Van Blarcum: “We represent
everybody”
KINGSTON – The Ulster County Republican Party Committee nominated incumbent Democrat Sheriff Paul Van Blarcum for re-election to his fourth term this November, at the GOP nominating convention Wednesday night in Kingston.
The cross-endorsement was expected, following rejection last week by
his fellow Democrats who dumped him for Juan Figueroa.
“At the Sheriff’s Office, we try not to be political at all; we represent everybody,” Van Blarcum told his Republican supporters. “I campaign on the promises that we made and kept, I campaign on the promise that I will not lose, I’m in this to win it for sure.”
Van Blarcum earlier received the Independence Party endorsement. He faces a Democratic Primary against Figueroa, a retired New York State Trooper from Plattekill.
The evening was marked by fiery speeches from Congressman John Faso (NY-19),
and retiring State Senator John Bonacic (42nd Dist). Both statesmen pulled
no punches in criticizing their Democratic rivals.
“In New York, the Republican Party is under siege,” Bonacic said. “The Democrats have moved extremely to the Left. When you look at it nationally, the Democratic Party is the party of socialism, redistribution of wealth, high taxes, regulation, every day they want to take away our Second Amendment rights, our religious freedoms, our property rights, it’s a battle. We’re in the biggest war of our lives, and it’s right here domestically. We are a divided nation, there is a polarization, between Democrats and Republicans. The Democrats keep talking about a Blue Wave; we say it’s a Red Storm – it’s a lot of crap, that Blue Wave, that’s the Fake News promoting things,” Bonacic added.
Faso – accused Democrat opponents of carpetbagging
Congressman Faso currently faces seven Democratic opponents who are competing in the June 26th federal primary.
“Most of these guys just moved into the district to run for office,” Faso said. The other thing they’re giving us is negativity; they just say no to everything, they oppose everything that we and President Trump try to do. While the other side plays their gender warfare, and identity politics, depending on what group you are part of, that’s the wrong way, an un-American point of view. We shouldn’t be dividing people by race and gender, and class, and party, and philosophy. We are all Americans.”
“The other side wants to see an America, where we are divided into segments, based upon what’s your color, your ethnicity, your nationality, your sexual preference – this is what the modern Democratic has become,” Faso continued. “That’s why a guy like Paul Van Blarcum isn’t nominated. This is not the party of JFK, of Harry Truman; it’s not even the party of Hugh Carey, or Daniel Patrick Moynihan. They’ve gone so far Left, they don’t even know what it means,” Faso said.
Other candidates nominated include Brian Miller for the 101st State Assembly
District; Chris Tague for the 102nd State Assembly District; Tom Basile
for the 39th State Senate District; Anne Rabbitt for the 42nd State Senate
District; George Amedore for the 46th State Senate District; and James
Seward for the 51st State Senate District.
There were no Republican candidates nominated for the 103rd and 104th
State Assembly Districts – which leaves Democrats Kevin Cahill and
Kevindaryan Lujan without major party opposition. “We have had difficulty
trying to find somebody to stick their neck out, like a Thanksgiving turkey
in the middle of November, to get their head chopped off, running in a
race that you can’t win,” said Ulster County Republican Chairman
Roger Rascoe. “The numbers aren’t there. We’ve had folks in
the past try it, spent tens of thousands of dollars of their personal
hard-earned money, to send a message, and the results are the same. So
it’s not surprising to me today, that we’ve had difficulty in finding
a candidate, to run in the 103rd and 104th Assembly District.”
