Toni Tepe gets Suffolk Republican post

Huntington Republican chairwoman Toni Tepe Friday got a new party post as secretary of the Suffolk Republican Committee.

She replaces Sundy Schermeyer, the Southampton Town clerk, who resigned from the unpaid post this spring. Tepe was elected as a party officer at the same time Suffolk GOP Chairman John Jay LaValle was elected without opposition to his fifth two-year term as party leader at the Ramada Hotel in Holtsville.

Town Republicans earlier elected new East End leaders. Tammy Robinkoff, a Suffolk Board of Elections employee, was elected Riverhead GOP chairwoman, replacing Remy Bell. David Betts was elected Southampton GOP chairman, replacing Damon Hagan.

Betts, a former Southampton Village police officer, is lead investigator for Columbo and Holmes Consulting, and worked as a Southampton Town investigator from 2007 to 2014. He ran a losing campaign for Southampton highway superintendent in 2013.

Rick Brand