Stop The Raid

The Working Families Party, being a liberal party, usually, but not always, cross-endorses the Democratic candidates for town and county offices. This minor party line does not pull a huge number of votes, but in tight races it can be a deciding factor in an election.

Unfortunately, many voters still vote for a party line while not knowing who the candidates really are and how they earned a spot on a certain line. In an effort to exploit that fact, and to deny Democratic candidates the benefit of a second line on the ballot, three Southampton Town residents who had been registered Republicans or Conservatives switched their party affiliation earlier to year to Working Families and then mounted primary challenges in the Southampton Town Board and superintendent of highways race.

When the media asked for comment, the alleged candidates in the Working Families primary for the Town Board race, Hampton Bays residents Sean McArdle and Miranda Schultz, husband and wife, would not reply. When invited to a Working Families primary debate, they would not reply. Marc Braeger of East Quogue,who is supposedly running for superintendent of highways, has also been radio silent. That’s because they don’t intend to be candidates, but spoilers.

Mr. McArdle’s father, Charlie McArdle, is a registered Conservative who is running for highway superintendent on the Conservative and Republican lines, and he stands to benefit if this party raiding scheme is successful.

It’s easy to wave this kind of skulduggery off as “just politics,” but it;’s more than that. It’s the dirty kind of politics that all elections, particularly local elections — which should always put policy and character over party — should be free of. It’s nasty and petty, and it is the kind of behavior that the perpetrators should feel ashamed about, but most worrisome of all if that it undermines voters’ faith in democracy.