Brookhaven GOP picks Donna Lent for clerk

In a highly unusual move, Brookhaven Republicans named the Independence Party's Donna Lent to succeed her boss Patricia Eddington as town clerk, which party sources say will get the town GOP Independence backing for its slate.

Lent was once a top local official in the liberal, union-backed Working Families Party. She has also worked for Eddington, a WFP member, and her husband, Jack Eddington, a former county lawmaker. Both took Democratic Party endorsements to win elections. Sources said a key backer for Lent was GOP Supervisor Edward P. Romaine, who in his 2003 run for county executive won support from her and then-county WFP chair Chuck Pohanka.-- Rick Brand