Minor party to get 2 more high court noms

Suffolk Conservative chairman Edward Walsh and Nassau GOP chairman Joseph Mondello have reached an agreement that will give the minor party two extra Supreme Court nominations this year, according to party sources.

The sources say the deal means that Conservative state Court of Claims judge Joseph Pastoressa of Smithtown and John Collins, Suffolk's top homicide prosecutor, will get both the GOP and Conservative nominations for the November election.

In return, said one party source, Walsh also agreed to back Nassau GOP's four State Supreme Court candidates next year including Appellate Division Justice Peter Skelos and the Republican candidate chosen to oppose Democratic Appellate Division Justice Leonard Austin, who won with Conservative backing 13 years ago.

Mondello and Walsh struck the deal Tuesday, before the Republican judicial convention at Levittown Town Hall in Hicksville Thursday night. "It was clear that Walsh was going to deal with the Democrats and he had the numbers, we had to acquiesce," said one high-level Nassau GOP source. Suffolk Conservatives control 29 of the party's judicial convention delegates while Nassau has only 19.

Tony Santino, Nassau GOP spokesman, said Mondello declined to comment on any nominations. He said the party's executive committee will finalize its slate Thursday before the convention. Walsh didn't return calls.

Jay Jacobs, Nassau Democratic chairman, acknowledged he had a "brief conversation" with Walsh. But "I got the impression he was going to go with the Republicans, which is par for the course," Jacobs said.

Democrats, meanwhile, held their convention Tuesday at the Plainview Holiday Inn. Suffolk Supreme Court nominees were William DeVore, an assistant district attorney, and Acting State Supreme Court Justice James F.X. Doyle. Nassau Supreme Court nominees are former Surrogate Judge John Riordan; Family Court Judge Stacy Bennett; District Court Judges Hope Zimmerman, Robert Spergel and Andrew Engel; Joseph Lorintz, a law secretary; and attorneys Helene Gugerty and Douglas Goodsell.