. chairman, said in a statement that Mr. Altschuler was chosen for his “real world” business experience, which, the party will argue, will help address the weakness in the American economy. Mr. Altschuler was supported and then abandoned by the party in 2010 during an ugly primary battle that was not resolved until September that year, leaving little time to recover for the general election.
George Demos, one of the candidates who challenged Mr. Altschuler in the 2010 primary, plans to mount another primary fight. This year the federal primary elections will be held on June 26.
The primaries for state offices have not been set, but Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. has introduced a bill that would have those primaries take place on the same day, the fourth Tuesday in June, which would apply to future state office races as well.
The committee screened both candidates. Mr. LaValle said Mr. Altschuler’s support was overwhelming among the party leaders this year. A formal nomination will occur at a future date that has yet to be set, according to the committee, dependent on the new district lines that still need to be finalized by the State Legislature.
While the Altschuler campaign has been mostly ignoring Mr. Demos’s efforts, Mr. Demos’s reaction to the endorsement was combative. He said Mr. Altschuler “has played the inside game of money and power. This process is disgraceful and it deserves to be defeated. More importantly, it deserves to be exposed.”
He reprised his criticisms from the last campaign, referring to the candidate as “Outsourcer Randy Altschuler,” based on a company he once owned and co-founded to send high-paying back-office Wall Street jobs to India and other countries where the workers would accept a fraction of the salaries. It was reported to be one of the first companies to send white-collar jobs overseas in publications such as The New Yorker and Business Week. He has since co-founded another company, CloudBlue, which recycles electronic devices. It is based in Norcross, Ga.
The characterization has historically been harmful to Mr. Altschuler, who lost narrowly to Mr. Bishop in a year when Republicans did exceptionally well in Congressional races. The party and the campaign have recast Mr. Altschuler as a “self-made businessman who came from humble beginnings to achieve the American dream,” in Mr. LaValle’s words.
Mr. Demos, meanwhile, said he was the only conservative candidate in the race. “The voters in the primary will not be moved by the endorsements of a few party bosses,” he said. He pledged to defeat Mr. Altschuler in the primary.