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Suffolk County Legislator Jay Schneiderman defeated challenger George O. Guldi, a former legislator who was indicted this summer on scores of charges in an alleged mortgage fraud scheme, by a landslide in a primary for the Democratic Party nomination on Tuesday.
According to unofficial results from the Suffolk County Board of Elections, Mr. Schneiderman received 88 percent of the vote—1,045 votes to Mr. Guldi’s 145 votes.
“Over a thousand Democrats came out to support me, and I’m very grateful they did that,” said Mr. Schneiderman, who originally was a Republican and switched to the Independence Party in 2008. “I was concerned that if people didn’t bother to come down and vote for me, and Guldi won, it would be demoralizing. I’d have some explaining to do.”
Mr. Schneiderman, a resident of Montauk, now has nominations from the Democratic, Republican, Conservative, Independence and Working Families parties, which all but ensures his reelection to a fourth two-year term representing the 2nd Legislative District, which includes East Hampton Town, Southampton Town and southeastern Brookhaven Town.
“Even though I now have no challenger in November, I still will be out there finding out what’s on people’s minds and figuring out how I can best represent the district,” Mr. Schneiderman said. He has a grocery store campaign planned in which he will pass out green, reusable grocery bags to encourage people to stop using plastic. “They’ll have a little ‘Jay something’ on them,” he said.
Mr. Schneiderman first beat Mr. Guldi in 2003 to take his legislative seat. Mr. Guldi’s decision to make a run in this year’s primary was surprising, coming on the heels of his indictment on more than 100 criminal charges, including grand larceny, conspiracy, money laundering, forgery and insurance fraud, for an alleged $82 million mortgage fraud scheme. He pleaded not guilty in August.
Going forward, Mr. Schneiderman said he wants to keep county property taxes from going up, despite the drop-off in sales tax revenue. He also is working on a pesticide bill and some regional economic stimulus ideas.
In the Conservative Party primary for East Hampton Town Justice, Andy Hammer won with 38 votes, edging incumbent Town Justice Catherine Cahill, who received 32 votes, for the party’s nomination. Forty-three percent of registered Conservatives cast votes.
“The total turnout was incredible, it showed a tremendous amount of support,” said Mr. Hammer. “I was very happy and thrilled by the amount of community support I got. There was a groundswell of public interest that rose to a very high and admirable level. It’s rare you get this kind of interest in a primary.”
Mr. Hammer, an attorney in private practice in Montauk who previously served as an assistant town attorney, had already been endorsed by the Conservative Party, as well as the Independence and Republican parties. Justice Cahill has served as a town justice for 16 years and has been endorsed by the Democratic and Working Families parties.
The Board of Elections reported that primary results will not be declared official until all the voting machines are returned and votes are recounted.
Brian Bossetta on Sep 16, 2009