Frank Tinari re-elected as Suffolk Conservative chairman

Suffolk Conservative Party chairman Frank Tinari was re-elected by voice vote late Wednesday at a raucous county convention in Hauppauge, although challenger Kenneth Auerbach immediately vowed to challenge the result in court.

More than 800 Conservative committeemen and women attended the meeting at the IBEW Local 25 union hall, which Tinari described as "very unruly."

“Our numbers were overwhelming,” Tinari, of Hauppauge, said after the meeting. The other side, he said, “came to obstruct, to make everyone’s life miserable.”

Auerbach, who said he had the votes for election, called the meeting “the biggest abomination that ever occurred.”

“It’s like a Third World country,” Auerbach, of Brookhaven, said, noting Tinari’s attempt to ban recordings of the meeting. Auerbach said he would challenge the results in court because of how Tinari conducted the votes and filled committee seats.

The Conservative leadership fight took place in hundreds of hyper-local contested Conservative Party primaries for committee spots earlier this month. That came to a head on Wednesday night as the sides squared off.

Supporters heckled and taunted each other throughout the meeting and afterward.

“Jerry Springer has nothing on us,” one committee person remarked as she left.

In a tense back-and-forth floor debate as Tinari looked down at Auerbach from the stage, Auerbach declined to submit an opposition slate of candidates for the party’s executive committee.

Auerbach said he objected to the committee using voice votes to decide the outcome of motions, rather than calling on individuals in a roll-call vote.

Under voice votes, Tinari decided whether a matter succeeded or failed based on whether the crowd’s shouted “ayes” or “nos” were louder. The votes are supposed to be weighted to give more power to those representing districts with higher turnout.

Besides Tinari, other executive committee members elected were John Flynn of Islip as first vice chairman; Gary Forte of Fort Salonga as executive vice chairman; Brett Robinson of Lindenhurst as operational vice chairman; Michael Torres of Eastport as secretary; and John Lorenzo of Dix Hills as treasurer.

At the start of the meeting, Tinari filled vacant committee spots. Auerbach said filling vacancies by allowing all those present to vote violated a judge’s ruling in his previous lawsuit.

A number of Suffolk police union leaders attended, including PBA president Noel DiGerolamo and former Suffolk Detective Association sergeant-at-arms Russ McCormick. DiGerolamo, a registered Conservative, said he and other law enforcement union members were merely observing and his union officials didn’t fill vacant committee spots. Other police union officials said they were there to support Tinari's side. 

Among Auerbach's backers was Suffolk Republican chairman John Jay LaValle, who sent letters and recorded phone calls to committee members, in unusually direct involvement in another party’s leadership fight.

Auerbach and LaValle have complained about cross-endorsement deals between Conservatives and Democrats, in which the minor party backed less conservative candidates in exchange for patronage jobs and judicial spots.  Auerbach also has objected to the county Conservative Party taking away the ability of the Brookhaven Town party to endorse its own candidates. 

Tinari defended the county Conservatives' record, noting the party endorsed all Republican state senators and Assembly members, and helped Republicans win town races.

He also touted the minor party’s success in judicial races. Seven out of 16 judicial candidates this election cycle in Suffolk are Conservatives who have the Democratic and Independence lines, which makes them considered favorites to win in November.

 If those candidates are successful, there will be more registered Conservative Party judges on the bench than Republicans on the bench in Suffolk, he said.

 "And you’re trying to tell me we’re doing something wrong? We’re getting more Conservatives elected,” Tinari said in response to criticism of cross-endorsements. “I think we negotiated a hell of a deal for judgeships.”

Tinari's wife, District Court Judge Marian Tinari, is running for state Supreme Court with Democratic and Independence Party backing. Two other Conservatives are nominated for state Supreme Court spots with Democratic and Independence Party backing.

One is Conservative Michael Gajdos, a former assistant district attorney and former personal lawyer for former Suffolk Conservative chairman Edward Walsh, now in federal prison after he was convicted on corruption charges. The other is Family Court Judge Deborah Poulos.

Frank Tinari said despite LaValle’s involvement, he expects to sit down with him next year.

“We’re all professionals. We don’t hold grudges,” he said.

By David M. Schwartz

dschwar1@newsday.comschwartznewsNY

David Schwartz covers environmental issues. A native Long Islander, he's worked at Newsday since 2013.