Lynaugh using ex-con Towle to help get on ballot

Rejected by major and minor party leaders, Conservative Family Court Judge Barbara Lynaugh is enlisting help from wherever she can to make the primary ballot - including from ex-con, ex-Suffolk Legis. Fred Towle.

Towle addressed a meeting for volunteers Lynaugh held last week in Riverhead to prepare for circulating petitions to qualify, she acknowledged. She said she sees no problem with Towle's involvement despite his past criminal record, adding: "He has the experience and knows what he's doing."

She said he became involved through a mutual friend. Towle resigned as a lawmaker when he pleaded to bribe-taking and misspending campaign funds in 2003, and later was sentenced to 6 months in the county jail.

- Rick Brand