The selection process for candidates vying for the 23rd Congressional District seat that soon likely will be vacated by U.S. Rep. John McHugh, R-Pierrepont Manor, pending his confirmation as secretary of the Army, has begun to take shape in recent weeks.
Republicans have scheduled a slate of meetings throughout the district, while Democrats have said they are accepting e-mail applications for the job. Fulton County Republican Committee Chairwoman Susan McNeil said four meetings have been organized that will allow Republican county committee members to interview candidates.
The meetings will be closed to the public.
The first meeting, for the Hamilton and Fulton county Republican committees, will take place Tuesday at Zeiser's Hotel & Restaurant in Speculator at 6 p.m. Committee members from those two counties will question the 10 candidates who have formally expressed interest in the position.
Three other similar meetings for the party's other county committees are scheduled for July 9 in Verona Beach, Oneida County, July 14 in Gouverneur, St. Lawrence County, and July 16 in Plattsburgh.
Each county committee will choose which candidate it prefers, and then the 11 committee chairs will meet together later in the month to determine which candidate the party supports.
"We're just going to stay strong and be there for each other and keep it a good, clean, fun, positive road," McNeil said of her committee members.
Only three of the state's 29-member delegation in the House of Representative are Republicans, and there likely will be considerable pressure from Washington in terms of the candidate the party could choose. McNeil emphasized, however, that the party would do its best to keep the process as local as possible.
"I've been very vocal in saying that we will take information, and we will take advice from whoever needs to give it to us, and yet this is local, and this is us. This is our area," McNeil said. "I will draw the line when it comes to being dictated to."
McNeil said the interested candidates include: Assemblywoman Deirdre Scozzafava of Gouverneur, Assemblyman William Barclay of Pulaski, Oswego gynecologist Ronald Uva, Franklin County legislator Paul Maroun, Lake Placid accountant Douglas Hoffman, Alexandria Bay businessman Matthew Doheny, Port Henry veterinarian Gary Cooke, Waddington native Joshua Lynch and residents Andrew Basselle and Bart Bonner.
Meanwhile, the Democrats have announced that interested candidates must e-mail applications, complete with cover letters and descriptions of issues that are of high priority to them, to one of the 11 county chairs.
The deadline for those e-mails is July 17, after which personal interviews with candidates will begin.
"We've got some really good candidates to select from," Hamilton County Democratic Committee Chairwoman Linda Mitchell said. "It's going to be a tough decision."
Among the Democrats to declare their interest in the seat in the heavily Republican district are Mike Oot, who ran against McHugh in last fall's election, and Watertown resident Dan Francis, who also has unsuccessfully run against McHugh in the past.
There also has been speculation that State Sen. Darrel Aubertine of Cape Vincent is interested in running, but his camp has made no formal declarations.
Zach Subar covers rural Fulton County news. He can be reached at ruralnews@leaderherald.com.