GOP unity for Molinaro as governor pick

ALBANY — Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro won’t be officially declared the state Republican nominee for governor until the end of the month, but he’s already got the full weight of the party behind him.

That was the message state GOP Chairman Ed Cox recently delivered to Molinaro at a private meeting at Cox’s Manhattan apartment.

“We can provide an immediate platform for Marcus, who is now our presumptive nominee, as he gets his campaign up to speed,” Cox told the Daily News.

That could include help with fund-raising, media, social media, scheduling and a statewide political operation through the county chairmen, he said.

Cox said he has already informed the two other Republicans hoping for the nomination — state Sen. John DeFrancisco (RSyracuse), who recently suspended his campaign, and former state Housing Commissioner Joseph Holland — that the party machine is behind Molinaro.

Meanwhile, as first reported by the Daily News in April, littleknown regulatory enforcement attorney Manny Alicandro, a Republican, is set to formally announce Monday his bid to challenge two-term incumbent state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a Democrat.

In an interview with The News last month, Alicandro criticized Schneiderman for filing more than 100 challenges to the Trump administration, saying he’d prefer to work with the President.