21st AD: Who's the real Democrat?

Now that the primary election is over, the strange political tales of Hermione Pierre Johnson and Patrick Nicolosi, the Democratic primary candidates for the 21st Assembly District  in western Nassau, are surfacing.

It turns out that Johnson — whose name on the ballot was Mimi Pierre Johnson — was the candidate of the Working Families Party — and she still has that line in November.

But as a newly registered Democrat she could not vote in her own primary against Nicolosi. Changes in registration do not take effect until after the next general election. (See Democrat-to-Republican Steve Levy, the Suffolk CE, earlier this year when he was thinking of running for governor.)

Nicolosi, a registered Democrat since 1987, said he had become disgusted with both major parties after last year’s election and changed his registration to “blank” early this year. After deciding to run, he switched back to Democrat on June 14.

Johnson, born in Haiti, became a citizen last year and registered to vote last Oct. 7. She listed herself as a member of the Working Families Party at the time, but changed her registration to Democrat on March 17, about two months before being tapped by county Dems to run for the Assembly seat now held by Republican Thomas Alfano, who is not running for re-election.

The party gave her what is called a Wilson-Pakula, a waiver that allows nonparty members to run on a party’s line. The party tried to knock Nicolosi off the ballot, not because he wasn’t a Democrat, but because, they said, he did not have enough valid nominating signatures.

Nicolosi survived the ballot challenge and went on to win the primary with a convincing 59 percent of the vote. However, Johnson’s presence on the WFP line in November was expected to hurt Nicolosi in his battle against Republican Edward Ra in the general election.

Johnson is friendly with people who are close to Sen. Craig Johnson (D-Manhasset), but his spokesman said the senator played no role in her campaign. County Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs said he did not recall exactly how Mimi Johnson came to be the candidate, but said it was on the recommendation of community leaders and after an interview.

Jacobs did not sound apologetic about backing a non-Democrat, and noted that Nicolosi had attended Tea Party rallies. “They (the Tea Party) have philosophies that are not always in tune with Democratic principles,” Jacobs said.

“Hey,” Nicolosi countered, “I’ve been to Tea Party rallies and I’ve seen liberal Democrats there.”

One postscript: This whole story unfolded when Nicolosi supporters saw Johnson filling out a paper ballot on primary day because her name was not in book as a registered Democrat. She said Thursday she was not aware that she was not entitled to vote in the primary, and had insisted on a paper ballot — one of three paper ballots in the race.