THEY SAY D'AMATO
REES, MATTHEW
THEY SAY D'AMATO by Matthew Rees "WHEN THE 18-YEAR SENATE CAREER of Alfonse \ Y I D'Amato came to a crashing halt last V V November, it was natural to assume he, like most ex-senators, would fade...
...This flurry of activity is not surprising for D'Amato...
...What else...
...He's also hosting fund-raisers for friends like Rep...
...Joel Siegel of the New York Daily News has described D'Amato as the state GOP's "rabbi emeritus...
...As for the 62 county Republican chairmen, Guy Moli-nari estimates that up to one-third of them are D'Amato acolytes...
...Instead, D'Amato began flirting with Lazio...
...GOP operatives say it's unlikely, though just days after his departure from the Senate, D'Amato admitted to the New York Times that running again was not something he was "actively pursuing or planning, but it's an option...
...Lazio, suddenly lacking the support of his two patrons, Pataki and D'Amato, reluctantly announced on August 11 he was suspending his campaign...
...Most important of all, D'Amato is peerless when it comes to collecting campaign cash...
...That may happen eventually, but, for now, D'Amato is doing what comes naturally: acting as a powerbroker in the byzantine world of New York Republican politics...
...Last year, they reconciled long enough for Giuliani to enthusiastically campaign for D'Amato's reelection...
...Several top New York Republicans and emissaries from the Bush campaign made the same suggestion...
...He handpicked George to run for governor," says Molinari, "and I don't think George will forget that...
...George W. Bush (D'Amato is organizing an October 5 event in Manhattan for Bush's presidential campaign, which may bring in $2 million...
...The GOP primary takes place less than two months before the general election, and, Republicans feared, having to defeat Lazio would rob Giuliani of precious energy and time that he would need to beat Hillary...
...What kind of job, I asked...
...What's more, Pataki has little passion for the nitty-gritty of local Republican politics, leaving a vacuum D'Amato is happy to fill...
...One catalyst for this meeting was a Neal Travis column in that morning's New York Post, which quoted the governor touting Lazio...
...There are many reasons why D'Amato remains hugely influential, but two stand out...
...John Ashcroft, and Gov...
...He always wanted to know what was happening in every little hamlet throughout the state," says Guy Molinari, Staten Island's borough president and a former D'Amato housemate in Washington...
...Tom Reynolds, "he's going to be in the middle of it...
...Having spent 18 years constructing, and lording it over, New York's Republican party, he still commands loyalty from many of his subjects...
...One Republican friend of D'Amato hinted to me that a senior job in the next Bush administration is more likely...
...In 1994, Giuliani deepened the rift by portraying then gubernatorial candidate George Pataki as a hapless D'Amato lackey...
...Now that D'Amato has brought a temporary peace to the conflict-ridden New York Republicans, it's natural to wonder whether he will get back in the ring...
...First, everyone in the state knows Pataki remains indebted to him for his 1994 victory...
...And that's supposed to happen by the end of the month...
...Which raised a problem...
...THEY SAY D'AMATO by Matthew Rees "WHEN THE 18-YEAR SENATE CAREER of Alfonse \ Y I D'Amato came to a crashing halt last V V November, it was natural to assume he, like most ex-senators, would fade into the gray Washington world of lobbying and rainmaking...
...These days New York is rife with opportunities for D'Amato...
...ambassador to Italy...
...But he is, of course, doing much more...
...The best illustration of D'Amato's kingmak-ing power came in 1994, when he made a little-known state senator named Pataki the Republican gubernatorial challenger to Mario Cuomo...
...Hillary clinton is using the state to launch a campaign for the Senate, and many Republicans, in New York and across the country, are desperate to have Rudy Giuliani challenge her, believing the popular New York mayor is the opponent most likely to beat her...
...He and Giuliani have had a famously adversarial relationship for years...
...Nevertheless, Rick Lazio, a Republican congressman from Long Island, wanted to challenge Giuliani in the primary...
...They keep him right where he wants to be: in the thick of New York's combustible politics...
...On August 6, Pataki announced his support for Giuliani and urged Lazio to withdraw...
...He is, for example, in regular contact with Joe Bruno, the majority leader of the state senate, and William Powers, the chairman of the state GOP...
...These activities not only earn D'Amato far more than the $136,000 he was paid as a senator...
...If there is something political happening," says GOP Rep...
...Most Republicans suspected this was pure mischief, given D'Amato's previous distaste for the fourth-term congressman, who, D'Amato felt, didn't show him enough respect...
...All the same, national Republican figures were alarmed...
...D'Amato's willingness to intervene has even been seen in small-town elections, when friends or foes were running for office...
...Shortly after losing his Senate seat, D'Amato was hired to mediate a federal lawsuit brought by Holocaust survivors against German and Austrian banks...
...Having stage-managed this remarkable turn of events, D'Amato now has to ensure that Giuliani does, in fact, decide to run...
...When Giuliani began making noises about a Senate candidacy, Republicans assumed D'Amato would quickly endorse him...
...In politics, change is on an hourly basis...
...Matthew Rees is a staff writer at THE WEEKLY STANDARD...
...The second source of D'Amato's power is . . . D'Amato...
...D'Amato's official vocation these days is that of a consultant at Park Strategies, a firm he started with top GOP operative and fund-raiser Wayne Berman, to advise corporations on business development...
...Here's what resulted: On August 3, D'Amato initiated a meeting with Giuliani and told him that for the good of the party he needed to make peace with Governor Pataki...
...They recently dispatched one of D'Amato's old buddies from the Senate, Pete Domenici, to meet with him and suggest he back Giuliani...
...Enter D'Amato...
...D'Amato has close allies in the congressional delegation as well...
...Later, he started writing a sophomoric advice column for George magazine and making regular appearances on the Fox News Channel, where he is on contract as a political analyst...
...Peter King, Sen...
...Giuliani then made nice with Pataki, and, afterwards, D'Amato went to work on the governor to return the favor...
...A sympathetic GOP operative notes the irony: "The guy is a defeated senator, and yet he's still essential to Pataki's political future, Giuliani's political future, and is keeping the state alive for Bush...
Vol. 4 • August 1999 • No. 46
