Help for Vets, State Races on the Ballot
(10/30/2008) All eyes are on the race for the presidency as Election Day nears, but there are other issues and races for South Fork voters to consider when they cast their ballots on Tuesday.
At the top of the ballot, voters will be asked to weigh in on a proposal that would make it easier for veterans disabled in the line of duty in war to qualify for additional points on Civil Service examinations and preferential status on the lists of qualified applicants. The law currently says that veterans must be receiving disability payments from the Veterans Administration in order to qualify for those additional points.
The ballot proposal would eliminate that requirement and instead ask only that the United States Department of Veterans Affairs certify that a disability exists.
It would also change a reference to the “United States Veterans Administration,” an older name for the agency that now operates as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
South Fork voters will also choose a U.S. representative, a state senator and assemblyman, four State Supreme Court justices, three County Court judges, and a Family Court judge.
In special elections in Southampton Town, voters will select a town board member to fill out the final year of the term Linda Kabot vacated to become supervisor. Dan Russo, a Republican who was appointed to the seat in February, is hoping to hold on it for another year, while his Democratic challenger, Sally Pope, is hoping to get her foot in the door until the regular election in 2009.
Southampton voters will also pick a town justice. Andrea Schiavoni of North Haven, a Democrat who lost her bid for town justice last year to the incumbent, Edward S. Burke Sr., is running again, this time against Thomas DeMayo, another Republican incumbent.
Ms. Schiavoni is an attorney who specializes in mediation. Mr. DeMayo has served four four-year terms on the Southampton Justice Court bench. Representative Tim Bishop, a Democrat from Southampton, is running for a fourth term with backing of the Independence and Working Families Parties, as well. His Republican challenger, Lee Zeldin of Shirley, is an attorney and veteran of the Iraq war who is running for office for the first time. Mr. Zeldin has also been endorsed by the Conservative Party.
New York State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle, a Republican first elected to his seat in 1976, is once again running unopposed. His name will also appear on the Independence and Conservative Party lines.
Republican State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. of Sag Harbor, another longtime New York lawmaker, was first elected in 1987. He left the Assembly to become Southampton Town supervisor for two terms, and was returned to the State Assembly in 1995. He also runs this year on the Independence, Conservative, and Working Families lines. His Democratic opponent is W. Michael Pitcher, a former editor at The Southampton Press and spokesman for County Legislator William Lindsay.
In the less-talked-about races for judgeships, there are seven candidates running for four seats on the New York State Supreme Court, but the three candidates for County Court judge and one candidate for Family Court judge are running unopposed.
The candidates for 14-year terms on the State Supreme Court include two incumbents, Kenneth A. Davis and Robert A. Lifson. Mr. Davis, running on the Republican and Independence Party lines, was a Nassau County District Court judge before being elected to the court. Mr. Lifson, whose name is on the Republican and Working Families lines, was a chief counsel to a New York State senator before being elected. He also served as chairman of the Huntington Republican Committee from 1989 to 1994.
Also running is Hector D. La Salle, with Democratic, Independence, Conservative, and Working Families backing. Mr. La Salle is a deputy bureau chief in the Suffolk County district attorney’s office and heads the special investigations bureau’s anti-gang unit.
Patricia Filiberto, a Republican candidate, has served as a District Court and acting County Court judge and is now presiding judge of the Suffolk Drug Treatment Court. Edward A. Maron, on the Democratic, Conservative, and Working Families lines, is an acting Nassau County Court judge.
Jerry Garguilo, who has Democratic, Independence, and Conservative support, is an attorney in private practice and former assistant district attorney for Suffolk County. William J. Condon, who runs with Democratic, Republican, Independence, and Conservative endorsements, is a former prosecutor and practicing trial lawyer.
The candidates for Suffolk County Court judge include two incumbents who have held their positions since 1999: Joseph Farneti, who is also an acting Supreme Court justice in Riverhead, and Jeffrey Arlen Spinner, who also serves as an acting judge in the Family Court of the City of New York. James F. Quinn, an attorney who has been a managing partner of Phillips, Weiner, Quinn, Artura, and Cox for 24 years, is also running. All three are endorsed by the Democratic, Republican, Independence, Conservative, and Working Families Parties. County Court judges serve 10-year terms.
David R. Freundlich, an incumbent Family Court judge, is the sole candidate for that position this time around.