Spin Cycle

Smithtown Conservatives have named attorney Janine Barbera as the party's first female town leader in state history.

Barbera was elected Monday night unopposed with the unspoken blessing of Suffolk Conservative chairman Edward Walsh, according to party sources.

Her election comes after Tom Lohmann resigned his party chairmanship. That came only months after he won election last September.

It was attributed to his business not leaving him enough time for party work. Party sources say Walsh was also concerned about Lohmann's ties to the county police in which his brother is an officer. Walsh has been in an ongoing war with PBA president Jeff Frayler.

The new leader said she has already called Smithtown GOP chairman William Ellis to inform him of party screenings "I want people to realize Smithtown is one of the few remaining bastions of Republican conservatism and promote that a little more," she said.

Barbera, 47, a St. James resident, has been a Conservative for the past 12 years and active in the minor party for the last three years. Until her election as leader, she had been town party secretary. "I think she'll do a good job," said Walsh. "She works hard and will put in the time to make the party work."

In his latest 'Richie Kessel Watch', George Marlin this week describes as "stonewalling" a delay in his receiving, under a Freedom-of-Information-Law request, copies of the NYPA chief's daily calendar for his first four months in office, which Marlin requested.

Marlin's blog piece, click here, also cites Kessel's recent statements quoted in this space: “Most of the time I’m upstate. I’m on Long Island sometimes because of energy projects that impact Long Island. . . But a preponderance of my time and effort are aimed at upstate.”

To which the conservative activist replies: "Which is it Richie: Do you spend most of your time upstate or spend most of your time on Long Island thinking about upstate?"

This is a watch we may just want to keep watching.

(Buffalo News Photo).

State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who sidled up to Conservatives last month, is to be feted by another minor party.

Frank MacKay, chairman of the state and Suffolk Independence Party, said Cuomo will be honored as the headliner at the party’s spring fundraiser, tenatively set for April 27 at the Venetian Yacht Club in Babylon. Also being honored: Builder Ronald Parr, and Cheryl Felice, president of the Suffolk Associaton of Municipal Employees.

MacKay’s party did not back Cuomo when he first ran for attorney general, but that was because it was instrumental in getting Westchester DA Jeanine Pirro to switch from the U.S. Senate race against Hillary Clinton.

MacKay said the decision to honor Cuomo should not be read as a move against Gov. David Paterson, whom he considers a friend even with his poll numbers in drastic decline. “Andrew has not announced himself as anything but a candidate for AG,” said MacKay, who personally supports Cuomo’s reelection and believes members of his party feel the same way. “He has been very statesmanlike and his tenure as attorney general has been impeccable.”

Rick Brand

Now in his second big power-authority job, Nassau’s Richard Kessel, right, finds himself drawing political static.

Last month the New York Power Authority, which Kessel chairs, agreed to cede hundreds of millions of dollars to help fill the state’s massive operating gap. Assemb. James Hayes (R-Amherst), called it “outrageous” that “they’re using surplus NYPA funds from selling our hydropower on the open market to fund pork-barrel spending in Albany,” as reported by Tom Precious in the Buffalo News.

Kessel, tapped by Gov. David Paterson for the post, denies the transfer would affect NYPA operations, saying: “We certainly work with the governor’s office. These are extraordinary times. Had we not contributed the money it would have come from education or health care. . .”

Stemming from Kessel’s previous role heading the Long Island Power Authority, his most vocal public critic continues to be Conservative Party activist George Marlin, whose “Street Corner Conservative” blog features a “Richie Kessel NYPA Watch.”

A recent sample: Marlin, of New Hyde Park, filed a freedom-of-information request for schedules and phone documents with the assertion that while heading an authority based to the north, Kessel “is solely focused on spending time in his native habitat, Nassau County.”

“That’s incorrect,” Kessel replies. “Most of the time I’m upstate. I’m on Long Island sometimes because of energy projects that impact Long Island . . . But a preponderance of my time and effort are aimed at upstate.”

When Marlin faulted Kessel for LIPA’s current woes in a recent Long Island Business News piece, lawyer Arthur J. Kremer, the former Assembly Ways and Means Committee chairman, responded in print by defending Kessel, alleging errors, and slamming Marlin’s record directing the bi-state Port Authority in the 1990’s. Marlin — who famously fell out with Gov. George Pataki — responded in part by noting Kremer lobbied for LIPA during Kessel’s tenure.

