Letters

There’s something crooked happening in the Southampton Town Council elections.

In our polarized times, we’ve gotten used to the idea that there are candidates on the far left and the far right, usually represented in New York elections by the Working Families Party and the Conservative Party.

Sometimes we see cross-endorsements between Democrats and Conservatives, just as in the past there were occasional cross-endorsements between Republicans and the Independence Party, usually to indicate more moderate candidates. But you never see Republicans and the Working Families Party working together. That’s because their principles are diametrically opposed.

That’s what seems to be happening in Southampton this election — although it’s more of an attempted hijacking than a constructive collaboration.

You don’t have to believe me — just ask the leaders of the Working Families Party, who recently took the very unusual step of writing a letter urging local voters cast their ballot for Democrat Tom Neely on Row A, instead of the titular Working Family Parties candidates Ieshia Galicia and Andrew Smith.

Things get weirder upon close inspection. The letter from the Working Families Party makes it clear that these two are “Conservatives who registered with the WFP for the sole purpose of party raiding and to be spoilers in the upcoming election. They are ‘paper candidates’ who have no intention of campaigning and who are not endorsed by the WFP. They did not ask for or seek the official WFP enforcement.”

Just 23 people turned out to vote in the June primary for the Working Families Party. The two paper candidates beat the Democratic nominee, Neely, a respected expert on transportation issues who was intended to be cross-endorsed with the WFP.

These two WFP candidates have been MIA in this election, not appearing for debates or answering interview requests, despite their names appearing on the ballot.

Which begs the question: Who would come up which such a complicated scheme? Well, the answer likely can be found in the question of who benefits from their paper candidacy.

As it turns out, their Republican/Conservative general election opponent, Cyndi McNamara, witnessed and notarized the signatures to get Ieshia Galicia on the WFP ballot. This presumably reflects more than just civic enthusiasm.

Not only that, but Ieshia Galicia’s address is at a Hampton Bays house owned by the wife of the Southampton Town Highway Superintendent, Charles McArdle, a registered Conservative. Galicia’s job is as CEO of a cannabis farm owned by McArdle in the upstate town of Medusa. Because Galicia has been entirely absent, it has been difficult to question her about this phantom WFP candidacy.

The real scandal is the dishonestly and duplicity being practiced to try and divide votes to hold on to power.

John Avlon

Sag Harbor