Rich Schaffer, the Suffolk County Democratic Committee chairman, retained the position he has held for 26 years on Tuesday, fending off a challenge from Kathryn Casey Quigley, chairwoman of the Southold Town Democratic Committee, when the committee held its biennial convention in Melville.
Newsday reported on Tuesday night that Mr. Schaffer had won with a score of 113,010 weighted votes, or 57.2 percent, to Ms. Casey Quigley’s 84,234. Committee members’ votes are based on the number of votes cast for the Democratic candidate in their particular election district in the last gubernatorial election.
Mr. Schaffer, who is the supervisor of Babylon Town, will serve another two-year term. He had faced growing pressure, with Ms. Casey Quigley pledging to end what she called a culture of patronage and corruption.
Perry Gershon of the East Hampton Democratic Committee, who was the party’s 2018 nominee to represent New York’s First Congressional District, called Ms. Casey Quigley’s vote tally “a strong showing for a candidate previously unknown in much of the county.” While that demonstrated a strong minority voice, he said, Mr. Schaffer “effectively used the advantages of incumbency to drive the vote his way.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Gershon said, a new Siena College poll has Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the Republican nominee for governor of New York, leading Gov. Kathy Hochul, the Democratic incumbent, by 15 percentage points in Suffolk. This, he said, is “a barometer of continued Democratic underperformance. While a large minority of the Suffolk County Democratic leadership made a strong showing for change, it would be great to see Schaffer enlist his own re-election force to defeat Republicans in future elections. Certainly, if every Democrat in last night’s room committed themselves with the same energy to the November election, Democratic performance countywide would improve markedly.”
Anna Skrenta, chairwoman of the East Hampton committee, told The Star she voted for Ms. Casey Quigley “because I believe that the status quo in Suffolk County politics, one of backroom deals with the Republican and Conservative Parties, judicial cross-endorsements, and patronage hires, needs to change. It is my belief that we have lost the trust of the voters because of this outdated system and that it prevents us from offering a credible alternative to the Republican Party.”
A report in Newsday last month scrutinized Mr. Schaffer’s leadership of the committee, including an allegation by the Democratic candidate for county comptroller that party leadership had pressured him to withdraw from the race, which he rebuffed, and committee members alleging that the candidate for county clerk had abandoned his campaign after similar pressure from Mr. Schaffer.
According to published reports, Anthony Portesy, the now-former candidate for county clerk, was offered a Conservative line nomination for a judgeship. Committee members, according to Newsday, alleged that Mr. Schaffer has a longstanding practice “to make deals with the opposing party.”
Leigh-Ann Barde, chairwoman of the Islip Town Democratic Committee, posted on social media on Monday that she no longer supported Mr. Schaffer. “The deal which was made by Mr. Schaffer with the Republican and Conservative Parties that resulted in Anthony Portesy no longer being on the ballot for County Clerk broke my heart and cracked my faith,” she wrote. Mr. Portesy “deserved to have unbridled support for the election into which he wholeheartedly committed before being put into a position where he felt he had no choice but to step down.”
“What has followed is offering money for votes and threats to people’s livelihood, including that of my own family,” Ms. Barde charged. “All of this is not just inappropriate methods of running our party. It’s direct harm to the voters, to the committee members, to the candidates and elected officials who all need to be able to trust the party.”
Ms. Casey Quigley had told The Star that “part of the intention of my campaign has been to pull back the curtain and expose it more,” referring to what she called a “party-boss model.” Not enough people were paying attention to “the inner workings of county politics,” which she said were characterized by “patronage employees [who] benefit from the system staying as it is. Their only job is to protect the chair. It’s a mutually reinforcing circle of support, and until somebody breaks through . . . it will continue this way, to the disservice of the people.”
Ms. Skrenta said she is grateful to Ms. Casey Quigley “for having the courage to fight for change against long odds and for bringing new life, energy, and volunteers to the party. All that being said, I wholeheartedly respect the outcome of the election and I congratulate Rich on his success. I was very happy to hear him commit to working together with Kathryn and the hundreds of new committee members going forward. He is obviously and understandably fired up from this win and that will energize the party’s efforts going into the midterms.”
