Last week in the Corner I wrote about tomorrow’s NY-1 congressional Republican primary, and I had good conservative thoughts about one of the three candidates, George Demos. I maintain those good thoughts and have even made a donation to the Demos campaign (a man’s got to put his money where his beliefs are), but there has been some push-back. One disappointed NR friend, Laurence Zuriff, asked if he could make the case for candidate Randy Altschuler, who is battling Demos (the third contender is Chris Cox).

Here at NRO we stand athwart history yelling “Stop,” but before the yelling, there is talking and discussion. In that spirit, we’re happy to provide Mr. Zuriff’s courteous take:

I was disappointed to see you did not direct your support to Randy Altschuler for the Republican Primary in New York’s First Congressional District. Of all the candidates running, he is the only one who has created businesses from scratch, generated jobs throughout the country and, yes, around the world. He is the only one who lives and pays taxes in the district while raising a family. His opponents — both lawyers with little professional success of which to speak.
I prefer Randy for a very simple reason. Randy has experienced first-hand the crushing impact of needless regulation and high taxes, as he built two very successful businesses. He is the only candidate who understands which laws we need to change or repeal to make America more competitive. He is the only one who knows what it will take to reduce the legal burdens that make job creation so difficult in this country right now. He is also the only one who recognizes that protectionism is not the answer to America’s economic problems. His opponents not only don’t understand these problems but profited from them as government and corporate lawyers.
We conservatives are right to be concerned about the mess that not only the Democrats have created but that some of our compatriots enabled. That is why Newt Gingrich and Eric Cantor believe a new breed of young thoughtful conservatives with real-world experience are desperately needed in Washington. They each endorsed Randy only after spending a lot of time getting to know him. They recognized he represents the kind of conservative committed to fixing the regulatory and fiscal mess in which the country now finds itself.