What a Bunch of Maloney!

Dems go after late-entrant Sean Maloney in candidate forum.

Monday, April 2, 2012 | 12:41 p.m.

'06 AG candidate/ex-WH/Spitzer/Paterson aide Sean Maloney (D) cites his stints at the WH and in Albany, as well as his "experience running his own" AG campaign "and his connections in Manhattan -- where he has a home" and works as an atty, among the reasons he can beat Rep. Nan Hayworth(R) in the fall. Maloney: "They (nat'l GOPers) are going to try and protect this person. We ought to put someone up who has the organizational and financial capacity to go toe to toe with her."

"But his relatively late entry into the race and his lack of ties to the area have spawned veiled criticisms" from other Dem candidates. "Maloney and three of the other four" Dem candidates spoke at a forum sponsored by the Putnam County Dem Cmte on March 29. Tuxedo Park Mayor Tom Wilson (D) didn't attend the forum. Cortlandt Councilman Rich Becker (D): "I think I know the needs of the district. I've lived in it for over 20 years. It wasn't a decision that came to me last month."

Wappingers Falls Mayor Matt Alexander (D): "I think not being a Washington insider may work for me."

Maloney lives outside the district, "but said he and his family are 'definitely going to live in the district,' probably in Beacon. Becker and NYC vendor Duane Jackson (D), "who now live outside the new lines, also have said they will move" into the new CD.

Alexander mgr. TJ Helmstetter, in a letter to supporters: "Sean Maloney might make a great ambassador from Manhattan to the Hudson Valley, but that's not the office we're here to elect" (Risinit, Westchester Journal News, 3/31).

The North Salem Rich Trials

Alexander announced on March 30 "that they received the endorsement" of two Westchester Co. Dem cmtes, "which happens to be" Becker's home county. Alexander: "I am humbled to have the solid backing of yet another Democratic Committee in Westchester and look forward to working with them to make Nan Hayworth a one term Congresswoman. Let's keep the momentum going."

The North Salem Dem Cmte endorsed Alexander last week and the Lewisboro cmte endorsed him the week before, as did his home county's organization in Dutchess (Freedlander, "PolitickerNY," New York Observer, 3/30).