Judith Pascale, GOP candidate Suffolk County clerk 

JUDITH PASCALE

REPUBLICAN

BACKGROUND: Pascale, 74, of Moriches, is seeking the Republican Party nomination in the June 28 primary. She has worked in the Suffolk County Clerk's office for 32 years, and as county clerk for the past 16 years. She was chief deputy clerk until 2006, when then-Gov. George Pataki appointed her acting county clerk. Pascale won election as clerk later that year. Pascale served previously as an assistant to Suffolk County executives and worked at a pharmaceutical company. 

ISSUES: Pascale said she has increased the number and type of records available electronically. She said that within 24 hours of the COVID-19 shutdown order in 2020, the clerk's office began providing off-site records access to minimize the risk of infection to the public and employees of the real estate industry. She has advocated for prohibiting the use of personal information in public records. She says her department is the largest revenue generator in the county — $19.8 million in 2021 — while operating without a budget increase during the period she has served as clerk. She touts the support of nearly every law enforcement union, as well as that of the Association of Municipal Employees, the county's largest municipal employee union.

By Candice Ferrette

candice.ferrette@newsday.comcandiceferrette

Candice Ferrette covers Nassau County government and politics on Long Island. She has been a reporter at Newsday since 2011.