Dueling fundraisers at Crest Hollow Country Club

Hundreds of Democratic political signs lined Jericho Turnpike Thursday night as Republicans and Democrats held competing fundraisers at the same time at Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury.

The signs are similar to those Republican Oyster Bay Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino is alleged to have torn down in Sea Cliff last Sunday. Although Sea Cliff Village Administrator Bruce Kennedy said Saladino removed the signs himself, Saladino said only that he was not aware town employees were taking them down.

Despite the many Democratic signs along the turnpike Thursday, Republicans say there were three times as many GOP supporters attending the Hempstead Town Republican Committee event on Crest Hollow’s second floor as Democrats attending Democratic County Executive candidate Laura Curran’s fundraiser on the first floor.

Tickets for Curran’s event, which featured Democratic Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, were $500 a person compared with $150 for the Hempstead Town cocktail party.

Philip Shulman, Curran’s campaign communications director, did not provide an estimate of her crowd. He said Curran, “is proud to have such a strong partner in Governor Cuomo.”

The Democrats’ signs were the talk of the evening at the GOP fundraiser. But the county Republicans’ first vice president, Joseph Cairo, told the crowd of Hempstead Republicans, “Signs don’t win elections, you do.”