ALBANY—Add another voice to the list of Republicans calling for the immediate resignation of Joe Mondello as chair of the state party: State Senator Marty Golden.
"He should get out. It's time for him to step aside," Golden told me by phone, after expressing similar sentiments on Fred Dicker's radio show this morning. "The biggest slap in the face in the decline of this party over the years is the losing of the Tedisco race. It was the final nail in the coffin."
Mondello's term expires in September.
"We need fresh, new, young leadership," Golden continued. "If we wait until September, we have a big election next year. We need somebody to work with the team and build up the candidates."
Golden did not specify who he would like to see as chairman, saying only "there's a lot of talent out there."
There are several people expressing various degrees of interest: John Faso, the former Assembly Minority Leader, Niagara County Party Chairman Henry Wojtaszek, former State Senator Ray Meier, Ed Cox and Dan Isaacs, a Manhattan lawyer.
Two Republican sources have told me Faso called Mondello last week and called on him to resign. (Faso declined to comment when I asked him about this.) Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos, who knows Mondello well from local activities in Nassau County, was asked at a press conference several minutes ago if he thought it was time for Mondello to resign.
"I've known Joe for many years. I think he's going to make a very careful decision as to whether he should run for re-election in September, and whether that will be in the best interests of the party," Skelos said. "So at some point, I will have a discussion with him about it."
