SYRACUSE, N,Y. -- Onondaga County Comptroller Robert E. Antonacci II is on his way to Albany this morning to ask for the Republican nomination to run for state attorney general in November. Antonacci, 45, of Onondaga, said he and other candidates will meet today with the executive committee of the state Republican Party, a first step toward seeking the...
View full sizeRobert Antonacci hopes to run for state attorney general.SYRACUSE, N,Y. -- Onondaga County Comptroller Robert E. Antonacci II is on his way to Albany this morning to ask for the Republican nomination to run for state attorney general in November.
Antonacci, 45, of Onondaga, said he and other candidates will meet today with the executive committee of the state Republican Party, a first step toward seeking the party’s blessing.
He is likely to face opposition from at least one other Republican candidate: Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan has said he plans to run. Antonacci said he probably would not pursue a primary election if he fails to win the nomination.
Antonacci is just two years into his first term as county comptroller, a job he won in November 2007. For several months he mulled a possible run for state comptroller, but switched his focus to attorney general last week after GOP support coalesced around comptroller candidate Harry Wilson, of Westchester County.
Antonacci, who is a business lawyer and CPA, said he would campaign for attorney general on a theme of reforming Albany. “I understand the effect of failed state government policies on all of our taxpayers,” he said. “Someone with my credentials and legal and financial background is exactly what we need to save New York from financial ruin.”
The incumbent attorney general, Democrat Andrew Cuomo, is expected to run for governor. Several Democrats are vying for their party’s nomination.