Spin Cycle

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 chairman, was asked yesterday if his organization was committed to keeping the GOP majority in the Senate. "Yes, we are," he said, "but we are saying the candidates have to be acceptable. And I have had some private conversations....

Dan Janison

With Conservative Party officials evidently unsold on an endorsement of Plandome Manor Mayor Barbara Donno for state Senate, following their interview with her on Thursday, she has released a lettter sent to Roger Bogsted, the third party's Nassau chairman, pitching her credentials as a small-c conservative, citing what she deems to be important philosophical differences on fiscal and social issues with her opponent, the incumbent Craig Johnson (D-Port Washington).

In it Donno, who supporters acknowledge differs from the Conservatives' "pro-life" plank, warns Bogsted: "Should Craig Johnson and the Senate Minority gain control of the State Senate, New Yorkers will lose their last line of defense against a variety of measures that are unrepresentative of the vast majority of state residents and anathema to the Nassau County Conservative Party’s principles."

No prognosis yet on whether she'll succeed. Her most prominent backer from inside the Senate is Deputy Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre). For full text of the letter click "continue" bar just below.

Dan Janison

Nassau Conservatives on Thursday interviewed Republican Senate candidate Barbara Donno, mayor of Plandome Manor, who’s challenging Democratic incumbent Craig Johnson. We've heard conflicting accounts of how she was received. Some said just fine -- others said the alienated third party wants someone else. Both Johnson and Donno face screening for the Independence nod this week. Last year Republican Maureen O’Connell got 4,168 votes from the ‘C’ and ‘I’ lines in the special election for the former Mike Balboni seat.

Dan Janison

Nassau Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs will be meeting with the party’s legislators this afternoon, after a mini-insurrection last week prior to a Judiciary Committee vote.

Lawmakers demanded a face-to-face with Jacobs after complaining to Presiding Officer Diane Yatauro during a closed-door caucus that they weren’t being told the reasons behind political deal-making, even as they were asked to approve the deal.

In this case, several groused, they didn’t know why they were being asked to vote for Robert Bruno, a registered Conservative, for district judge, other than that the chairman wanted it. Most observers assume this was the last leg of an already-done deal, in which Bruno ran as a Conservative candidate against Democratic County Executive Thomas Suozzi three years ago as a way to drain votes from the Republican challenger.

“I think people mouth off all the time, that’s the nature of people, not just politicians,” Jacobs said, when asked about the complaints. “I’ll be in the room... Let’s see who has something to say and I’ll listen.” Jacobs added that Democrats are always unhappy about something. “Now it’s communication. My suggestion is you get to the office and you walk in to Diane Yatauro and ask, ‘What’s cooking?’”

Celeste Hadrick

Smithtown Conservative Chairman Jimmy Tsunis has filed a $2-million lawsuit to block Suffolk Conservative officials from ousting him as town party boss.

The action comes after the Suffolk Conservative committee in late November found Tsunis guilty of disloyalty to the party and ordered him to “cease and desist” acting as a party official.
Party officials said his disloyalty consisted of backing candidates who were not party nominees and undermining party fundraising efforts — charges Tsunis denies.

Tsunis claims in state Supreme Court that Suffolk Conservative chairman Edward Walsh and other party officials failed to to give him proper notice, a copy of charges, or due process. The suit calls the party's action illegal and says it held him up to “public contempt, scorn and shame.”

Walsh called Tsunis' suit without merit and said the party’s position will be upheld in court. Walsh said a special internal hearing will be held in within weeks to determine if Tsunis should be removed from the party.

Rick Brand

From the "strange bedfellows" department: Democratic Rep. Steve Israel played host earlier this week to Suffolk Conservative Chairman Edward Walsh, who was his front-row balcony guest at Repubican President George W. Bush's last State of the Union address.

"It was like the Super Bowl of politics," said Walsh, who had a bird's eye view of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama avoiding eye contact as both presidential contenders were ushered into the chamber-- Clinton with Sen. Joe Biden (D-Delaware) and Obama with Sen. Edward Kennedy (D- Ma.). While Suffolk Conservatives have never endorsed Israel, the minor party was instrumental in his first election because it put up its own candidate in the race rather than endorse Islip's Republican then-town clerk, Joan Johnson.

Not long after the speech, Walsh also got a call from local party members who told him he was named the state party's "Conservative of the Year," which is also known as the Daniel Mahoney Award, named for the state party's founder. Walsh will receive the award at the state party dinner in Albany in April.

The Suffolk Conservative Party executive committee has issued a "declaration of non-support...no confidence and censure" against Smithtown party chairman Jimmy Tsunis for disloyalty to the party. Officials say the action effectively strips Tsunis of his powers as town leader.

