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NYS Senator Endorses Candidate In Rockland County Exec Race

A voting machine
WAMC

A New York state senator today endorsed one of the Democratic candidates for Rockland County executive. It’s a primary race recently pared down from an even more crowded field, and now there are petition objections for one of the candidates. 

State Senator David Carlucci, an Independent Democrat from Rockland County, endorsed Village of Suffern Mayor Dagan LaCorte. Here’s Carlucci:

LaCorte joins two other primary candidates, county legislator Ilan Schoenberger and former county legislator and Spring Valley justice David Fried. County Executive Scott Vanderhoef, a Republican, announced last year he would not seek reelection to a sixth term. Vanderhoef was first elected to the position in 1993. Carlucci says there is another reason he endorsed LaCorte.

He points out that Rockland, a county whose bond rating is one notch above junk status, faces numerous financial challenges and needs decisions that might be unpopular but move the county forward. Meanwhile, volunteers for Fried’s campaign Monday filed numerous objections to LaCorte’s petition. Stephen Papas is Fried’s campaign manager.

Here’s Democratic Board of Elections commissioner Kristen Stavisky.

Calls to LaCorte were not returned in time for this broadcast. Papas alleges that some of the petition witnesses were not registered members of the Democratic Party. He also alleges the following.

Stavisky says a fourth potential contender - Ramapo resident Vladimir Leon – was knocked off the ballot last week. As for other endorsements, Fried has a few for himself – former President Bill Clinton and Congresswoman Nita Lowey. Fried served as an aide to Clinton, and later as a district representative for Lowey.

Thomas Haslip is campaign manager for Schoenberger for County Executive. In an e-mailed statement, he says LaCorte is receiving Carlucci’s endorsement as a reward for staying silent while Carlucci, as an Independent Democrat, struck a deal with Albany Republicans.

The Democratic primary winner faces Republican Ed Day, a county legislator who says he has no preference who he’s up against in November.

The primary election is September 10.

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