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Pascarella is selected as leader
New Conservative Party officers include police, firefighters
BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter

   The county Conservative Party has new leaders and a new agenda.
   Randy M. Pascarella, 43, was elected chairman of the 2,714-member countywide third party. He succeeds Paul Brown, who served as chairman for six years.
   Brown and other members of his executive committee chose not to seek office, he said.
   The Sept. 12 Conservative Party primary decided all 256 committee seats, which determined the officers elected Sunday night.
   Several of the party’s new leaders are police officers and fi refighters from the city and outlying towns. Brown and his officers represented sheriff’s deputies and corrections officers from the Schenectady County Jail. Brown was once president of the correction officers’ union. The party in Schenectady County is influential as a bloc of votes that can determine a close race.
   Also elected were David F. Battaglia, vice chairman of legislative District 4; Michael Della Rocco Jr., assistant fire chief of the Schenectady Fire Department, party vice chairman of the city; Peter Rakvica, president of AFSCME Local 1130, which represents 28 workers in the Niskayuna highway and parks departments, party vice chairman in Niskayuna; and Mark LaViolette, a detective with the Schenectady Police Department, vice chairman of the party in Glenville.
   Robert Hamilton is Conservative Party club president; he also is president of the Schenectady City Police Department’s union, the Police Benevolent Association. Rosanna DeMarco is treasurer and Kelly Rhinesmith is recording secretary of the club.
   Pascarella is a former Republican who switched to the Conservatives last year. He lives in Rotterdam with his wife and four children. He is national sales executive for an automotive chemical company, a member of the Rotterdam Elks and on the executive board of the Rotterdam Little League.
   Pascarella said he was asked to run for the chairman’s position by Hamilton and others; Hamilton has emerged as a key figure in the party.
   "I have a great business background and they all trust me," Pascarella said. "I’ve been managing people in business my entire life."
   Pascarella said the revamped Conservative Party has "a lot of things … to accomplish. We want the party to grow."
   He said the party’s committee will meet in coming weeks to discuss goals. In the meantime, he said, the party plans to return to the "traditional values of Conservatives, that of being fiscally conservative and of choosing candidates who are good for the people. We want to keep our traditional Conservative responsibilities intact."
INTERNAL CONFLICTS
   The Conservative Party came under fire in the past for endorsing major party candidates perceived as "too liberal" by rank-and-file members. It has frequently endorsed Democrats, including incumbent Sheriff Harry Buffardi.
   Pascarella said the county Conservative Party "will cross those bridges when we come to them," regarding endorsements.
   Buffardi is seeking re-election in November and won the Conservative Party’s endorsement under Brown.
   His Republican challenger, Michael Moffett, tried unsuccessfully to obtain the Conservative Party line in the primary last month.
   Buffardi hired Brown in December 2005 to a $55,000 position as inspector in the sheriff’s department.
   Hamilton backed Moffett’s effort, as did Republicans.
   The city police union has sparred with Buffardi on turf issues in the past and has supported candidates seeking to unseat him in prior elections.
   Brown said he did not seek reelection as party chairman because he wants to get out of politics. "I’ve been involved six years and that’s long enough. Politics brings out the worst in people."