Kessel’s allies note that Patrick Foye, who was Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s economic development director, is a Marlin friend. By all accounts Kessel and Foye were not friends when the latter was LIPA vice-chair.

Today, the bigger buzz in the electro-political world seems to involve Larry Schwartz recently replacing Bill Cunningham as Paterson’s top aide. Cunningham was perceived as a Kessel ally. Schwartz, on the other hand, goes back with current LIPA boss Kevin Law, with whom he worked under Suffolk County Executive Pat Halpin.

Recently, sources said, deputy state energy secretary Paul DeCotis emphatically told a LIPA advisory board the utility will not be merged into the Kessel-run NYPA.

(Newsday Photo, 2007 / J. Conrad Williams Jr)

State Conservative chairman Michael Long warns that unless his party and Republicans “can get something going” this year to build a 2010 statewide ticket, he’d move toward fielding a separate Conservative slate of candidates.

For decades, Republicans have won statewide only when they had the Conservative endorsement. Long on Friday noted the strong run Conservative Herbert London made in 1990 for governor against Republican Pierre Rinfret and Democrat Mario Cuomo — and Conservative James Buckley’s 1970 U.S. Senate victory without the GOP.

“I have said to a number of people, including Republicans, that unless we can get something going here, I am not going to fall behind a lost journey,” he said Friday. Recalling Gov. George Pataki’s first win, Long said, “there were seven or eight candidates out the year before . . . I don’t know any candidate who’s clearly in the pond now. You can’t put a toe in the water and think you’re going to get elected. You need to get your whole body submerged.”

So far the toe-dippers include ex-mayor and failed presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani from the upper East Side, and ex-Congressman and failed Senate candidate Rick Lazio of Manhattan and Suffolk.

In Giuliani's abortive run for senator nine years ago, there was a complicated dance over whether the candidate was making an effort to win Conservative backing -- having taken key support from the (now defunct) Liberal line in his mayoral bids. Possible 2010 gubernatorial hopeful Rick Lazio had Conservative support when he fell short against Hillary Clinton later that year.

From a little over a year ago, this is Long on NBC expressing the belief that none of the GOP presidential candidates other than Fred Thompson was consistently conservative:

Nassau Republicans are quietly talking about cross-endorsing District Attorney Kathleen Rice this November, much like Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota, another Democrat, has been cross-endorsed twice.

They have a myriad of reasons: the GOP doesn’t have a candidate with the capacity to raise enough money to run a successful campaign against Rice; it doesn’t hurt for Nassau Republican Chairman Joseph Mondello to build up a good will with someone who has subpoena power; any deal could include cross-endorsements for two vulnerable incumbent Republican Supreme Court judges up for re-election this November; and it would allow the party to concentrate on trying to take back the county legislature where Democrats have had a one-vote lead over Republicans for nearly 10 years.

The buzz got louder last Friday when Rice showed up at the Nassau Conservative Party fundraiser in Freeport.

Opposition may come from Nassau Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs, who believes Rice will win without his having to make any deal the Republicans, insiders say.

When asked, Jacobs said, “I haven’t discussed it with Kathleen Rice. Until I do discuss it with Kathleen, I’m not going to make a decision. I know that we had talked about cross-endorsing (former Republican DA) Denis Dillon in the past. Had we done that, we would not be talking about cross-endorsing a DA this year. I’m not sure this is a good idea or bad idea. I just want an opportunity to discuss it.”

-- Celeste Hadrick

The Conservative Party has temporarily put off the first hearings on whether 2,489 new party voters should be drummed out following a poilice union campaign which critics say is illegal party raiding.

Richard Johannesen, Brookhaven Conservative chairman, said the hearings, which were scheduled to start Tuesday night were temporarily postponed after attorney Herbert Smith made a request for an adjournment on behalf of the first 40 scheduled to appear. The lawyer requested the delay so fellow officers could attend the wake of the Suffolk police officer killed when a drunk driver rammed his patrol car.

Johannesen said no new date has been set, but the hearings are likely to begin sometime next week.

