Dems will screen Hubbard, Coates and Fischer for supervisor spot, as GOP rivals Walter and Giglio jockey for position

Political hopefuls are lining up to carry the banner of both political parties in this local election year, as Republican and Democratic party officials commence the interview process for would-be candidates.

Two people are seeking the Democratic committee’s nod to run for supervisor: retired police detective Tim Hubbard, of Aquebogue, and Anthony Coates, onetime political ally of incumbent Republican Supervisor Sean Walter.

Hubbard, 54, retired in December from the Riverhead Police Department after more than 32 years of service.

“I’m not really happy with the way things are currently playing out,” Hubbard said in an interview Wednesday morning. “The way the town board behaves — I think the people deserve better,” he said. “It seems their interests are not with the people of the town.”

As a Riverhead cop, Hubbard worked in the street crime unit, then as a juvenile aid bureau officer and finally in the detective division.

Hubbard, who is not enrolled in any political party, said he has also put his name in for a council seat with both parties.

Coates was for many years a political advisor to Republican candidates in Riverhead, including Walter and former councilman Ed Densieski, though he was a lifelong Democrat. He switched his enrollment in 2012 to Republican to seek the GOP nomination for councilman in 2013. He didn’t get the party committee’s endorsement and then waged a primary campaign for the nomination, challenging incumbents John Dunleavy and Jodi Giglio in a three-way race in which he finished last at the polls.

Since running the 2013 campaign — with Walter’s backing — Coates has become an increasingly vocal critic of his former ally’s administration and the path the town is on.

“The only thing they have to show for themselves is Route 58,” he said in a recent interview.

Coates changed his party enrollment back to Democrat in 2014, but would not say he had plans to run for office again.

Walter, whose support among GOP party leaders has eroded — with an open rift between him and party chairman Mason Haas seeming to grow wider all the time – is seeking re-election and facing a challenge for the Republican nomination from incumbent Councilwoman Jodi Giglio. Giglio was handily re-elected in 2013 and can run for supervisor without vacating her council seat.

Walter says he will run on his record and would be campaigning door-to-door as he always does. He has said he will run a primary campaign for the Republican nomination if the party committee picks another candidate. The former town Conservative party chairman, he also said he believes he’d have the backing of the Conservative committee and does not rule out a run on that line even without the Republican nomination, setting up the possibility of a three-way contest in November.

Giglio, first elected councilwoman in 2009 in her first run for public office, says the town needs new leadership and she has both the business background and government experience to provide it.

“People are tired of all the petty politics,” Giglio said in an interview last month. “That’s the supervisor’s brand of leadership is divisive and it’s taken us backwards. We need to move forward.”

Gregory Fischer of Calverton is also screening with the Democrats to run for supervisor — as well as for council and assessor. He has run for all three positions in the past, as well as for state senator and school district trustee. Fischer calls for more transparency in government and argues that town government in Riverhead serves people who are “politically connected” to the people in power.

The council race shapes up:
Incumbents face challenge from within;
five seek Democratic party nod

Fresh faces have surfaced to seek the council nomination on both the Republican and Democratic slates.

The Democrats, in addition to Hubbard and Fischer, will be screening Riverhead Move the Animal Shelter founder Denise Lucas, Laura Jens-Smith and Glenn Friedman.

Screening with the Republicans, in addition to the two incumbents, James Wooten and George Gabrielsen, are political newcomers retired Riverhead Police lieutenant Robert Peeker and Riverhead CSEA president Terri Davis-Sweeney.

In the running to succeed Ehlers on bench

Candidates for town justice on the Republican side: William Andes, Jeanmarie Costello, Mary Hartill, Lori Hulse, Robert Kozakiewicz and Dawn Thomas.

Screening with the Democrats for town justice: Jeanmarie Costello and Lori Hulse.

Screening for assessor

Assessor candidates, Republican: Mason Haas, Paul Leszczynski (both incumbents) and Terri Davis-Sweeney.

Assessor candidates, Democrats: Gregory Fischer.