Democrat Leonard Fries, who helped county chairman Richard Schaffer win Babylon supervisor, has signed on as campaign consultant to Republican Lee Zeldin, photo right, who is running against Rep. Timothy Bishop (D-Southampton), photo left.
Fries, who now lives in Florida, became involved in Zeldin's campaign when his nephew William Fries, a top county Conservative official, approached him about taking a role.
"I see in Lee the same things in I saw in Rich Schaffer and Dave Bishop [former Suffolk legislator] in the early '90's -- honesty, dedication, independence...and a great desire to serve."
Fries served for four years as Babylon town Democratic chairman,....
Rick Brand
....backing Schaffer when he first won as supervisor. He stepped down in 1995, claiming exhaustion, but left the party with $17,000 in unpaid bills and only $500 in the bank after raising nearly $400,000.
Zeldin said that involving a Democrat in his campaign shows that he will be an "independent Republican" responsive to all voters.
Harry Withers, Suffolk Republican chairman, said that Fries not only showed his political skills in Babylon but by helping former Suffolk congressional candidate William Manfre win a race for county sheriff in Flagler, Florida. "If Lee thinks it will help," said Withers, "I'm all for it."