Rick Brand

Crossfire continues between the Conservative Party and the Working Families Party — competing tails seeking to wag major-party dogs. State Conservative Party chairman Michael Long last week was quoted in this space whacking the WFP as a radical operation that is “on the march.” Joseph Berry, organizer for the Suffolk WFP, responds that his organization “is standing up for the political views of mainstream New Yorkers” on taxes. “You can’t just keep protecting the wealthiest at the expense of working people,” he said.

For the full response from Berry, click continued line just below.

Continue reading "Suffolk WFP spokesman raps Conservatives" »

So there's no legislative bill yet, no political endorsement, no commitment to any change of ideologies by anyone, no visible change in the political landscape. And yet, there was this general consensus that this was an event of some note. More as we review the tapes and tea-leaves.

For now we have this: Attorney General Andrew Cuomo showed up at the Conservative Party conference in a Holiday Inn near Albany airport and talked as expected about a narrow issue. With the use of projection screens he presented his proposal for changing legislation that could allow citizens to initiate local changes that might reduce the number of governmental entities from the estimated 10,000-plus now in place.

It was not news that he later did the spiel, which he's also done before, at the New York Association of Counties. But going before the organization that represents the ideological engine of the state Republican Party, he gave the event a man-bites-dog feel that drew the spotlight. That was good for both him and crafty Brooklynite Mike Long, with whom he exchanged political praise.

"I don't believe the politicians will do it (reduce government entities) without the pressure of the people," Cuomo said. No one has wanted to touch the small domains and special districts "because it's in the political infrastructure," he said. "We don't agree on everything. That's a fact. We have a fiscal crisis. That's a fact. We can focus on disagreements and curse the darkness or find common ground and light a candle." Hey -- who says we don't govern in poetry?

The press questions afterward were predictable. Was he disloyal to Gov. Paterson, top Democrat, by showing up here? Ridiculous question, he said, of course not. Would he seek Conservative endorsement for his next statewide race?....What did he mean by warning in his speech of a taxpayer reaction against high government costs?.... Did he support initiative and referendum statewide?.....

Bottom line: Cuomo said, I'm here to sell my bill. The rest was Mario-esque parries. The AG greeted individuals outside, chatted, and if he didn't win them over he at least stalled any ideological hostility. Afterward, Suffolk Conservative Chairman Edward Walsh said, "I'm all for it, for anything that brings down the size of government when people are losing their houses..."

The energy level was higher than for Rick Lazio's address on Sunday. Then again, Cuomo was being afforded an audience like a Cold War diplomat from a rival power sphere.

Some of the loudest alarms at the state Conservative Party conference were sounded about the Working Families Party -- which is seen as playing the kind of ideological tail-wagging-the-dog role in the state Democratic world that the Conservatives have played with the battered Republicans.

State Chairman Michael Long warned that the “ultra-liberal” WFP is “well financed” and “well engaged” and “on the march” with street operations – and needed to be offset from the right. He disputed those who consider the party “conservative” in Suffolk and upstate.

Election lawyer John Ciampoli cited the WFP party’s ties to the group Acorn, Sen. Craig Johnson (D-Port Washington) paying the party as consultants in 2007, and said that in Suffolk, ex-county leader Chuck Pohanka “wasn’t up to their radical standards and they chose to wipe him out.”

Some statements of interest today on fiscal fallout and political ferment, from the podium of the Conservative Party's 42nd annual conference:

Enrico "Rick" Lazio: "We even need to be willing to lose to say and do the right things."

Conservative delegate Robert White from Saranac Lake, N.Y., after Lazio gave a soft answer to his request for a principled stance against abortions and for gun rights: "The answer seemed to say the process will continue along the same lines as it has..."

Paul Jacob (in photo), president of Citizens in Charge, which advocates for term limits: "If someone like Bloomberg -- a billionaire -- can be that quickly corrupted by power, it is a lesson."

Former Oneida Republican State Sen. Ray Meier: "You guys are a lot more fun to hang around with these days than Republicans."

Michael Long, state chairman: "It is really questionable who is running the state...I should be depressed. I'm not. You and I face opportunities for the Conservative Party and the conservative movement...Our principles haven't been defeated."

