Ever since he started campaigning for the Onondaga County Legislature’s District 8 open seat, Larry Corso has been pounding the pavement, door-knocking, handing out cards, shaking hands and making campaign signs.
He’s not been raising campaign money.
“I have no contributions and I have few expenditures. I’m self-financing my campaign,” said Corso in a phone interview.
Corso, 77, is the Republican candidate for the Onondaga County Legislature’s District 8 seat in the November election. He is seeking to succeed incumbent James Corbett, R-Geddes, who is retiring after 17 years in the county legislature. Corso is running against Democrat Chris Ryan, a Verizon worker and union leader.
The newly redesigned District 8 is located in central Onondaga County and includes a portion of Solvay, a portion of Geddes, and the northwestern corner of the city of Syracuse. The election is Nov. 8.
In his campaign, Corso has not reported any campaign finances to the New York State Board of Elections. State law requires candidates to disclose their specific campaign contributions and expenditures if the combined totals exceed $1,000. Corso says his campaign finances are below that $1,000-mark.
Instead, he and other political observers say, he has three things going for him: He’s running in a local election, he has party support and he’s out there campaigning.
In local races, it’s not unusual for candidates to run with little money to finance their campaigns. “It’s not going to be anything like a congressional seat, or a mayor’s race, or a county executive race,” said Grant Reeher, a Syracuse University political scientist. Local races have smaller districts, lower profiles and little spending on costly broadcast ads, said Reeher.
In the District 8 county legislature race, Corso has support from the GOP establishment. For example, the Lincoln Republican Club in Syracuse, of which Corso is a member, is planning to give a contribution to Corso, said Joe Salge, the group’s board chairman. But, Salge said, the amount is not yet determined.
In 2007, the club also supported Corso when he ran unsuccessfully against Democratic candidate Marty Masterpole for county legislator of District 17. The Lincoln Republican Club contributed $200 to Corso’s 2007 campaign. “We thought he was a qualified candidate and he’s a member. Of course we wanted to support him,” said board chairman Salge.
For his 2007 campaign, Corso’s disclosure reports show that his contributions and expenditures totaled $2,430.
This time around, Corso said, he is tapping family help and making face-to-face connections with voters. His wife, Mary-Ellen, has been taking the time to drive him around to different neighborhoods in District 8, he said, so that he can go door-knocking.
“When people open the door, I tell them who I am, what I’m running for,” said Corso. He also gives them a card detailing his community activities. Said Corso: “If they don’t want to vote for me, they don’t want to vote for me. If they do want to vote for me, they will.”
(Kit Rodophele is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism major.)
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