2010: The year in review

 The highly polarizing presidential race in 2016 might be reminding New Yorkers of their state’s gubernatorial election in 2010, when a controversial Republican outsider faced off against an establishment Democrat.

Despite pledging to run for re-election when he became governor in 2008 after former Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned due to a prostitution scandal, Gov. David Paterson in February 2010 ultimately decided not to run again. Support for Paterson had waned amid an uproar over his administration’s intervention in a domestic violence case involving one of his close aides. As state attorney general, Andrew Cuomo was also leading an investigation about allegations that Paterson violated the state’s ethics laws when he solicited free tickets to a Yankees World Series game for his son and a friend. Some state Democrats and Cuomo had already begun to quietly prepare for Cuomo’s gubernatorial bid. In May, Cuomo officially announced his candidacy. He promised to reform the scandal-scarred state Legislature and fix the state’s budget process. The year’s legislative session ended without dramatic policy changes or spending reductions that Paterson had sought to put the state on a more sound fiscal footing before he left office, leaving the task to his successor. Cuomo had tried to run for governor once before in 2002, but ultimately dropped out of the race when it became obvious he would not defeat H. Carl McCall in the Democratic primary.

Originally it was believed the Republican primary winner would be either former U.S. Rep. Rick Lazio or former Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, but Carl Paladino, a Buffalo real estate developer with tea party backing, ultimately won the nomination. The primary race would come down to Lazio, who had establishment support, and Paladino, whose blunt style of speaking and rhetoric gained him popularity. But Paladino’s controversial nature would work against him in the general election – he lost to Cuomo by more than 20 percentage points.

While Republicans failed to win the governor’s mansion, they had more success in their effort to retake the state Senate. During the Democrats’ brief hold on the chamber, state Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr. became embroiled in scandal. Republicans sought to present Democrats as corrupt, and with the help of typically GOP-friendly midterm election winds they won a 32-30 majority in the chamber.

Meanwhile, after winning re-election the previous year, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was embroiled in the “Ground Zero mosque” controversy. Bloomberg was strongly against critics who fought against establishing an Islamic community center and mosque near the site of the World Trade Center.

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand faced a special election following her appointment by Gov. David Paterson the previous year. Her Republican opponent, former U.S. Rep. Joseph DioGuardi, was underfunded and largely unknown. Gillibrand defeated DioGuardi, while U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer easily won re-election against Republican Jay Townsend. With his re-election, Schumer rose to the third most-powerful position in the U.S. Senate.

OUR COVERAGE: The Capitol profiled John Sampson at the start of the 2010 legislative session and his efforts to lead his conference, which held the majority, after the 2009 Senate coup and the arrest of former state Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr. on corruption charges.

City Hall also published in-depth profiles of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who had started to make a name for himself, and Assemblyman Vito Lopez, the leader of the declining Brooklyn Democratic machine

The Capitol’s Chris Bragg also took a look at state Senate Republicans’ operations to regain control of the chamber ahead of a redistricting year.