Battle in Smithtown for control of the town Republican Party

A slow-motion and so far largely sub rosa battle is underway for control of the Smithtown Republican Party, the strongest bastion of GOP strength in Suffolk County.

The fight pits insurgent Robert Cornicelli, 50, a retired National Guard captain, against 16-year town GOP chairman Bill Ellis, 76.

The contest is largely out of view because Ellis and Cornicelli are not on the ballot for party leader. Instead, competing slates have filed petitions to run for the most basic grassroots elected political position — party committee member — in a June 25 GOP primary.

At stake are 184 seats in 92 districts, and a handful of votes could decide each race. Within 10 days after the primary, newly elected committee members will gather at a town GOP convention to elect a chairman for two years. Complicating the process further, committee members will cast a weighted vote, based on the GOP turnout in the last gubernatorial race in their election district.

But a Smithtown schism is the last thing the Suffolk GOP needs when hometown county Comptroller John M. Kennedy is taking on Democratic County Executive Steve Bellone in November. While Smithtown is the smallest of Suffolk’s five western towns, Republicans have an 11,200-voter edge over Democrats — the largest GOP margin of any town in the county. Smithtown also gave  Republican President Donald Trump his biggest percentage in the state in 2016.

Cornicelli, an Oyster Bay code enforcement officer, said he is running contested races against Ellis-backed committee members in 13 election districts. He's also running write-in campaigns against another five Ellis-backed committee members, and 40 candidates of Cornicelli's are running for vacant committee spots. Cornicelli says he believes he has enough votes to become chairman.

Cornicelli criticizes Ellis for ruling from the top down, and failing to recruit new blood to the party. “Bill keeps a tightfisted iron grip on the committee,” said Cornicelli.

The battle, smoldering for the past year, ignited after peacemaking efforts failed three weeks ago.

“We tried to work with him but he blew everything up,” said Ellis. “He’s anti-John Kennedy and anti-Smithown Republican Committee.” Ellis said he believes the town committee will back him for re-election.

Cornicelli countered that he supports party candidates and wants to empower the committee. He also said Ellis agreed to give his supporters 40 committee spots but later reneged and cut the number to 30. 

Ellis said he initially offered 20 spots and raised the number to 38, although some of the posts were held by committee members who already backed Cornicelli.

Ellis may have an edge at the convention because he controls the gavel. Also, his long-term connection to the committee may make it easier for him to get proxies so members do not have to vote in person.

Such tactics, Cornicelli said, would show Ellis “has no faith in his own leadership skills.”

Ellis backers say Cornicelli is getting help from Republican Suffolk Elections Commissioner Nicholas LaLota, who fired Ellis as a deputy commissioner in 2015 when John Jay LaValle was Suffolk GOP chairman.

“LaLota is definitely helping because there’s bad blood,” said Assemb. Michael Fitzpatrick (R-St. James), an Ellis supporter. “I like Nick, but I don’t think it proper for an election official to be sticking their nose in the internal affairs of a town.”

LaLota said he is completely neutral in his election board role; he noted he voted to sustain Ellis objections to Cornicelli petitions that removed a half dozen of Cornicelli's candidates from the primary ballot.

But on a personal basis, LaLota says he backs Cornicelli’s effort to bring new and younger people into the party, and would like to see his fellow former military officer have a larger role in the GOP.

Cornicelli's opposition to Ellis began last year when he formed the political club Grand Old Party of Smithtown to promote “real Republican values” A town GOP lawyer has called for the unrecognized GOP club to shut down.

Last year, Cornicelli also showed strength when he ran a slate of judicial delegates to nominate state Supreme Court candidates. Cornicelli led the local ticket with 1,313 votes. Ellis came in next to last with 792 votes, although his wife, Patricia, won as a delegate with 966 votes.

GOP Town Board member Lynne Nowak said she still hopes for a truce.

“We need fresh blood, but Bill has a lot of institutional knowledge,” she said of Ellis. “Wouldn’t it be nice if they worked to build, rather than destroy the party?”