Gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino has announced he will petition for a place on the 2010 ballot.
The announcement, made this morning, comes a day after the Republican candidate for governor, Rick Lazio, was chosen at the Republican Convention. Lazio received 59 percent of the vote in the first ballot.
Paladino, a Buffalo real estate tycoon, denounced both Lazio and Democratic nominee Andrew Cuomo as "mainstream politicians" in his announcement this morning.
He will spend approximately half a million dollars of his own money on the campaign to raise enough signatures to win a place on the ballot. Paladino hopes to win a place as a Republican, but if this is unsuccessful he will consider running as a third-party candidate, perhaps affiliated with the "Tea Party."
Paladino has pledged $10 million of his own money towards his campaign. By contrast, Lazio's campaign office had $647,000 last January, according to the Post.
“I thought the Republican process would be fair and open. It wasn’t. It was a charade from the start,” Paladino said of the convention at a news conference.
Paladino's campaign office was unavailable for comment today.
