Chad Marlow

Marty Connor no longer has Chad Marlow as a spokesman.

Marlow’s company “terminated its consulting relationship with the Connor For Senate 08 campaign,” he said in an email to reporters just now.

But he added, “The Public Advocacy Group wishes to express it continuing belief that State Senator Martin Connor remains the only qualified candidate running to represent the 25th State Senatorial District in this Fall’s primary and general elections.”

Marlow has been an outspoken critic of Connor’s Democratic opponent, Dan Squadron. He’s also been outspoken about the cozy relationship between the Democrats and the Working Families Party.

This kind of abrupt change usually doesn't happen when everything is going well, but it's too early to say how it actually affects the campaign of an incumbent who, often, is his own spokesman.  read more »

Pictured above is part of a mailing that Democratic State Senate candidate Dan Squadron is distributing to highlight his role in bringing transportation money back to New York.

Squadron, who is trying to unseat incumbent State Senator Marty Connor, has never held public office, but he used to be an aide to Chuck Schumer, and after that went to Knickerbocker SKD, a public relations firm that worked on work on the campaign for a bill called the Transportation Bond Act, which is what Squadron's mailer refers to.  read more »

The mailing says in large letters, “Where others had failed, Daniel Squadron helped win $2.9 billion for transportation.

The spokesman for Marty Connor's re-election campaign, Chad Marlow, supports term limits, even though his boss, a state senator, has been in office since 1978.

In 2005, when the City Council was reportedly looking to alter the city's term-limit laws, Marlow authored a blog post on the Drum Major Institute’s web site called "Confessions of a Term Limits Convert." He wrote:

“If you believe our elected officials are largely comprised of highly talented, innovative thinkers who represent the very best our society has to offer the public sector, you would naturally oppose term limits. I do not.”

Connor’s opponent, Dan Squadron, talks frequently about the need to shake things up in Albany.  read more »

On the surface, the story is a familiar one.

A young insurgent, Dan Squadron, decides to challenge an entrenched incumbent, Marty Connor, in a State Senate race, in a year when public antipathy towards the ossified ways of Albany is greater than it has been in recent memory. The line between underdog liberal reformer and entrenched proponent of the status quo should be clear.

But a couple of unusual things have happened. Squadron, 28, has acquired the trappings, at least, of the establishment guy. He has raced out to a lead in high-increment fund-raising -- he has spent heavily but still has nearly $300,000 on hand, whereas Connor has barely spent $2500 and has only $83,000 -- and has gained support from some powerful labor entities like UNITE HERE, the Communication Workers of America and the union-backed Working Families Party.  read more »

Democratic State Senate candidate Dan Squadron decisively out-raised incumbent Marty Connor, who he's challenging.

According to the latest campaign finance filing (January 2008 to July 2008), Squadron raised $226,166.27, spent $122,031.26, and was left with $293,192.01 on hand.

Connor raised $120,555, spent $40,093.08 and has $82,962.92 on hand.

That's a significant disparity, but in addition, Connor has a second campaign committee, called The Connor Committee, which, according to the filing from the same period, is in debt for $45,513.43.

Since this January, that second Connor campaign committee spent $7,857.74, payments that include numerous political contributions. For example: The Connor Committee gave $500 to the Harry Truman Democratic Club, $300 to the Independent Neighborhoods Democrats, $500 to Downtown Independent Democrats and $500 to the Gay and Lesbian Independent Democrats.  read more »

It's a sign of the long-standing tension that exists on both sides between the pragmatists and the ideologues, not unlike the occasional strategic differences between New York's Conservatives and Republicans this year.

Marlow writes, "So now that [WFP Executive Director Dan] Cantor has inadvertently admitted in a widely broadcast email that even the WFP sees itself as Democrats with a substitute label, maybe the WFP's membership will look in the mirror and ask themselves if that is what they really want to be. Perhaps one day a real third party will stand a chance of taking control of Congress. Now that would be an event worth raising money around."