Politics & Government

Republican Chairman: Supe Line Empty

The East Hampton Republican Party chair says he is disappointed with Democratic candidate Larry Cantwell's decision not accept the nomination.

After months of trying to come up with a candidate for East Hampton Town supervisor, Republicans are officially without a candidate.

Kurt Kappel, the chairman of the East Hampton Republican Party, said on Monday that since Larry Cantwell, who won the Sept. 10 primary thanks to write-in votes, doesn't want the nomination, the Republicans will likely not have a candidate in the 2013 election.

Cantwell, the Democratic and Independence candidate for supervisor, was deemed the winner, the Suffolk County Board of Elections reported last week. He received 35 of the 69 votes cast, or nearly 51 percent of the votes. However, Cantwell said on Friday that he won't accept the nomination because he feels it would be unfair to his Democratic running mates Job Potter and Kathee Burke Gonzalez.

He filed a certificate of declination with the board of elections on Monday, the deadline date. 

Kappel explained that the second place finisher doesn't automatically receive the nomination. "It just goes away. We won't have a supervisor candidate," he said.

Current Supervisor Bill Wilkinson, who is estranged from the Republican party, received the second highest number of votes — 13 — in the primary. He is not seeking re-election for a third term in office, and indicated on Friday that he wouldn't reconsider.

Tom Knobel, the vice chairman of the party, said that ultimately the executive committee could chose another candidate — not just from the list of people who received a write-in vote. However, he said, "I've heard of no push for someone else."

Kappel said he was disappointed by Cantwell's decision. "It's every politician's dream to be cross endorsed," he said. "To not accept it doesn't show good will. It wasn't a committee thing, it was the Republican voters who picked him."

Knobel said Republicans wanted to give Cantwell a chance to "back up his words with actions," saying Cantwell previously said he wanted to represent the whole community — though Cantwell made it clear going into the primary that he didn't want the nomination and felt the town deserved to have a choice between candidates.

"He actually doesn't want to represent everybody," Knobel said.

Kappel said the Republicans will focus on the rest of its slate, including town board candidates Fred Overton and current Councilman Dominick Stanzione, town justice candidate Carl Irace, and town assessor candidate Joe Bloecker.

The Republicans were unable to come up with another candidate, after Jay Schneiderman, a Suffolk County legislator from Montauk, declined the nomination in March, deciding instead to run for a final term on the legislature.


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