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Richard Dollinger to Announce For Senate

March 12, 2008

Former State Senator Richard Dollinger says he’ll formally announce on Saturday that he’s running to get his old seat back.

Dollinger says he’ll go ahead with plans to run for the 56th District State Senate Seat against Republican Joe Robach — despite Governor Eliot Spitzer’s involvement in a prostitution scandal.

Dollinger says he did meet with Governor Spitzer in January, and that the governor encouraged him to run as part of an effort to help Democrats gain control of the senate. But so did Lieutenant Governor David Patterson who will take over should the governor resign.

Dollinger says he sat next to Patterson for four years in the State Senate, and the two share a common vision for the State of New York and for the senate.

Dollinger says the issues of jobs, affordable health care and the upstate economy remain the same, and he says Republicans have run out of ideas for dealing with them.

Dollinger’s entry into the race sets up a possible three-way Democratic primary for the right to challenge Senator Robach. Rochester School Board Member Willa Powell and Brighton Town Supervisor Sandra Frankel have also announced for the 56th District Seat.

Dollinger was in the New York State Senate from 1993 to 2002. He decided not to seek re-election after Robach switched from the Democratic to the Republican Party to run against him.

Dollinger recently resigned his post as a town justice and began talking about a run for his old seat after Democrats began pushing to take control of the Senate from the Republicans. They need to pick up one more seat to shift the balance of power.

Governor Spitzer was heavily involved in special senate elections on Long Island and last month in the North Country in an effort to build the Democratic caucus.

Source: Public Broadcasting

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Written by NY Politics · Filed Under News 

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