Golisano For Caroline Kennedy
-
- January
- 6
After several lengthy conversations with U.S. Senate hopeful Caroline Kennedy, Rochester-area billionaire Tom Golisano has decided to back her for the job, a source close the Paychex Inc. founder s
aid today.
Golisano is planning to reach out to other leaders across the state to promote Kennedy’s candidacy.
“They’ve been talking a lot, and I think he’s willing to start making phone calls for her and trying to help her out,” the source said.
While Golisano had mixed results in his influence in state Senate races last fall, his support of Kennedy for the Senate could help her gain legitimacy with some upstate leaders who have been wary of whether she would be focused on the region.
Golisano and Kennedy have spoken by telephone on several occasions, including yesterday, and the three-time gubernatorial candidate believes she understands the issues facing upstate New York, particularly the high tax burden that his hurting homeowners and businesses, the source said.
Moreover, Golisano believes Kennedy could have immediate influence in the Senate, compared to some other candidates in the field.
It’s unclear whether Golisano would seek to put money behind her candidacy, but he does have Responsible New York, the independent campaign committee, that could spend on her behalf in 2010, when the seat will be on the ballot.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 at 3:31 pm by Joseph Spector.
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Jay Gallagher has covered Albany for Gannett News Service since 1984 and has been Albany Bureau chief since 1989. He`s a native of the Boston area and likes to point out that in this millennium, the score is Red Sox 1 championship, the Yankees 0. 
Cara Matthews has been a statehouse correspondent in the Albany Bureau since August 2005. Prior to that, she covered Putnam County government and politics at The Journal News for nearly five years. Before that, she worked at newspapers in Connecticut and covered the state Legislature for one of them. 