Election lawyer John Ciampoli regarding the Working Families Party: "They're a boiler-room operation that has a political agenda..."

Fiscal analyst EJ McMahon Jobs from the last economic bubble "will not come back. This is not just a cyclical economic downturn...There's been a disconnect. We've lost our major industry."

James T. Madore was on hand for the Enrico "Rick" Lazio speech at the Conservative Party conference and gives this account about the former Congressman now employed by JP Morgan Chase:

Lazio called for less government and more creativity to tackle New York’s financial problems in a speech that had all the elements of someone running for governor.

He said Republicans had to do a better job of reaching out to immigrants and young people with policy alternatives, not simply criticism of Democrats. He also said Paterson wasn't getting aggressive enough on reducing state spending and creating jobs.

Lazio said of the governor's race: “Am I thinking about it? Sure.”

He served in the House from 1993 through 2001, and lost a bid for the U.S. Senate in 2000 to Hillary Clinton. “This isn’t a stump speech,” Lazio said, referring to his 30-minute talk (which sounded a little like a stump speech). “But I think the state is moving in the wrong direction.”

He decried high property taxes, low-performing schools and the most expensive Medicaid program in the country. He also touted the experience of Chicago and Indiana, which secured private money by selling concessions to operate toll roads.

Lazio, 50, lambasted Republicans in the State Senate under former Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, saying they were more concerned about power than fighting for fiscal restraint and openness in government. Bruno retired in June, and Democrats ended 43 years of GOP rule after the November elections.

“We need to have the courage of our convictions and we even need to be willing to lose to say and do the right thing,” Lazio said to applause.

The state Conservatives gather on the fringe of Albany today for a meeting that over two days will feature two widely-watched speeches: Today's address by possible governor candidate Rick Lazio, the former Suffolk congressman, and tomorrow's address by Democratic Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) will also address the organization.

As a tail that has at times wagged the Republican dog, the winter may be kind of bleak for the 45-year-old third party. Last November one of its best-known figures, Serphin Maltese, lost his Queens Senate seat as the GOP lost its grip on its last bastion of state elected power.

A decade ago, some Conservatives were in key positions with ties to a party that had helped put Gov. George Pataki into office. Cuomo's appearance is fun if only for the storied fisticuffs that once were reported to have broken out between Mike Long, still the state chair, and Mario Cuomo, later to be governor.

But that was back in another lifetime, and the AG's appearance Monday is carried out under the title of business -- that is, he's seeking political support for opening ways to cut the number of special taxing districts in the state. That's the official story, anyway....

Photo, from the party Web site, is of Long with Karl Rove at a CP dinner.

Nassau Legis. Joseph Scannell (D-Baldwin) recently complained in a letter to the editor of Newsday that a story on a county consumer-affairs audit failed to mention the department’s accomplishments.

What Scannell didn’t mention, and Newsday's Celeste Hadrick points out, was that consumer affairs is run by Nassau Conservative party Chairman Roger Bogsted (in photo), and that Scannell was the only Democratic incumbent legislator last year to receive the Conservative endorsement, which helped him squeak past an aggressive challenge from Republican Christian Browne. (Scannell got 4,415 votes — 476 from the Conservative line — to Browne’s 4319 Republican votes). Hadrick further reports:

Some county colleagues grumbled privately that Scannell’s letter was a transparent attempt to win the Conservative Party nomination again this year. “For a letter to the editor? No,” Bogsted responded, saying the missive was Scannell's idea. “The committee will review his credentials and voting record. If he hasn’t done anything offensive to the party, we’ll see how things go. We’re not that easy."

Scannell said, “I don’t need to curry favor because I’ve always secured the Conservative line, three terms in a row.”

County Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs, who has forbidden county legislators to deal with Nassau Independence Party Chairman Bobby Kumar, said he has no problems with Scannell seeking to secure Bogsted’s support. “Meeting with him (Bogsted) and talking with him is not a problem,” Jacobs said. “His word is good.”

Bill Murphy files this report out of Nassau:

Nassau consumer affairs commissioner Roger Bogsted (right, with Tom Suozzi)has used the county Web site to pose the question: What possible connection could there be between his daytime consumer duties and his side role as head of the county’s Conservative Party?

It was posted here but later taken down.

