All in the Conservative Party family

Suffolk Conservative chairman Edward Walsh's sister Kerry Cox has been hired at the county Board of Elections in Yaphank.

Cox, 44, of East Islip, started Tuesday as a $43,000-a-year elections forms processor. Walsh conceded he "put in a good word" for his sister, but said it was Islip Conservative chairman Mike Torres, who is senior assistant commissioner, who went to bat for her. Election jobs by law are split evenly between Republicans and Democrats, but some GOP jobs go to those in the Conservative Party, with whom Republicans are usually allied. -- Rick Brand