Who’s doing that phone poll? Candidates trade barbs, disavowing ‘push’ poll and blaming each other

Somebody’s been polling Riverhead Republican voters on their preference for town supervisor candidate in next month’s primary election, but no candidate or committee will own up to commissioning it.

That may be because the telephone poll is what political insiders call a “push poll” — one aimed at influencing or altering the view of voters under the guise of conducting a poll.

The “push” question in the brief poll asks the voter whether he or she thinks incumbent Sean Walter has the “temperament” to be supervisor, according to voters who got the poll call.

Walter says the poll is being conducted by his challenger, Councilwoman Jodi Giglio, who has repeatedly criticized Walter’s demeanor as supervisor and faulted him for having “temper tantrums” with her and town employees.

Giglio not only vehemently denies she’s responsible, but accuses her opponents of responsibility.

“I can tell you — I swear on my life I had nothing to do with that poll and neither did any of my people,” Giglio said in response to Walter’s comment.

Giglio said she believes either Walter or Democratic candidate Anthony Coates had the poll done, to make her look bad.

“The same crap was pulled in 2009. Somebody sent out a nasty letter about Sean. It wasn’t me, but they tried to blame it on me,” Giglio said in an interview Wednesday. In that election year, Giglio and Walter were vying for the Republican supervisor nomination, a competition which ended in a brokered deal that gave Walter the top spot on the ticket and Giglio the town council nod.

Their tenure together on the Town Board has been a rocky one, with many open battles and Walter even bucking the party committee and supporting Anthony Coates in a failed primary challenge aimed at unseating Giglio in 2013.

“There she goes again,” Walter replied. “Ms. Giglio has a tough time with the truth.

“Why would I, as sitting town supervisor, take a poll with a pusher question that’s negative against me? Just to have something to complain about her? That’s preposterous,” Walter said. “And Mr. Coates would not have done that poll, because if he were going to spend money on a poll, it would have been a three-way poll, to test his name recognition.”

Coates laughed when asked yesterday if he had the poll done on behalf of the incumbent and scoffs at the idea advanced by the councilwoman that he and the supervisor, for whom he worked as a political consultant in past campaigns, are working together against Giglio.

“Nice try, Jodi,” he said in an interview yesterday. “No, absolutely not. To do a real and scientific poll costs — I’m going to take an educated guess based on polls I’ve done in the past — the lowest you can do it for is $5,000 to $7,000. I would have absolutely no reason to spend that kind of money on a poll for their race,” Coates said.

“Of course I’m interested in who wins the primary, but either way, I face a three-way race,” Coates said, noting that both Republican candidates will be on the November ballot regardless of the outcome of the Sept. 10 Republican primary — Walter on the Conservative line and Giglio on the Independence line.

Maybe not.  Last week, Giglio was on the fence about whether she’ll pursue a campaign as the Independence Party candidate if she loses the Republican line in the primary election.

“If I don’t get the nomination I don’t think I’ll run,” Giglio said. “The last thing I want is for Tony Coates to get elected,” she said, acknowledging that a three-way race in November could work to the Democrat’s advantage. “But I’m not sure.”

Giglio also says she is “certain” Coates and Walter are working together against her in this election. “They’ve been close friends and allies for years,” Giglio said of the supervisor and his former paid political consultant.

Riverhead Republican Committee chairman Mason Haas also denied responsibility for the poll. He said he received the poll call himself.

“I have no knowledge as to where it is coming from. The committee is not involved in it at all,” Haas said yesterday. Asked if the Riverhead Republican Club might have commissioned it, Haas said the club has been inactive for more than a year, “so I doubt very much that it is involved,” he said.

“Riverhead Republicans are not involved in this at all and I have no idea as to who is,” Haas said.

None of the candidate or committee financial disclosure reports on file with the N.Y. State Board of Elections show an expenditure related to a poll, as of the most recent filings, which were due Aug. 10 for Republican candidates involved in the primary and July 15 for all others.

The next financial disclosure reports, the 11-day pre-primary reports, are due Aug. 31, covering the period from Aug. 7-27. Those too are required only for candidates involved in the upcoming primary. All other candidates don’t have to file a disclosure report until the 32-day pre-general election report due Oct. 2.