It's now official. GOP candidate Bob Straniere has officially declined the judicial nomination that was very shadily thrown his way on Monday night.
Bob Straniere really meant it when it said he didn't want to run for the state Supreme Court judgeship for which he was nominated by the Manhattan GOP Monday in a last-ditch attempt by supporters of Rep. Vito Fossella to enable him to seek re-election.
At of 3:02 p.m. Straniere officially declined the nomination, according to the city Board of Elections. He filled out a certificate of declination and signed it.
Until he did so, he was on the GOP line for two different offices in three different boroughs (counting the little sliver of Brooklyn that's in the 13th CD). He is now merely a congressional candidate.
The Manhattan GOP has until Sept. 30 to fill the vacancy, although it's not like people are banging down the doors to run on the Republican line in Manhattan judicial races - a near-certain loss if ever there was one.
Also, Tim Cochrane has now officially accepted the Conservative Party line in NY-13, leaving Vito Fossella and his supporters nowhere to actually put their boy on the November ballot.
It would seem now all but certain that Vito Fossella's Congressional career will be over in January of 2009. He's done, for the 111th Congress at least. |
