New law moving primary election to June has local political committees scrambling

A sea change is taking place this year in local political processes, thanks to a new state law enacted this month.

All political party primaries in New York will be held in June, under a bill signed into law by the governor last week. Until now, New York had been the only state in the nation to have two primary dates — one in June for federal elections and one in September for state offices.

The new measure is expected to save the state about $25 million in election costs, according to proponents.

But the change has local political parties scrambling. The June primary date moves every deadline up — way up. Now, instead of an early-July deadline for filing petitions to run for office, candidates must file petitions by April 4. That means candidates start collecting signatures on designating petitions Feb. 26.

And that means local political party committees need to have their slates filled before then — with enough lead time to get the petitions printed.

End result: local political party committees must hold their nominating conventions by mid-February, a good three months earlier than usual.

“Everything is happening at warp speed,” said Victor Prusinowski, a Republican committee member who is co-chairing the candidate screening committee with committee vice chairperson Joann Waski.

The Republican screening committee will screen prospective candidates on Tuesday, Feb. 5.

The town Republican committee will hold its nominating convention the following Monday, Feb. 11.

Riverhead Town Democrats will follow a similar schedule. The screenings will take place “hopefully next week,” Democratic chairperson Marge Acevedo said. “And then the convention.”

The impact of the primary date change seems to have caught many prospective candidates, including veteran politicians, by surprise.

In fact, the only Republican official willing to vocalize an intention to screen for the supervisor nomination wasn’t aware of the screening date until informed by a reporter this morning.

Councilman James Wooten, who is prevented by the town’s term limits code from seeking another term as councilman, said he will screen to run for town supervisor.

“I love the town. I love working for the town. I’m invested in the town. I’m not going anywhere,” Wooten said. “I’m confident I have enough knowledge — I’ve been in town hall long enough to know how it operates,” he said.

Councilwoman Jodi Giglio, who ran for town supervisor in 2015 with the Republican committee’s backing but lost a three-way race to incumbent supervisor Sean Walter, who ran on the Conservative Party line, says she is not planning to run for supervisor again.

“I’ve been approached by a lot of people,” she said in an interview this morning. “But being under attack all the time is no fun.”

Giglio is frequently at odds with the current incumbent in the post, Democrat Laura Jens-Smith, who would be standing for re-election for the first time this November.

“I don’t think the supervisor is doing the best job,” Giglio said. “I think the county is playing too big a role in her administration.”

Giglio said she would screen for supervisor if the committee asked her to, because she’s interested in what’s best for the town.

“But that’s not how it works. People come forward and ask to be screened,” she said.

There are two town council seats open this year. Councilman Tim Hubbard said this morning he plans to seek re-election and intends to screen with the Republican committee for its designation. A new person will be elected to fill the term-limited Wooten’s seat.

Two of the three spots on the board of assessors are up for grabs this year. Both are filled by longtime Republican incumbents, Paul Leszczynski and Mason Haas. Both men said today they have not yet decided whether they will seek re-election. Leszczynski said only he’d learned about next week’s screening date this morning.

The positions of town clerk, receiver of taxes and one of the town justices — the seat held by Justice Lori Hulse — are also open this year. All are four-year terms. In 2015, Democratic town clerk Diane Wilhelm and Republican Laurie Zaneski were both unopposed in their re-election bids.