Lines and lists

Daily Point

LI legislative battlefields take shape

As nominating petitions circulate for legislative seats in both Nassau and Suffolk counties in this year of newly drawn district maps, there are signs of sporadic tension both between and within the major parties.

In Suffolk, the legislative seat that Al Krupski, a Democrat, has held for a decade is up for grabs as he runs for Southold Town supervisor. The county GOP under chairman Jesse Garcia has designated Catherine Stark as its candidate for the 1st L.D.

But another Republican, Greg Williams of Cutchogue, has announced a primary run against her. With Stark due to be nominated by the county Conservative Party, the possible lack of a cross endorsement could form a split that threatens GOP expectations of recouping the East End district. Insiders told The Point that Williams was piqued that a proposed party screening for him did not happen.

Going forward, another question for the Republicans — who hope to expand their 11-7 majority in the chamber — is whether two first-time surprise winners of 2021, Dominic Thorne in the 7th L.D. and Manuel Esteban Sr. in the 16th L.D., will hold on against Democratic challengers. Reelection is often a question for first-term legislators.

At least Suffolk’s political players know the full shape of the field they’re playing on, since the county’s major parties reached a bipartisan deal on the new map that is now in effect. In Nassau, however, Democrats are still expecting a lawsuit soon, from civil rights groups, challenging their county’s GOP-run redistricting.

As an example of the map uncertainty, three-term Democratic incumbent Josh Lafazan, in Nassau’s 18th L.D., provided The Point with this statement on Wednesday: “While I strongly believe the maps that were passed are an illegal partisan gerrymander that will ultimately be thrown out of court, I will prepare to launch a vigorous reelection campaign no matter the court’s decision.” But Lafazan has also let it be known he’s interested in the congressional seat currently occupied by Republican fabulist George Santos, either in the regular cycle next year or in a special election earlier should Santos vacate the seat.

Lafazan’s GOP legislative challenger is Samantha Goetz, a deputy county attorney, who has also served as assistant town attorney in the Town of Oyster Bay.

— Dan Janison @Danjanison

Pencil Point

More March Madness

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Talking Point

Chief judge update

New York is unlikely to have a budget by the April 1 deadline, but almost certainly Gov. Kathy Hochul will get a new list of candidates to be the state’s chief judge by that date.

The Commission on Judicial Nomination restarted its search on Feb. 18, a day after the State Senate rejected Hector LaSalle, the presiding justice of the Appellate Division’s Second Department. Although state law gives the commission 120 days to come up with a list of recommendations, it’s working expeditiously because the chief judge spot has been vacant since Janet DeFiore’s resignation took effect on Aug. 31.

An indication that the commission was planning an accelerated review was evidenced by the tight March 7 initial cutoff for new applicants, but the commission wound up extending it a few more days to March 10 to allow interested parties to complete the extensive paperwork that must be filed. It’s able to move quickly because the screening panel already had a pool of ready candidates from the process that resulted in LaSalle’s selection. In the LaSalle process, 17 of the 41 applicants were selected for interviews. As the commission noted in the Feb. 17 news release opening the second round, “candidates who previously applied for the Chief Judge vacancy will again be considered by the Commission.” In other words, you had to affirmatively opt out, and apparently only two people withdrew their names, leaving a considerable pool of candidates who have already been evaluated.

The fast action echoes what the commission did in 2021 when Associate Justice Paul Feinman unexpectedly retired because of illness. Since the commission had just wrapped up a search process due to the retirement of Associate Judge Leslie Stein, it had a pool of recently vetted candidates at the ready.

The 12-member commission is finishing interviews and when that process is wrapped up, the members will rank their top seven choices and a new list will be created to send to Hochul. To get on the list for a chief judge, eight of the 12 members must approve. Since the terms of three members of the commission expire March 31, most likely the process will be completed by then. Hochul has 30 days from when she is given the list to make a selection, and once she does the Senate has 30 days to vote, most likely in the hectic days wrapping up the session. 

If the commission took the full amount of time allowed, it could have delayed giving Hochul a list until June 18, which would have pushed the process into the summer and required the legislature to return to Albany.

— Rita Ciolli @RitaCiolli