Suffolk Conservatives keep Walsh in charge

He may be from a minor party, but Suffolk Conservative Party chairman Edward Walsh is a big man and he runs a big convention.

Walsh, at the helm for the past five years, was re-elected for another two-year term last week by more than 700 party faithful in a unanimous voice vote at the West Lake Inn in Patchogue.

What makes it impressive is that the minor party had a bigger attendance than the Republican and Democratic parties combined the last time they elected their party bosses. That's because Walsh does not allow proxy votes - everyone has to show up at the Conservatives' largest organization statewide.

While Walsh's election was pro forma, what happened next was not. A motion was raised to discuss whether the party should continue to support the winner of the Conservative gubernatorial primary, Rick Lazio, after he lost the GOP primary to Carl Paladino. The issue arose the same day a statewide poll showed Paladino in striking distance of Democrat Andrew Cuomo.

"Keeping Lazio would be like taking poison hemlock," party activist Bob Sandusky said.

Walsh called for a straw vote; 90 percent voted to switch to Paladino.

While Lazio won the Conservative primary - with much of his vote coming from Suffolk - many party activists worry that without the Republican line, Lazio will not draw the minimum 50,000 votes to maintain a place on the statewide ballot. They also fear the outspoken Paladino will appeal more to party activists than Lazio.

Afterward, Walsh said the vote was no power play against state party chairman Michael Long, who so far has said he still wants Lazio on the line. And Walsh said he made that clear when he spoke to Long later. "I'm just letting you know so you have all the information," said Walsh. "This is coming from Lazio country."

Even the few who backed Lazio staying on the line, like former Suffolk Legis. Michael O'Donohoe, recognized Walsh was only trying to help navigate the party out of a sticky problem. "I think he is trying to give Mike Long an excuse to save the party and keep it from going down in November," he said.

There's no question it was a signal, and it wasn't his first.

Walsh strongly pushed County Executive Steve Levy for governor, but was thwarted when Long got a majority of the party committee to back Lazio in May.

However, Walsh showed clout by helping Erie County Conservative chairman Ralph Lorigo get on the gubernatorial primary ballot in May with 40 percent of the vote. Walsh was hoping Lorigo would be a space holder were Levy to win the nomination or qualify for the GOP primary ballot. "That move made Eddie a very major player in statewide politics," said Frank MacKay, state and Suffolk Independence Party chairman and frequent Walsh ally.

But Walsh says he will support Long's gubernatorial decision and has no interest in challenging him for re-election next week.

Walsh, who started out at 10 distributing sponges for the late Legis. Joseph Rizzo, has turned the local party from a collection of badly splintered duchys into an effective grassroots operation. He is not without detractors. He became embroiled in a war with the Suffolk Police Benevolent Association, which has tried to enroll hundreds of cops into party ranks. Political sources also say Walsh has incurred the ire of supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis, whose son-in-law to be, President Richard Nixon's grandson Christopher Cox, was spurned by the local party in his bid for Congress.

However, those critics come from outside Conservative ranks, and O'Donohoe said that Walsh has bolstered the party internally by taking input from all sides, unlike his predecessor, the late Pasquale Curcio. "Ed's a stand-up guy and a straight shooter," said O'Donohoe.

Yet after the Lazio vote, O'Donohoe noted: "Now I know how Custer felt after the Little Big Horn," he said.