21ST CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT — After weeks of teasing, former assemblyman Paul Tonko officially launched his bid for Congress Tuesday and almost immediately found himself under attack by a fellow Democratic candidate.

Tonko, 58, who has been running for the 21st Congressional District seat quietly for about a month, made his announcement at the Albany Labor Temple. The crowd numbered about 100 supporters, many of them wearing T-shirts with union insignias.

Tonko said his priorities are to focus on working, middle-class families, affordable health care, an education system based on student achievement and an energy policy that strengthens the economy.

Among the speakers introducing Tonko were Albany County Executive Michael Breslin and Albany Common Council President Shawn Morris.

Albany County contains the lion’s share of Democratic voters in the sprawling congressional district, and the Democratic candidates are vying for endorsements there. The district also includes all of Montgomery, Schenectady and Schoharie counties and part of Fulton, Rensselaer and Saratoga counties.

The Albany County Democratic Committee is scheduled to meet tonight. A candidate screening committee several weeks ago voted to support Phil Steck with 10 votes, Tonko with nine votes and Tracey Brooks with two votes. The executive committee has not met to make a recommendation to the full committee, so it will meet tonight without a formal position.

The chairmen of the Democratic committees of Schoharie and Schenectady counties, Clifford Hay and Brian Quail, also attended Tonko’s event. The Schenectady County committee will meet June 1 and will likely endorse Tonko, Quail said.

STECK’S CHALLENGE

Hours earlier, Steck issued a news release blasting Tonko as part of the broken political system in Albany. Steck entered the race for Congress more than two months ago.

“Paul talks about being an energy expert and his time as ‘energy czar,’ yet New York state has the second-highest energy costs in the country behind Hawaii,” Steck said. “He is a member of the political establishment and simply has not delivered for the people of the New York on energy.”

Tonko retired last year as assemblyman for the 105th District after 24 years in office to become head of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. He resigned from that position April 25 to run for Congress.

Quail said Steck’s attack on Tonko on the day of his announcement was an effort to “get his name out there and try to be in the news cycle.”

“I am not surprised by that negative campaigning. It was from a guy who recognizes Tonko is at the top of the field and that he is a strong candidate,” Quail said. “He is trying to pull down someone with impeccable credentials, knowing he has had little accomplishments himself.”

Steck disagreed. “I do not feel Paul Tonko is the right candidate for change. The bottom line is I have a record as being someone who worked for change in Albany County and in my town,” he said.

Steck is Colonie Democratic chairman and an attorney practicing civil rights and labor law.

The other Democrats in the race are Brooks, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton; John Aretakis, 47, an attorney from North Greenbush; Lester Freeman, the city of Albany’s equal employment opportunity officer; Darius Shahinfar, an Albany attorney and former aide to Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand; and Arthur Welser, a licensed broker with Real Property Enterprises in North Greenbush.

The two Republicans are James Buhrmaster, 62, president of Buhrmaster Energy Group, based in Glenville, and a Schenectady County legislator; and Steven Vasquez, 33, of Ballston Lake, a self-described Tech Valley entrepreneur who started an electronics company called ReQuest.

They are vying for the seat of Rep. Michael McNulty, D-Green Island, who will retire this year after 20 years in Congress.

GAINING SUPPORT

In the endorsement race among Democrats, Tonko has acquired the most from county committees. He has the endorsements of the Montgomery County Democratic Committee and city of Schenectady Democratic Committee and is expected to receive the endorsements of the Democratic committees in Schenectady, Saratoga and Fulton counties.

Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings is supporting Brooks, while Amsterdam Supervisor Tom DiMezza and former city of Amsterdam mayor John Duchessi are supporting Steck.

Republican James Buhrmaster has the endorsements of the Schenectady County Republican Executive Committee, the Albany County Republican Committee and the Albany County Conservative Committee.

Campaign spokesman Josh Hills said Buhrmaster will pick up the support of the other county Republican committees in coming weeks.

Candidates from both parties are seeking the endorsements of the Independence and Working Families parties. They will begin collecting signatures for their designating petitions June 3. Petitions are due July 10.

The Democratic candidates are expected to face each other in a primary Sept. 9.

The 21st Congressional District is heavily Democratic, leading political experts to say whoever wins the primary will go to Congress. Hills said that assumption is wrong. “Anyone who automatically assumes that whoever wins the Democrat primary will automatically be the next congressman does so at their own risk.”