Here’s the answer posed by his questions — and also by comments he made before the Nassau County Legislature this week.

County Comptroller Howard Weitzman (left) released an audit last week of the Department of Consumer Affairs, and said in the accompanying press release that county residents were “well-served and protected” by the agency.

Bogsted had a blistering critique of the audit, saying “the auditors, in several instances, failed to grasp the inner workings of this office and at times have portrayed our excellence in poor light.”

Why did Bogsted react so angrily? A delicate dance of government and politics; audits and politics, it turns out.

Democrat Weitzman would love to move up to county executive, and a lot of people think the current executive, Thomas Suozzi, will move up or out soon. The ambitious Suozzi failed in his Democratic primary bid for governor two years ago, and is mentioned almost daily as a possible replacement for Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Bogsted’s Conservative Party rarely supports Democrats. And Democrat Weitzman would surely like the Conservative Party to sit on the sidelines during a county executive race, or to run a Conservative and siphon votes from the Republican.

So Weitzman’s staff apparently did a professional audit that revealed a lot of shortcomings in the agency. And he made it public, apparently without watering it down. But the press release gave what politicians call “a kiss” to Bogsted by praising the agency and down-playing the findings.

So why did Bogsted.....

Continue reading "Nassau: Bogsted's dual role and audit, spun on Web" »

From Rick Brand, reporting from Suffolk:

The locked box is open, and elections officials say the Suffolk Conservative Party has 2,485 new enrollees. But it’s unclear just how many signed up due to a Suffolk PBA campaign to boost its political clout.

Conservative officials, who have names and addresses of the new party members from the elections board, set up a committee to conduct hearings to determine if the new voters adhere to party principles or are violating state party-raiding laws.

Police unions began their campaign after Conservative Sheriff Vincent DeMarco, as urged by County Executive Steve Levy, had his deputies replace county police patrols on two major highways. The PBA aims to stop DeMarco’s renomination.

Officials say 2,119 new Conservatives signed up since Sept. 1. Before that, Suffolk Conservative membership was about 19,000. The PBA looked to enlist Nassau and New York City law-enforcement personnel as well as Suffolk police and their families. One new enrolee: former Nassau PBA president Gary DelaRaba, who the union wants to see run for sheriff.
Union officials say they look to enlist more than 5,000 in the next year.

Edward Walsh, Suffolk Conservative chairman, declined to comment. Conservative sources say new registrants totalled only 1,710 from Oct. 1, and that party officials recruited 400 to 600 new members on their own, to counter the union effort.

Rick Brand

Realignments are under way in New York politics -- made all the more urgent by a global financial crisis that sets the interest groups on edge, especially in Albany.

Nowhere are new alliances more unusual than in the ad hoc movement against the Great Power Grab carried out recently when Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the City Council changed local law to allow themselves to seek three consecutive terms instead of two.

For one thing, the federal complaint filed Monday aimed at voiding this term extension is signed by two well-known lawyers: Randy Mastro, former deputy mayor and Rudy Giuliani loyalist (at right in photo at left), and Norman Siegel (at right in photo at right) who with the New York Civil Liberties Union in the 1990’s fought what he saw as numerous Giuliani administration impingements on the U.S. Constitution.

The plaintiffs represent an even more unlikely alliance: the groups US Term Limits and NYPIRG, very Republican Staten Islander Guy Molinari and very Brooklyn Democratic City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr., Conservative Party Chairman Michael Long and pro-gay-rights Council candidate Ken Diamonstone, not to mention a multi-ethnic array of Council candidates.

The complaint states in part that the Great Power Grab “permanently chills political speech by sending the unavoidable message that the democratic exercise of initiatives and referenda (two prior citywide votes for a two-term limit) can be disregarded by public officials” contrary to the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment.

If this lawsuit falls short and Bloomberg -- who ran twice as a Republican -- does get another shot, this could be a starting point for how an opponent might fight the incumbent in next year’s campaign – through an unusual coalition that cuts across party lines.

Warning of a impending lawsuit, Suffolk Conservative chairman Edward Walsh has sent a letter to dozens of Nassau, Suffolk and New York City police groups telling them to keep their records and computer files in connection with efforts to enroll officers in the minor party.

