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Nothing Personal
Sharon Stone tells all and then some
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Nothing Personal
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Nothing Personal
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By Amy Reiter
[08/11/99]

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Rick Lazio: Is he or isn't he? And who the heck is he?
He's the man who might have been the next senator from New York. If he were a candidate. If he could beat Hillary. If Rudy weren't around.

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By Keith Moore

Aug. 13, 1999 | Rick Lazio is destined to be either the next U.S. senator from the state of New York, or the next trivia question. At the moment, the latter seems more likely than the former.

Lazio, a four-term congressman from Suffolk County, on Long Island, told reporters on Wednesday that he would hold off announcing his candidacy for the senatorial seat being vacated next year by Daniel Patrick Moynihan until New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani makes his intentions known. Lazio postponed the official Aug. 16 announcement of his entry into the race, but left the door of possibility open just a smidgen.

In the unlikely event that Lazio does run, and beats expected Democratic nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton in the general election, the Long Island lawmaker would of course be crowned king, at least by Republicans. And certainly he'd deserve the coronation -- because against tremendous odds he would have defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton, a major Democratic symbol who elicits mixed feelings in the electorate. But oddsmakers and seasoned politicians believe in a less spectacular scenario. Unless the Republicans can cease their infighting, observers see Lazio as the fall guy, the man who will be blamed for losing a probably unwinnable contest.

Until fairly recently, the election, which is about a year and a half away, was supposed to be a showdown between the high profile, crime-busting, no-nonsense mayor and the even higher profile first lady: Hillary vs. Rudy, as the tabloids are fond of putting it. The baby-face smile of the 41-year-old Lazio was hardly in the picture. And actually, none of the three have officially announced a run. But as Giuliani and Clinton announced the formation of exploratory committees earlier this year, Lazio's name kept popping up with increasing frequency.

Who is he? Political insiders say he is crafty, ambitious and politically astute. At home in his district, for example, Lazio is known as a moderate because of his anti-gun-control and anti-abortion stances. But Barney Frank, Lazio's liberal congressional colleague from Massachusetts, once put it this way: "He personally says he is moderate, but as a guy trying to get ahead in the Republican Party he makes peace with very right-wing elements."

Lazio and his wife, Patricia, live with their daughters, Mollie and Kelsey, in Brightwaters, on Long Island. The son of an auto repair shop dealer, the congressman (baptized Enrico Lazio) went to local schools on Long Island before graduating from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

After law school he became a prosecutor and then did two stints in the Legislature before challenging 18-year incumbent Tom Downey, then a political rising star, for his congressional seat.

Compared to Downey, a member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, Lazio was a political nobody. But his usual smile turned to a snarl the minute the race began. Lazio quickly portrayed Downey as a junket-loving liberal luxuriating in the Caribbean. One flyer featured a photo of Downey tossing a football on a beach in Barbados, with a caption that read, "Tom Downey's limousine liberal's guide to surviving the recession." Then Downey's wife was attacked for her role in the House check-bouncing scandal a few years back. Before Downey realized what had happened, he was an unemployed lawmaker.

Next page | "The nerve of that man!"