Suffolk Conservative chairman Edward Walsh removed as defendant in a Islip dumping civil suit

Suffolk County Conservative Party chairman Edward Walsh is no longer one of the several prominent public figures facing a $41 million federal civil lawsuit filed earlier this year related to the Islip dumping scandal.

After several weeks of discussions between Frank Tinari, Walsh's counsel, and Andrew Campanelli, attorney for plaintiffs Thomas Datre Sr. and Clara Datre and their company Daytree at Cortland Square, Walsh submitted a sworn affidavit saying he had no involvement in the illegal dumping and discussions around it and was not part of an alleged conspiracy to place blame on the Datres, both attorneys said. A probe into illegal dumping by the Suffolk County district attorney last year revealed contaminated debris was dumped on four sites in Islip and in Babylon.

Walsh is "gratified that after a frank discussion of the allegations listed in the lawsuit, the parties stipulated to remove him from this lawsuit," Tinari said. "He's going to move on from this."

The case against Walsh was "terminated" on Friday, court documents show.

The suit, filed in April by Campanelli on behalf of the Datres, initially named as defendants Walsh, as well as former Islip Conservative Party boss Michael Torres, Deputy Islip Town Attorney and Conservative Party member Michael P. Walsh and Town Attorney Robert L. Cicale. The Town of Islip is also named, along with four town council members: Anthony S. Senft Jr., Trish Bergin Weichbrodt, Steven J. Flotteron and John C. Cochrane.

None of the defendants named in the federal civil suit have been criminally charged in the dumping case. Six others, including Datre Sr., are under indictment in the criminal case in Suffolk County. All have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.

Campanelli has alleged that the Datres were blamed for the dumping at a town park and three other locations to deflect blame from those named in the lawsuit. Campanelli has said that his clients "did not dump so much as a single grain of sand" on any of the sites.

The federal civil case is currently in the discovery phase under U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne Y. Shields in Eastern District Court in Central Islip.