CLEARWATER BEACH, Fla. -- The main speaker at Monday's New York State delegation breakfast at the Republican National Convention was State Senate Majority Leader Dean G. Skelos, and for good reason.
As he was introducing the Long Island legislator, state GOP Chairman Edward F. Cox referred to his own study of the top 10 Democratic states in the nation, with only New York boasting a Republican chamber in its legislature.
"His dedication to do what is right for New York State and his political skill in getting it done is the reason we have the majority party in the New York State Senate," he said of the veteran lawmaker.
Skelos then launched into a list of accomplishments in the last two years, which he claimed has ended widespread use of the word "dysfunction" in Albany. And while he was quick to blame Democrats generally for a host of evils, he never mentioned Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo or Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
The only Democrat Skelos specifically targeted was Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, who he acknowledged will give Republican attorney Wendy Long a "tough race" this year.
"One day she's Annie Oakley and the next day she's Jane Fonda," he said of Gillibrand's shifting stands on gun control.
--Robert J. McCarthy
