Conservatives name candidate in special election for Suffolk legislature

Suffolk County Conservatives have decided to make the March 19 special election for the Ninth District county legislative seat a three-way race.

Frank Tinari, Suffolk Conservative chairman, said the party’s executive committee on Sunday named Anne Wiggins, a party committeewoman for the last 12 years, to run for the seat vacated by newly elected Democratic state Sen. Monica Martinez.

The minor party’s action comes only months after Suffolk Republican Chairman John Jay LaValle inserted himself into the Conservative Party leadership battle by directing mailings and robocalls to Conservatives attacking Tinari, shortly before he won a second two-year term as county leader in September.  At the time, Tinari called  it “rephrensible behavior, which will backfire.”

Wiggins, 62, of Central Islip, is a longtime manager for Suffolk Off-Track Betting Corp.

“We thought she would make the best candidate,” said Tinari.

He said LaValle’s past actions played no role in the party’s decision.

On Saturday,  Republicans named Manuel Vidal Jr., a community leader and Suffolk public works auto mechanic, as their legislative candidate.

Democrats have nominated Samuel Gonzalez, a leader of IBEW Local 1430 as their candidate in the heavily minority district, where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans  21,174 to 4,557, with 8,991 not registered with a political party.

Richard Schaffer, Suffolk Democratic chairman, said a three-way contest will help Democrats' chances.

“Any time there are a number of candidates in a race, it helps us because as Democrats we will often outpoll Republican line-to-line in many county races,” said Schaffer.

William Garbarino, Islip GOP chairman, said Conservatives called him Sunday to inform him of their decision. But he said he does not expect it to have much impact on the race  as there are few Conservatives in the district — 304, according to the Suffolk board of elections.

“I know the Conservatives don’t like John LaValle, but why punish Manny Vidal?” he said.

LaValle could not immediaely be reached for comment.

The Independence Party, meanwhile, is backing Gonzalez, giving him a second ballot line in the special election.

There are 962 Independence Party voters in the district.