Correction officers union won’t endorse in Suffolk sheriff’s race

The largest union in the Suffolk sheriff’s office — the corrections officers — has decided not to make an endorsement in the election for who will be their new boss.

Lou Viscusi, president of the 927-member union, said its seven-member executive board interviewed both candidates — Republican Larry Zacarese and Democrat Errol Toulon Jr. — and found both were “experienced and qualified” for the job.

In the end, Viscusi said the board voted overwhelmingly not to take a position on the race. Instead, union officials offered both candidates an opportunity to communicate in letters directly to their members on why they would make the best sheriff. Those letters, Viscusi said Friday, were to go out to union members over the weekend. The smaller deputy sheriffs’ union earlier endorsed Zacarese.

“I tried to be fair in the process,” said Viscusi. “It’s tough when you‘re trying to decide who will run your own department.”