Candidates Square Off in Primary Fight

The Southampton Town Democratic Committee has challenged almost all the signatures on Fred Havemeyer’s petition to force a primary in September against Supervisor Jay Schneiderman — 95 percent of them.

Yesterday, Mr. Havemeyer called it a dirty tactic to wipe out the competition. Mr. Schneiderman, for his part, claimed Mr. Havemeyer had used the names of his running mates as a way to gain signatures, and also that he had used a “deeply offensive” phrase in speaking to the media.

Gordon Herr, the committee chairman, confirmed Tuesday that the committee had filed a general objection with the Suffolk County Board of Elections the day before, challenging 671 of the 699 signatures on Mr. Havemeyer’s petition. He needs at least 500 signatures to run a primary.

Mr. Schneiderman, a member of the Independence Party, has the Democratic nomination to run for a second term as supervisor. Mr. Havemeyer, a Bridgehampton resident who was a Southampton Town trustee for more than 10 years, announced in June that he planned to fight Mr. Schneiderman, who lives in Southampton Village, for the party line. Ray Overton, a former town trustee who lives in Westhampton, has the backing of the town Republican party.

“The developer-backed political machine apparently will stop at nothing to retain their stranglehold on our town,” Mr. Havemeyer emailed The Star yesterday, adding that Mr. Schneiderman had said he “welcomes a political challenge, while on the other hand he unleashes his political Gestapo to shoot down our petition of almost 700 voters anxious to have their voices heard.”

“The will of the people and free choice are simply viewed as impediments by them,” he continued. “Jay Schneiderman and company should be ashamed of themselves for their transparently low behavior.”

In rebuttal, Mr. Schneiderman said it was Mr. Havemeyer who should be sorry. “Mr. Havemeyer’s statement referring to my campaign team as ‘Gestapo’ is deeply offensive and reveals the true character of Mr. Havemeyer, who should offer an immediate apology.”

“I welcome a political challenge, but it must be lawful,” said the supervisor. “I have every right under New York State election law to ensure the legal process for a primary challenge is followed. Mr. Havemeyer’s petitions were replete with fundamental legal deficiencies, including a significant number of non-Democrat registered voters.”

     Mr. Havemeyer was asked to run by David Reisfield of Long Island Environmental Voters Forum and Dick Amper of the Pine Barrens Society, both of which opposed the Hills at Southampton, a planned development district in East Quogue. A controversial project that would include a golf course as well as houses, it is the last such district to come before the Southampton Town Board, which recently repealed a law allowing for such applications.

     While Mr. Herr, the party chairman, would not go into detail about the primary challenge, Mr. Reisfield, who has been running Mr. Havemeyer’s campaign, said the challenges were based on witnesses’ signatures missing town and/or county information. He cited a 2006 Appellate Court finding that the failure to provide such information “should not be considered a fatal defect.”

“We find this to be highly dubious and can only see it as Jay trying to get out from under a primary he could easily lose,” Mr. Reisfield said, adding “Schneiderman is looking desperate, early.”

“If anybody is acting in a desperate fashion, it appears that would be Havemeyer and the people associated with that campaign,” Mr. Schneiderman said yesterday, before hearing of the “Gestapo” comment. He said he was running on his strong record and felt confident of victory. “I did not use paid petition-gatherers to get on the ballot or create a petition to lure people in by using names that I did not have permission to use,” he added.    Using paid canvassers is not illegal. Mr. Havemeyer said they were used only at the end of what he called “a grassroots campaign.”

“We collected over 1,000 signatures, and it was all done by volunteers,” said Mr. Schneiderman. “I didn’t have to pay people to canvass for me, they did that willingly.”

“Sure, he had the Democratic political machine behind him,” Mr. Havemeyer said. “All he had to do was sit in an armchair and smoke a cigar.”

While it is not the Democrats’ primary worry, said the supervisor, he himself is concerned about the way the petition was presented. He said people thought they were signing for him, because it used the names of Julie Lofstad and Thomas John Schiavoni, whom the Democrats are backing for town board. Mr. Schneiderman claims Mr. Havemeyer’s petition was represented as the Democratic slate.

Mr. Havemeyer said that those two names were on the petition, having received the Democratic nomination. “It certainly wasn’t done to dupe the voters,” he said. 

Both camps agree on one thing. If necessary, each will go to court to fight the Board of Elections decision, which is expected this week.

The primary is scheduled for Sept. 12