Challenger for mayor of Centre Island sues after village disqualifies his candidacy

A challenger vying to unseat the longtime mayor of Centre Island has filed a lawsuit alleging village officials engaged in a “conspiracy” to disqualify his candidacy before the June 17 election.

Andrew Woodstock, owner of Woodstock Construction Group LLC, sought to challenge Mayor Lawrence Schmidlapp in the upcoming contest. He filed a lawsuit in Nassau State Supreme Court on June 2 challenging the village's decision to invalidate his petition to run for mayor.

The case names as defendants the village; the Nassau County Board of Elections; Schmidlapp; Carol Schmidlapp, the mayor's wife and the village's clerk; and Donna Harris, Centre Island's chief election officer.

Peter MacKinnon, the attorney representing the Village of Centre Island, along with Harris and the Schmidlapps in their roles as village officials in the lawsuit, declined to comment. Lawrence Schmidlapp, who has been the village's mayor since 2009, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Incumbent objected

In a May 14 letter to Harris, Lawrence Schmidlapp argued Woodstock was "not qualified to hold public office in the Village," according to court filings.

The following day, filings show, the mayor sent Harris a "formal objection." In a two-page letter, he said Woodstock should not be allowed to run because he held a Florida driver’s license and only “occasionally stays in the Village of Centre Island." The document includes a copy of Florida voter lookup records, which show Woodstock registered to vote in that state in 2021.

The mayor also cited Woodstock's "criminal record involving moral turpitude," according to court documents. 

In 2020, the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office criminally charged Woodstock and his construction company, along with other business owners, with cheating workers out of wages and benefits, Newsday reported at the time.

Woodstock's company pleaded guilty to a second-degree misdemeanor charge of "a scheme to defraud," while Andrew Woodstock pleaded guilty to a "noncriminal violation," according to a 2023 Nassau State Supreme Court decision in an unrelated lawsuit. The decision summarized the criminal case, citing company disclosures filed with the Town of Oyster Bay. A spokeswoman for the Suffolk District Attorney's Office did not respond to a request for information about the case's disposition.

“While a misdemeanor conviction does not automatically bar someone from office, if the offense involved moral turpitude (e.g., fraud, corruption, theft), [it] could be appropriate to consider it as grounds for disqualification under case law and Election Law,”  Schmidlapp wrote in his letter.

The section of law cited by Schmidlapp "has to do with qualifications of voters, not candidates," Kathleen McGrath, a state Board of Elections spokeswoman, said in an email to Newsday. The law says "that individuals who are currently incarcerated for a felony conviction are ineligible to register to vote and vote during that time period."

Headed to court

The Nassau County Board of Elections' chief clerk, Donna Nogid, said in a May 19 letter it does not have jurisdiction over the dispute.

"After reviewing the specifications of objections, the Nassau County Board of Elections takes no position as the objections raised do not speak to the form or content of the petition or its individual signatories," Nogid wrote. "These objections pertain to matters of law, fall outside of our purview, and require a ruling from a court of competent jurisdiction."

James Scheuerman, Nassau's Democratic Board of Elections commissioner, said in a text his agency has no role in overseeing the village's election. 

Asked about the state's involvement, McGrath told Newsday: "If the Village Clerk runs the election, the State Board would not be involved ... the candidates would register and file ballot access documents and all required campaign finance disclosures directly with the Village Clerk."

In a May 27 letter, Harris told Woodstock his petition was invalid.

Woodstock submitted a photo copy in the court filings of his New York State driver's license. Woodstock told Newsday he most recently voted in New York in last year's presidential election and has never voted in Florida. He said he's lived in Centre Island for 32 years and has owned property in Florida since 1985. He said he travels to Florida mostly during the winter. 

In the complaint, Steven Leventhal, Woodstock’s attorney, said the defendants' "conspiracy ... was designed to 'fix' the election before it happens by preventing the citizens of Centre Island from having a meaningful opportunity to vote for the Petitioner."

The two sides are due in Nassau State Supreme Court on Monday, according to court filings.

Leventhal, in a phone interview, said the village never brought a case to court to invalidate the petition. 

“The conduct of the village in this case is so contrary to not only the law, but fairness and justice,” Leventhal said.

The village has a population of about 400 people and a median income of $214,000, according to U.S. Census data.

By Joseph Ostapiuk

joseph.ostapiuk@newsday.com@OstapiukJ