Golden’s October surprise: He’s running

By Matthew Lysiak
The Brooklyn Paper

State Sen. Marty Golden (R–Bay Ridge) has his platform, an open field, and a fund-raising apparatus — and he may have even found a date to announce his run for mayor.

As we reported last March, Golden has definitely dipped his toe in the Republican-light mayoral waters for 2009, but he hasn’t fully jumped in.

But that may change in a few weeks, when Mayor Bloomberg is the guest of honor at Golden’s Oct. 17 fundraiser at Gargiulo’s in Coney Island. The $500-per-plate fundraiser is Golden’s biggest so far.

Golden confirmed the mayoral appearance, but didn’t commit to saying whether he’d make anything official at the fundraiser.

“All I can tell you that it will be one intense fundraiser,” said Golden with cryptic smile.

He was quick to add that he’s not merely being coy about announcing his run; he simply hasn’t decided yet. “It is a difficult call,” said Golden. “I believe in continuing the 16 years of stewardship of the Giuliani and Bloomberg administrations, and a lot of people are pointing me in that direction.”

Getting the nod from Hizzoner would be quite a boost to that end.

A Bloomberg endorsement would be political gold — especially for a state senator virtually unknown beyond his Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights base. Golden is considered a shoe-in to win his Senate district next year, a race that isn’t expected to put much of a dent in his $425,000 war chest. He’d need much, much more to run for mayor, but raising big cash would be easy — if (and it’s a big if!) he remains the only Republican trying to succeed Mayor Mike.

Golden also added that he was in no rush to make a decision.

“Some people have been running for mayor since the day they were born,” said Golden. “I still have some time. I can realistically wait until next year if I need to.”