As Joseph J. DioGuardi shook hands with friends and supporters at his announcement for his United States Senate bid Tuesday morning, he joked that he had two women to overcome: Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand and his daughter, Kara DioGuardi of “American Idol” fame.
At times it was unclear which task would be more difficult. “If you don’t know who I am,” Mr. DioGuardi said at Grand Central Terminal, “ask my daughter.”
But Mr. DioGuardi, 69, who lives in Ossining, N.Y., focused the declaration speech on his experience as a Republican congressman from 1985 to 1988, the state’s ballooning deficit and how the federal government should balance the budget. Mr. DioGuardi, who served 22 years as an accountant with Arthur Andersen before running for Congress, said that Ms. Gillibrand lacked his financial expertise.
He joins a growing field. So far, two Republicans have said they will challenge Ms. Gillibrand: Bruce A. Blakeman, who dropped out of the New York mayoral race last year, and David Malpass, a former economist at Bear Stearns who worked in the Reagan administration. Dan Senor, a private equity executive and defense adviser to President George W. Bush, is also said to be considering running.
While in Congress, Mr. DioGuardi helped to write the Chief Financial Officers Act, which required each major department and agency in the federal government to install a chief financial officer to oversee its finances. During his speech, he waved a plastic identification card, which he referred to as the most expensive credit card ever made, that he once used to vote with during his tenure in Congress.
Mr. DioGuardi said his top priorities were to call for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution and to institute term limits.
“One senator can stop government,” Mr. DioGuardi said. “If they have the nerve, they can stop government.”
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