Assemblyman Steve Hawley is doing pretty much what the rest of us in the 27th Congressional District are doing -- waiting to see if the regional GOP leadership can come up with a plan to remove the name of Chris Collins from the November general election ballot.
If that happens, he hopes the GOP chairs will select him as the Republican candidate for Congress to replace Collins, currently under federal indictment on counts of securities fraud and lying to the FBI about an alleged insider trading scheme.
"I know nothing more than when we met last Tuesday," Hawley said, referring to a confab of GOP chairs from the eight counties in the NY-27 at Batavia Downs. At the gathering, the candidates hoping to replace Collins on the ballot were interviewed. "We each gave a presentation. We talked about how each of us viewed what a congressman should be, we reviewed backgrounds, reviewed finances, reviewed whether we’re ready to go or not, which I am, and I haven’t heard anything since then."
David Bellavia, the other Batavia resident who considered a run for Congress if the GOP chairs could get the Collins name off the ballot, withdrew his name before Tuesday's meeting. Mike Ranzenhofer, the state senator for Genesee County, withdrew his name yesterday.
Hawley is by no means certain the county chairs have figured out a plan for getting the current congressman's name off the ballot.
"I have to say, the longer this goes on the chances of A) getting his name off B) having the court challenges, which there will be, makes me more and more happy that I’m running for reelection to the state Assembly," Hawley said. "If the process doesn’t heat up here pretty quickly, I’m going to be serving, hopefully, another term in the state Assembly."
That isn't to be read, apparently, that Hawley has any intention anytime soon of withdrawing his name from consideration. He wouldn't say that when pressed on the question, or at what point he might decide to withdraw.
"We'll play it by ear," he said.
Hawley said residents of the 139th Assembly District have been wholly supportive of his request to be considered for the Republican line on the November ballot in the congressional race.
"I’ve received nothing but encouragement from the moment Mr. Collins suspended his campaign and, as I mentioned before, all kinds of emails, all kinds of Facebook posts, all kinds of personal visits from constituents," Hawley said. "This is all about people I’ve been able to serve the past 12 and a half years. They’re the ones who encouraged me to look at it and that’s what I try to model myself after, what people want."
