Earlier this year we reported the story
that our highfaluting Supervisor, Jim Quigley, was considering a run for state
senate in the newly created 46th senate seat, rumor was that Dean Skelos and the
state GOP leadership put a quick stop to it, their hand picked candidate George
Amadore was going to be the Republican nominee and they told Quigley they would
do whatever they had to, to make his life hell if he ran. And by rumor, we
mean anyone that follows local politics even a little bit knows that's pretty
much how it went down. Quigley put his tail between his legs and ran
off, deciding not to run.
Well this past Tuesday was election day and while
there are absentees yet to be counted, it looks like George Amadore will lose to
Cecilia Tkaczyk, in large part because of the absolute beating Amadore took in
Ulster county. You can bet right now Jim Quigley is pretty pissed he pussied out
of running because while he probably would not of won Ulster County, he would of
been very competitive. This is not to inflate Quigs' head. He would of done
better in Ulster County because he has run county wide and is known better here.
Tkaczyk ran an extremly negative campaign which worked, specifically in Ulster
county. Why? Pretty simple, it's a new senate seat, and the negative ads by
Tkaczyk against Amadore, where really the first glimpse folks got of this
guy. In essence, while the ads largly distorted Amadore's record, they became
fact to many new voters unfamiliar with George Amadore. Amadore did not respond
to these ads, which really was a big mistake on his part.
Jim Quigley may have also hesitated from running because this is the four year anniversary of his first electoral run, where he
was defeated by a slim margin in a huge Democratic year, If not for Obama on
the ballot in 2008, he may very well have become County Comptroller. There is an even
bigger reason why running for the senate was too much of a risk for Quigley. You
see Quigs' running for any office where the numbers of the race present a risk
that he would lose (we hear he'll examine them to a science), would be too much
of a risk for Quigley. Jim Quigley has a big ego and low self esteem, a bad
combo for a politician to say the least, which is why, I never take it too
seriously when I hear Quigs' name thrown around for higher office. Quigs puts
his name out as a possible candidate, just so people will talk about him and
stroke his ego.
Sure he wants to run and has wet dreams of being Ulster County Exec
but Quigley wont take the risk of losing, he desperately needs to present to the
public this image of him being a political power player and lets face it he's
got a long way to go. He got elected in a 2:1 Republican town and has not had a
serious challenge since his 09' victory. If Quigley wants to be the gop power
player, he's got to play like one and take a risk, give up the Supervisor's gig
and run for a real office. As scary as it sounds, had Quigley primaried Amadore
and won, he probably would of become our Senator, sticking it to now soon to be
former NYS Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos in the process. Ah, Quigs, what
could have been.
