100 years ago in The Record
Thursday, May 16, 1918
“If certain interests in Rensselaer county have their way, Senator George B. Wellington will be proposed as a Republican candidate for attorney general,” The Record reports. Wellington, a former city corporation counsel, was elected in 1915 to complete the term of the late Walter P. Wood. He was elected to a full term the following year. Current attorney general Merton E. Lewis has announced that he will challenge Governor Charles S. Whitman in a GOP primary this September. “Regarding the sincerity and purpose of the Wellington boom there is a variance of opinion,” our reporter writes, “The full significance of the honor which his candidacy would be to the Rensselaer county organization does not escape anyone…. But the suspicion that a sinister motive may lurk behind the proposal of his candidacy can not be overlooked.” One relatively benign possible motive is to shore up Governor Whitman’s support among Rensselaer County Republicans. Lewis supporters met with local leaders recently and made enough of an impression to delay an expected endorsement of Whitman from the county party organization. In response, Whitman may hope to place Wellington on an informal primary ticket to get Rensselaer County in his corner. At the same time, some local Republicans may hope to kick Wellington upstairs where he can’t damage their interests.
“It has been pretty well established that the ‘allied interests’ opposing prohibition have notified the Republican county organization not to expect too much material assistance if the senator is nominated,” our writer explains, “and in fact they have gone so far as to point out a way of avoiding sending Mr. Wellington back to the Legislature.”
During the last legislative session, Wellington strove unsuccessfully to force a senate vote on ratifying the federal constitutional amendment to prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages nationwide.
While “the controlling powers in the [GOP] organization have promised Wellington another term … they did this before he jumped outright to the prohibition forces.” The so- called “allied interests” have threatened to nominate an independent Republican candidate or endorse a Democrat in order to get Wellington out of the legislature.
For now, the GOP leadership has “not seen fit to alter their pledge or to attempt to evade it.” Nevertheless, they’ve virtually tapped collar manufacturer Alba M. Ide as Wellington’s successor should the senator run for attorney general.
An unnamed “man of prominence in the party” says that “the time has arrived when Mr. Ide should be taken care of in some way” since “the party is indebted to him to the degree that it is obligated to honor him at the first opportunity.”
-- Kevin Gilbert