The 60-member executive committee voted against Tsunis Wednesday night after a heated session which he later labeled "a proceeding with trumped-up charges reminiscent of the Soviet Union."

County Chairman Edward Walsh said the charges included: discouraging party members from buying tickets to a party fundraiser; actively supporting Democratic judicial candidate Peter Mayer over the Conservative candidate and supporting a candidate for town highway superintendent not backed by the party.

"The party didn't do anything to Jimmy. He did it to himself," said Walsh, who plans...

Rick Brand

Suffolk Conservative Chairman Edward Walsh is bringing disloyalty charges aimed at drumming Smithtown Conservative Chairman Jimmy Tsunis out of the party.

A notice was mailed out over the weekend to the party’s 40-member county executive committee, setting a meeting for Nov. 26. The agenda includes discussion and action on the issues of disloyalty and removal from the party, though Tsunis is not mentioned by name.

While declining to divulge specifics, Walsh said, “He was disloyal... Jimmy was not behaving the way a party leader should act.”

When Walsh first became county chairman in spring 2006, he was allied with Tsunis, who was named co-leader. Since then....

Rick Brand

Fred Thompson is getting some buzz for remarks he's expected to deliver in a speech to the NY Conservative Party tonight, seen as a rip at Rudy on his home turf:

An excerpt: "Some think the way to beat the Democrats in November is to be more like them. I could not disagree more. I believe that conservatives beat liberals only when we challenge their outdated positions, not embrace them."

Reid J. Epstein

When Suffolk Democrats saw the programs for their fall dinner last week, they may have spotted an unexpected contributor: Republican Legis. Joseph Caracappa , who was listed as a “buffet sponsor.” He gave Democrats $4,000 to help pay for a Villa Lombardi’s spread that included chicken marsala and eggplant rollatini.

“I’m glad they used it for food because I’m Italian and love to eat,” Caracappa said. The donation was “purely a thank-you,” he said, to those involved in “good politics, promoting good government.” He said he also gave $20,000 to the Brookhaven Republicans and $5,000 to the Conservative Party, and plans to make a similar donation to the Independence Party. Caracappa, with $129,000 reported on hand as of July, said he’d hold on to most of the money for a possible future run, or to help other candidates.

Despite political differences, Richard Schaffer, the Suffolk Democratic chairman, said he’s had a warm relationship with Caracappa, as he did with Conservative Legis. Rose Caracappa, the current lawmaker’s late mother, with whom Schaffer served. “It’s who he is,” said Schaffer...

Rick Brand and Reid J. Epstein

The Suffolk Conservative Party has endorsed Republican Betty Manzella, cousin of convicted former Suffolk Republican chairman John Powell, for county legislature to take on freshman Democrat Legis. Kate Browning. But the party also gave its line to three Democratic lawmakers, two of them freshmen, according to party chairman Edward Walsh.

The Democrats that Conservatives backed include freshmen Legis. Wayne Horsley of Babylon and Louis D’Amaro of Deer Park, along with Presiding Officer William Lindsay of Holbrook.
While Conservatives frequently align with Republicans, Walsh said all the Democrats they chose to back "screened well. Lindsay has run the legislature in a non-partisan way. Horsley has been active in spurring business and D'Amaro has been an ardent backer of [County Executive Steve] Levy's agenda of being fiscally prudent and pro-active on law enforcement."

Rick Brand

Just call him “Mr. Conservative.”

Republican Assemb. Michael Fitzpatrick won the Conservative Party’s first annual “Visionary” award Monday night for having the most Conservative voting record in Albany last year.

Fitzpatrick (R-St. James) garnered a 88 percent rating from the party in 25 key bills, outdistancing every other lawmaker in either house of the State Legislature, including his nearest rival upstate Assemb. Brian Kolb (R-Canandaigua) by four percentage points. In the Senate, his closest competitors were Sen. Mary Lou Rath (R-Williamsville) and Stephen Saland (R-Poughkeepsie), who each scored 76 percent.

Fitzpatrick accepted the honor Monday night from state Chairman Michael Long at the party’s 40th annual Conservative Party Political Action Conference at the Holiday Inn in Albany.

“It was a nice surprise no one told me it was coming,” said Fitzpatrick, 49, a St. James resident. “I’m proud of it, I believe in Conservative principles...and there’s a need for a Conservative voice up here, even though we’re in a very navy blue state.”

Fitzpatrick is no stranger to walking alone. Only last week he was the only member of the Long Island delegation not to vote for his former Assembly colleague Thomas DeNapoli for comptroller.

-- Rick Brand