“By this letter, you are hereby given notice not to destroy, conceal or alter any paper or electronic document,” said Walsh, cautioning there will be “severe sanctions” in court if evidence is spoiled.

The letter is the party’s first concrete action since police union officials enrolled an estimated 2,000 new members into Conservative ranks. Party officials are expected to file lawsuits to block a raid by the union which wants to oust Conservative Sheriff Vincent DeMarco (in photo, left) for allowing deputies to replace highway-police patrols on state roads.

“It seems like huff and puff. No one was impressed,” said Jeff Frayler, Suffolk PBA president. “It’s a free country and everyone can join the party of their choice.”

Rick Brand

Livid at Suffolk’s Conservative Sheriff Vincent DeMarco for taking over highway patrol, the Suffolk PBA is threatening to throw its weight around in the sheriff’s minor party.

Jeff Frayler, Suffolk PBA president, acknowledged E-mailing all 1,780 union members, asking them to switch into the Conservative Party by the Oct. 10 deadline so they could exert influence next year’s Conservative primary when DeMarco is up for re-election. He also asked the Nassau PBA to circulate his e-mail to members who live in Suffolk.

Frayler, himself an enrolled Conservative, said he is not trying to take over the county party, which has about 19,000 members, but his members are upset and “want to be heard.” He also said he has talked to former Nassau PBA president Gary DelaRaba, a Republican, as a possible sheriff candidate, who said he “would think about it.”

But for the PBA to wage a primary, they need a Conservative to run or get authorization of the top party officials to a give a non-party member ballot access, an unlikely prospect since county Conservative boss Edward Walsh is a major DeMarco supporter and one of his corrections officers.

“I think its an emotional response,” said Richard Schaffer, Suffolk Democratic chairman, whose party also backs DeMarco, adding he expects the move to fade and “cooler heads to prevail.”

DeMarco said he is not concerned, noting he won even though all police unions opposed him in 2004. Walsh declined to comment on the PBA effort, but deadpanned, “It’s good to see more people interested in the Conversative Party for all the great things we’ve accomplished.”

Rick Brand

Suffolk Conservatives -- 617 strong -- voted Wednesday night to re-elect Edward Walsh to a second term as party chairman.

The standing-room-only Conservative crowd at West Lake Inn in Patchogue was three times the number that showed up earlier in the week for Richard Schaffer's re-election as party chairman, and 10 times more than Republicans had last year when Harry Withers was re-elected as GOP county leader.

As the Conservatives re-elected Walsh, they changed the by-laws to eliminate the executive chairman position, a post last held by former Smithtown Conservative chairman Jimmy Tsunis, who was ousted from the party and now is an official of the Independence Party. Conservatives also named Brookhaven Conservative Chairman Richard Johannesen as first vice chairman, replacing William Condon, who resigned because he is running for State Supreme Court justice.

After his election, Walsh told.......

Rick Brand

Continue reading "Suffolk Conservatives, SRO, re-elect leader Walsh" »

Suffolk Conservative chairman Edward Walsh threw former Smithtown Conservative Jimmy Tsunis out of the party in a bitter dispute earlier this year. But Walsh took the “high road” when he emceed a fundraiser last month.

Walsh introduced Tsunis, now an Independence Party vice chairman, without incident as one of a number of a number of notables in the crowd of 250 who attended the fundraiser for District Court Judge candidate Jennifer Henry at the Snapper Inn in Oakdale.

Walsh ousted Tsunis as disloyal to the party after an internal party hearing and Tsunis, in turn, sued, in litigation that was later dropped.

“Was I tempted to be myself and say something? Sure,” said Walsh, “But I didn’t go there.”

Rick Brand

The court case that has knocked Sen. Craig Johnson off the Working Families Party ballot line was brought by a Republican resident of Westbury whose address is also that of a now-you-see-it-now-you-don't civic "committee" -- which sent out letters attacking Johnson shortly after he was elected last year.

Senate GOP Majority Leader Dean Skelos of Rockville Centre has made no secret of his special desire to unseat Johnson, the only Democrat in Long Island's 9-member Senate delegation. The Senate Republican Campaign Committee donated $5,000 last year to the North Shore Committee for Truth, whose treasurer was listed as Christine A. Nagy.

