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The New York League of Conservation Voters has thrown its support behind Lynn Nunes, the Democratic primary challenger to Queens Sen. Shirley Huntley.
The announcement came in a brief press release from Nune’s campaign, which said he landed the endorsement from the NYLCV for his “commitment to protecting New York’s land, air, and water.” There’s no statement from the league as of yet.
This is a pretty interesting turn of events for several reasons.
The NYLCV, as I noted yesterday, played a role back in 2008 in helping the Democrats flip a Long Island Senate seat that had long been held by the GOP by backing now-Sen. Brian Foley against then-incumbent Sen. Caesar Trunzo.
That win helped the Democrats take control of the chamber. (The other big loss was Sen. Serf Maltese, who was toppled by Joe Addabbo, another NYLCV-endorsed candidated.
Yesterday, the league announced it would again back GOP Sen. Frank Padavan against his Democratic challenger, former NYC Councilman Tony Avella, even though Avella had received a 100 percent rating from the organization on its environmental scorecard.
Avella blamed his opposition to Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan. (It should also be noted that in 2008, the NYLCV split the baby in the Padvan race, backing both the Republican incumbent AND his Democratic challenger, NYC Councilman Jim Gennaro).
As far as I can tell, the NYLCV didn’t back Huntley in 2008.
Nunes is building support among some key special interests, including supporters of charter schools and gay marriage advocates.
Both of those groups are backing primary challengers against incumbent Democrats this September in an attempt to re-shape the majority (assuming it holds in November) into something they feel better suits their needs.
6 years ago
