Rockland County Legislator and county executive candidate Ed Day preached party unity at Wednesday night’s Clarkstown GOP meeting at Town Hall in New City.
The meeting had a spot for local candidates for upcoming elections to introduce themselves to the committee members and update them on their campaign. After Day’s talk, he opened it up for questions from the crowd. He was asked about a rumor going around that Legislator Frank Sparaco might also announce his candidacy for county executive. A blog post published on Patch earlier on Wednesday, which was written by Michael Hull and committee member Ralph Sabatini, was referenced in the questioning.
Day said he heard Sparaco say he will not enter the race, and all he’s heard from higher ups in the committee is that they might look into holding the convention early, possibly early April, to fully focus on Day’s campaign.
During the meeting, Louis Babcock, one of the county’s commissioners of elections, said he spoke to Sparaco and the “rumors of Sparaco running are 100 percent false.”
While updating the committee on his campaign, Day spoke about the work they’ve done so far and where they want to go from here. He said to get to the point where he has a shot at winning the election, it’s important for the party to be united, especially since there are three Democratic candidates vying for the county executive’s office.
“They are fighting out there, we are organizing,” Day said.
He also said they already have a county committee and a town committee, but they won’t be able to fully tap into the strength of the party until the official nomination.
“We’re going to have a very, very strong ground up organization to move this campaign forward,” Day said.
He added that he and his campaign staff think it’ll cost a minimum of $350,000 to run the campaign and so far they’ve raised a little more than $100,000.
“This is not big money,” he said. “This is our committee, these are neighbors, these are folks who believe in what I’ve been trying to do over a number of years. I’m proud of that. It means a lot to me.”
Day said that coming up he’ll have a variety of fundraisers, including house parties, a golf outing and an event at Boulder Stadium during a Rockland Boulders game. He also spoke about the importance of the upcoming election.
“This election is the most critical election, I think, in our lifetimes in this county,” he said. “We are at a crossroads. It’s important that you understand that we have an organized approach, that we are looking to win.”
The only other candidate at the meeting was Judge Craig Johns, who is seeking his sixth term as a town justice. Johns, of Nanuet, said that the town court operates in the black and brings in more money through fines and penalties than it costs to operate the court.
He also said he feels it’s important to get out and campaign even though judges can’t get into their own personal thoughts on specific issues.
“It is important for us to go out and campaign and bring out our vote to support the other people that are running. Judges are a little bit more limited politically. We’re not allowed to discuss political topics, such as gun control, which is huge right now,” he said.
“We don’t make laws, we enforce the laws.”
As I have mentioned in a comment in the blog .... http://newcity.patch.com/blog_posts/is-redas-silence-deafening-or-golden ..... Legislator Day stated in the meeting that: "I can't say County Chairman, Reda, has 'endorsed' my candidacy but I can say he has been 'supportive'". Day referred to himself as the Republicans' "presumptive candidate". Thus the silence from Reda continues to be 'deafening' as we wrote in the article. Day said that running as a Republican in Rockland was tough but "after today" he now expected to get at least one of the other lines. He stated that the "Chairman" had spoken with Sparaco and according to him Sparaco would be "making efforts" to get HIM the Independence line. Reda's spokesman, Babcock, gave a report explaining what had "happened today" and said that he had Sparaco in his office yesterday afternoon to discuss the article and Frank said he "would support" the Republican nominee "whoever that is". We now await the 'deafening support' of Ed Day from Reda to becoming a 'ringing endorsement' sometime in the future. This is the most important election facing voters in over 30 years. It is not about Sparaco, but about property taxes and impending bankruptcy.
Harvey Abrams
You write that my article was "full of lies, distortions, and conspiracy theories". I am in the Republican Party and have multiple sources. Presumably you are not. Why, therefore, do you care whether I have helped Republican Day or not? If Sparaco is the "devout Republican" that he claims, why do you as a member of another "party" feel the need to come frequently to his defense? Take it from me, not that I care if you do, that the Republican candidate is now clear. It is Ed Day! Since you continue to claim that you, and not Sparaco, controls what you say is a "political" party, the Independence Party - which I say in Rockland County is nothing more than a "cuckoo" party designed for the self-aggrandizement of a few - might I suggest that if you are not "lying" to yourself, "distorting" your own importance, or putting out "conspiracy theories" that Sparaco is not a force in your 'cuckoo' party, then get yourself a candidate who supports the process of democracy over the bloc voting theocrats. I suspect from many previous comments that you don't want to support Day. Sparaco has now been given the "Chairman's" orders. The two of you now have a small problem - to either 'put up' or 'shut up'. Unfortunately I suspect that you will do neither.
Here is what Michael Yularen might describe as an "ornithological conspiracy story". It's about minority parties, 'cuckoo' behavior, and how they try to control the 2 main parties. "Cuckoos" wait for 'eggs' to be laid in the Dem and Repub 'nests' and they claim those 'eggs' as their own. You will not see any of the 'cuckoo' parties endorse a candidate before the Dems and Repubs endorse. You see they don't have any 'eggs' of their own. The leaders of the Ind and Conserv 'cuckoos' in Rockland are IMHO controlled by the 'Chairman' of the Repubs who was elected by a shouting contest. This 'chairman' is not going to preside over a "Great Leap Forward" by the Repubs while he is in nominal control of their party. There are too many counter-revolutionaries, and so he will now have to trot along behind Day after Day has de facto been 'nominated' by the rank and file. Watch for Sparaco to be scrambling along somewhere behind the 'chairman'. If the Inds and Conservs endorsed a candidate before the 2 main parties did so they might have credence, but they may be too busy trying to put their 'eggs' into the Working Families nest. The WF party would be expected to support a liberal candidate in principle, that is if it has not been taken over by one of the other 'cuckoo' parties gathering signatures for their 'cuckoos' to join the WF party and control it. 'Cuckoos' behave like cuckoos even with members of their own species!
The rump Independence and Conservative parties are political tokens, nothing more. In the eyes of their leadership they stand for no principle or ideal.
<<<The change in the leadership in the Independence party a couple years ago, was a political coup by Mr. Sparaco for the sole purpose of seeking election. Mr. Sparaco organized his adherents to seek committee seats in order to oust Ms. Coopersmith. When it was time to obtain signatures for nomination under the Independence line, his mother in law, went so far over the line as to be criminally prosecuted based upon a complaint from the opposing candidate. The rump Independence and Conservative parties are political tokens, nothing more. In the eyes of their leadership they stand for no principle or ideal.>>> It appears to be common knowledge in Clarkstown that a similar activity is going on with respect to a take-over of the Working Families party. Signatures are apparently being collected to control the nomination of the WF line. So one now has to wonder if the "rump" Working Families party is also a "political token to be exchanged for a signature and a handshake on no principle or ideal"?