Records show Nagy, 35, is registered to vote under that name, and did so in 2007, but on other records is Christine A. Imrie, who made the successful application to challenge Johnson's petitions. Meanwhile the "truth" committee's Web site, active a year ago, seems to have gone off-line, though you can see some of the content by clicking this Google-cached item. Phone numbers that are listed under both of the petitioner's names seem to be disconnected.

Meanwhile, the earlier gambit by which Patrick Lilavois, also of Westbury, gathered 44 signatures for the WFP line -- with help from North Hempstead Republicans -- seems to have paid off for the GOP as a tactical move. If a party member signs two candidate petitions, only the first one counts. In some cases, Lilavois got to the doors of party members first, helping Johnson's foes' efforts to winnow down his number of valid signatures and thus aid the prospects of keeping him off the WFP line. Some earlier partisan analysis from the Johnson side is here.

Leaders of the WFP, of course, back Johnson as part of the minor party's continuing role in looking to snare a Senate majority for the Democrats. If this latest ruling by Justice Karen Murphy is upheld on appeal, Plandome Manor Mayor Barbara Donno would be running on the Republican, Conservative, and Independence lines for the seat, while Johnson's name will appear solely on the Democratic line (the party with the larger enrollment in his district).

(That's the party's familiar logo as published all over the Web).

Suffolk Conservative chairman Edward Walsh, who filed general objections to District Court Judge Hertha Trotto’s Conservative petitions, said he will not follow up with specific objections.
“They did a good job ,” said Walsh, who added that Trotto circulated petitions mainly in Holbrook and Ronkonkoma, so there were few if any duplicates from petitions the party carried for their designees, Legis. Cameron Alden and Jennifer Henry, through the rest of the town.
Trotto filed 240 signatures and needed 175 to qualify to run a primary on the Conservative ballot Sept 9. The top two vote-getters will win the party’s nomination.

Rick Brand

Gary Melius, owner of the late tycoon Otto Kahn’s Oheka Castle, and a poker buddy of super-lobbyist and former Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, has a new title — as “chief advisor” to Frank MacKay, chairman of the Independence Party of America. In a letter naming Melius to the unpaid post, MacKay, who also heads the state and county Independence Party, said: “Your commitment to furthering the goals of the national party and your invaluable counsel on independent politics were all key considerations in this key leadership appointment.”

Melius, who was also County Executive Steve Levy’s biggest donor in his first four years at $51,200, joins Jimmy Tsunis, former Smithtown Conservative leader and for years a formidable GOP fundraiser, who earlier this year was named a national vice chairman/finance director of MacKay’s national party and a vice-chairman of the local party. Melius, a longtime Republican, will change parties, said MacKay, and will be involved in building the party organization and professionalizing its structure so the party can attract a national candidate of its own down the road.

Rick Brand

At around the same time tonight, just a few blocks apart, the state's Republican and Conservative parties will be holding separate dinners - a pretty glaring conflict given their overlapping sources of support.

Organizers say the simultaneous scheduling was accidental. But things sometimes play out that way for the Republicans and the spinoff Conservatives, who for 46 years have positioned themselves as the rightward conscience of the New York GOP.

Vice President Dick Cheney will address the Republicans, convened by state and Nassau Chairman Joseph Mondello, at the New York Sheraton in Manhattan. So will former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno - Republicans who have had their own famous collisions with the Conservatives.

For Conservatives, the headliner at the New York Athletic Club is Rep. Mike Pence (R-Indiana), the former chairman of the Republican Study Committee, a group of conservative House Republicans. Pence has called himself "a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order." The event is a tribute to the late William F. Buckley Jr., the national conservative icon.

Political intimacy creates a certain type of tension. For local endorsements, the strains - and intense negotiation - have been evident.

For starters, take a look here at Rick Brand's story on how Suffolk Republicans seem to have responded to prodding from Suffolk Conservatives and done an about-face on their judicial nominations.

And, in Nassau, as reported earlier, a frantic series of back-channel, multiway talks has lasted for several days between county Conservative leaders - who were balking at endorsing Republican Senate nominee Barbara Donno - and the Senate's Deputy Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre). Nassau Conservative Chairman Roger Bogsted said he expects to decide on a candidate today.

Mike Long, the state Conservative chair