Fundraisers galore
'Tis the season for fundraising.
The festivities get under way when Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos of Rockville Center makes the local rounds tonight. Following an airport press conference, Skelos will make the required appearance before the Conservative Party's annual bash at Lucarelli's Banquet Center in Lackawanna. He then heads to Amherst for the party's big spring dinner, which also ranks as a major attraction on the statewide political tour.
The Conservatives' "Spring Get-Together" usually serves as a real indicator about who's in and who's out, who's hot and who's not in the upcoming political season. With designating petitions set to hit the streets in about a month, political observers expect the Conservative gathering to provide a decent hint about who will be serious about running this year.
On the Democratic side, Assemblyman Sam Hoyt hosts a major luncheon event on Friday at E.B. Green's Steakhouse at the Hyatt Regency Buffalo for Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. The affair cements a long and close political relationship between Hoyt and the attorney general, whom many predict could emerge as the Democratic candidate for governor next year should incumbent David A. Paterson's numbers continue to fall.
-- Robert J. McCarthy
