Zeldin condemns supporter with Confederate-era flag

State Senate candidate Lee Zeldin issued a statement last night distancing himself from Confederate-era flag-waving Tea Party activists who joined Zeldin campaign supporters seeking to disrupt a Patchogue rally for Sen. Brian X. Foley on Saturday.

But the incident has already set in motion a rally featuring the mayor of Patchogue, the NAACP and several human rights activists to be held in Hauppauge Tuesday.

A phalanx of placard-waving Zeldin supporters were out in force across the street from Foley's headquarters Saturday, as Attorney General Andrew Cuomo arrived to deliver his endorsement to one of the most embattled Democrats in a narrowly divided state Senate.

One burly protester waved a flag popular with the tea party movement, bearing a rattlesnake and the legend, "Don't Tread on Me." He also waved a second, Confederate-era flag adopted by South Carolina secessionists, and grabbed his crotch when a Foley supporter photographed him.

The Foley campaign began circulating photos of the flag waver Sunday. By midday Monday, the state Democratic Committee was demanding that Zeldin condemn the use of the flag on his behalf. "Winning the bigot vote should not be the centerpiece of any New York campaign," executive director Charlie King said.

Late Monday, Zeldin's campaign said it "does not support" the use of the South Carolina flag, or the "actions and antics" of the activist, whom the campaign said it could not identify. But the campaign said it "will not be held responsible for the actions of every individual . . . Anyone who knows Lee knows he has always condemned and will continue to condemn any form of racism."