Judge could rule today on Becker primary challenge

A state judge is due to rule as early as Monday on a lawsuit Republican Frank Scaturro filed in his drive to face Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola) on the November ballot. Defendants include the Nassau GOP's designated candidate, Legis. Francis X. Becker Jr., and county Conservative Party officials.

Scaturro claims he has wrongfully been denied a chance to wage a Conservative primary fight against Becker (R-Lynbrook). Scaturro says the county party's executive committee even voted 10-9 in late June to authorize his candidacy, but that it was improperly rescinded.

The most intriguing aspect of the case may be the sworn testimony from Frank Russo, executive committee member, that other panel members feared losing their local-government jobs if they openly helped Scaturro against Becker.

"This is an awkward thing for me to say, but it's the truth," Russo testified. "If we had a secret ballot, that vote would have been better than 10-9 in favor of granting the Wilson Pakula" - the authorization to run that Scaturro seeks.

Russo, a co-plaintiff, portrayed Nassau GOP chairman Joseph Mondello as calling the third-party's shots through leader Daniel Donovan, who's since become Nassau's Conservative chairman. "I believe I was told by members of the committee - I'm not going to say which ones, because I'm not certain which ones - indicated that Mr. Mondello did not want to grant Mr. Scaturro the Wilson Pakula and so directed Mr. Donovan," Russo says in his transcribed testimony of July 26. "I heard that from many members."

State Supreme Court Justice Dana F. Winslow said this claim was "not sufficiently reliable" to be considered "because there is no indication as to who it (the source of the allegation) might be."

Defense lawyers deny Scaturro's claims, while Mondello spokesman Anthony Santino replied Friday: "chairman Mondello does not get involved in the inner workings of minor parties. Period."

NOTABLE NAYS: Sen. Eric Schneiderman (D-Manhattan) counts on a New York City and labor-union base in running for attorney general. On high-profile Long Island issues, he voted against both a property-tax cap pushed by Craig Johnson (D-Port Washington) and a State University of New York pilot program backed by Sen. Brian Foley (D-Blue Point). A spokesman said Schneiderman champions income-based property-tax relief and a SUNY plan "that shields students with limited economic resources from tuition increases."