Cordora promises his votes

KINGSTON – Two days after losing by a wide margin the Republican nomination for mayor in , John Cordora is throwing his support behind the entire Democratic ticket – and promising more votes than he garnered for his own campaign.

“I’m going to make sure I deliver at least 500 votes to (mayoral candidate Stephen) Radzinski and (council candidates) Barry Adams and Curt Piazza,” said Cordora, who tallied 254 votes in Tuesday’s primary.

Though he assured “this is not sour grapes because I lost to (three-term Mayor James) Haggerty,” and he noted a long-time friendship with Adams, he acknowledged, “It’s both. It’s predominantly pro-Radzinski, but I felt that in this year, 2009, it’s time for Jim Haggerty to move on because he failed” on reducing crime, communicating with the public, and taking accountability for the borough’s actions when citizens voice concerns.

The Democrats welcome the support, but Radzinski cautioned that it’d better be for the right reasons.

“If they’re coming over because they have some personal animosity toward Haggerty, I don’t think that’s helpful at all,” he said, noting that he’s looking for supporters advocating a change in the direction of government.

“He (Cordora) told me that in the event that he were to lose the nomination – he told me this quite a long time ago – he would be inclined to support the Democratic Party,” Radzinski explained. “I told him that I would welcome the support of any Kingston resident. … Mr. Cordora and I don’t agree 100 percent on everything, obviously, but I’m certainly willing to listen to what they have to offer. … I don’t know if they’ll be helpful to me; I don’t know if his endorsement will mean a substantial amount to me.”

According to Haggerty, it’ll mean almost nothing.

“Cordora’s not taking any voters other than maybe himself and his immediate family,” he said. “First Mr. Cordora loses the election in a landslide, then he insults Kingston voters by calling them incompetent, then he says he’s going to abandon his political party. With all due respect to Mr. Cordora, I don’t think he has nearly as much influence as he imagines.”

Haggerty predicted he will receive 75 percent of the Republican votes on Nov. 3 and “more than half of the Democrats.” “Here’s why: people don’t vote by political party,” he said. “The citizens of our community care about effective government. It doesn’t matter what party you’re in.”

Radzinski said “it’s a little bit early in the game” to know if Cordora’s single-election defection is a harbinger for the exodus of other displeased Republicans, but he said the potential is there.

“I believe very strongly that there is a division, even in the Republican party, of thought with regard to support for the current administration and council,” he said. “I don’t think he (Haggerty) has converted anybody in the past 12 years. The same hardcore people came out this time … so I don’t think he’s broadened his support at all.”

Noting that he received more votes on Tuesday than he did in the primary four years ago, Haggerty pointed out nearly a third of Kingston’s registered Republicans voted for him, while only about a tenth of registered Democrats voted for Radzinski. Additionally, he suspected that many of the 79 Democratic write-in votes were for him. “The guy with the turnout problem is Radzinski,” he said.

Cordora said he planned to continue his “word-of-mouth” campaigning and attempt to win over Democrat friends who support Haggerty.