Until recently, a Web site,blog.theladders.com/rock, bore Mr. Cenedella’s photograph and the title “The personal blog of Marc Cenedella.” It provided tips on polishing résumés, preparing for job interviews and the like. But it also had a number of entries containing random observations about sex, women and drugs.
The entries had headlines like “Sexy vs. Skanky,” “Dating Advice for Girly Girls,” “He Stole My Weed” and “High Quality Dope.”
In an entry titled “A New Holiday for Men,” there was a link to a separate site that designates March 14 as a special occasion on which women are encouraged to offer steak and oral sex “to show your man how much you care for him.”
Another entry linked to a site that purports to provide biblical justification for a man’s having more than one wife. “I wasn’t so sure about all this Bible stuff,” the entry accompanying the link said, “but I’m starting to cotton to it.”
Yet another entry was titled “Omarosa Jock Straps,” and had a link to an article about a possible clothing line bearing the name of Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, the villain of “The Apprentice.”
Shortly after The New York Times asked a political adviser to Mr. Cenedella about the entries, the site was disabled.
After being provided screen shots and summaries of some of the site’s content by The Times, Mr. Cenedella’s representatives would not answer directly when asked repeatedly whether Mr. Cenedella posted the entries or the links.
Mr. Cenedella did not respond to requests for an interview made through his representatives.
His company released a statement Friday afternoon saying: “The site you are inquiring about (blog.theladders.com/rock) was not Marc’s actual blog, Cenedella.com. The site you saw was a maintenance staging site set up at blog.theladders.com/rock.” The statement also said that the “staging site contained testing content from a wide variety of sources, including spam from automatic spiders. We have since eliminated the potential for anyone to view the maintenance site.”
An adviser said the entries were from a site that Mr. Cenedella previously published called Stone, www.cenedella.com/stone, which the adviser said had multiple authors.
The Times was made aware of the entries by an opponent of Mr. Cenedella.
In recent months, Republicans have been looking for a candidate to take on SenatorKirsten E. Gillibrand, a first-term Democrat, believing that she may be vulnerable against the right challenger.
Several top Republicans believe that candidate could be Mr. Cenedella, who has not formally announced his candidacy but who has privately told people in the party that he is all but certain to run.
Nicholas A. Langworthy, chairman of the Erie County Republican Committee, came away impressed with Mr. Cenedella after the businessman met with donors, elected leaders and party officials in western New York this month.
“There are a lot of people within our party encouraged by his candidacy,” he said. “His overall life experience makes him an excellent candidate for the Senate.”
Part of Mr. Cenedella’s appeal within Republican circles is that he is a nonpolitician at time when voters seem weary of insiders. Republicans also believe that Mr. Cenedella’s business success allows him to present himself as the candidate most able to help the nation in these tough economic times.
More than all that, though, some Republicans are encouraged by another asset Mr. Cenedella brings: a big checkbook.
Indeed, as he travels the state meeting with party leaders, he has said that he would be willing to pay half of the costs of a statewide campaign with his own money, according to Republicans who have spoken to him about the matter.
That is a huge asset, given that a Senate race in New York could cost as much as $30 million to $40 million.
It is unclear what impact, if any, the online entries will have on Mr. Cenedella’s political plans.
Edward F. Cox, the chairman of the state Republican Party, said he could not comment without knowing more about the circumstances. “Who says what on a blog is complicated,” he said.
Dan Isaacs, the Republican chairman in Manhattan, also declined to comment on the matter beyond noting that the blog posts seemed out of character for Mr. Cenedella. “I’ve never heard him make any type of inappropriate comment or joke like that,” he said.
Mr. Langworthy, the Republican leader in Erie County, said he was satisfied when a political adviser to Mr. Cenedella recently told him that the offending entries stemmed from a hacking incident.
Mr. Cenedella, who is married, grew up in Fredonia, a small community in western New York. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Yale University before going to Harvard Business School, where he earned an M.B.A. In 2003, Mr. Cenedella founded TheLadders.com, which has some 4.5 million members, according to the site.
Mr. Cenedella would face competition if he entered the primary. George Maragos, the Nassau County comptroller, has announced that he is seeking the Republican nomination.