Politics

D'Amato Aide Blames National GOP

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

November 6, 1998 / 4:10 PM EST / CBS

A top adviser to defeated Sen. Alfonse D'Amato attacked the Republican Party's national leadership Friday, saying it had cost the three-term incumbent heavily.

"The national Republican Party did us no great favors," Kieran Mahoney, who also serves as a senior adviser to New York Gov. George Pataki, grumbled. "We certainly weren't looking to have a referendum on President Clinton in New York and obviously neither was the rest of the country."

"I think their decision to make that the issue at the end of the campaign cost not only us, but obviously a lot of other Republicans as well," Mahoney said.

There was no immediate comment from the Republican National Committee on the complaints of the D'Amato-Pataki adviser.

Mahoney's words carry extra clout because he also is a key adviser to New York state GOP Chairman William Powers. The New York leader is considered a force on the national scene.

There was no immediate comment Friday from Powers on what his own adviser was saying.

While Mahoney said D'Amato's Democratic challenger Charles Schumer "ran a good campaign," he also said "you can't stem a national tide with get-out-the-vote phone calls."

Not surprisingly, Mahoney said what the national party needs is leadership from someone like Pataki, who won easy re-election Tuesday to a second term.

"If the national Republican Party has as its leadership a George Pataki instead of what they currently have, we'd all be popping champagne today," the veteran New York operative said.

Pataki has been mentioned as a potential contender for national office in 2000, although his fortunes may have slipped somewhat with D'Amato's loss Tuesday. The New York senator was considered a master fund raiser on the national level and collected more than $20 million for his own race.