On Monday evening, Democratic State Senator Malcolm Smith met with the several of the city’s Republican county leaders at Ricardo Steak House in El Barrio in order to pitch his potential candidacy for mayor in 2013 and, most importantly of all, attempt to gather the necessary support for them to grant him the party line in 2013. A handful of prominent Democrats are raising millions of dollars for the office, but with November of next year looking closer and closer by the day, a Republican contender has yet to formally throw his or her hat into the ring, let alone begin fundraising, creating an environment where the GOP establishment is willing to meet with literally anybody. And Mr. Smith, who sat down at a table in a back corner to dine on steak and garlic bread for over four hours, certainly did meet with them.

“I’ll meet with anybody that’s interested in running on the line,” Bronx GOP Chair Jay Savino told us before Mr. Smith arrived. “I’m more than willing to sit and talk and see what they want to talk about. I don’t know what Senator Smith has to say, I didn’t reach out to him, he reached out to us. There’s no agenda, there’s no litmus test, I want to see what he has to say.” Read More