Coates bows out, says he supports DeVito, because Riverhead is in ‘desperate need’ of change

Anthony Coates, Supervisor Sean Walter’s former political adviser, who has over the past two years become an increasingly vocal critic of his former ally’s policies, has decided not to run for office.

Coates had said he would screen with Riverhead Democrats in a bid for the Democratic nomination for town supervisor.

He said today he made the decision after Angela DeVito, the Democratic candidate for supervisor in 2013, announced her intention yesterday to run for the post again this year.

“This has never been about me,” Coates said this afternoon. “It’s about the desperate need for change in Riverhead in 2015. I’m happy to step aside and unite behind somebody who can be elected.”

DeVito said she welcomes support from all quarters, “including Tony,” whom she said is a long-time friend. “I welcome that and thank him for it,” DeVito said.

Coates said that while he supports DeVito, he won’t be running her campaign — or any other.

After arriving in Riverhead in 2003 to help run the campaign of an old friend, Judy Pitsiokos of Wading River, who was running for town council, and the entire Republican slate, Coates settled in Riverhead and became involved in local politics. Pitsiokos tossed her hat in the ring for a Town Board seat after an unsuccessful primary challenge to then-incumbent supervisor Robert Kozakiewicz in 2001.  Pitsiokos in 2003 won the council nomination of the Republican committee, which passed over another candidate vying for the slot: Sean Walter. Walter was then a deputy town attorney and chairman of the Riverhead Conservative Party committee. Walter ran on the Conservative line and lost in the general election, in which Kozakiewicz and Pitsiokos were also defeated. Phil Cardinale, then a former councilman, was elected supervisor that year — defeating incumbent Kozakiewicz by just 49 votes — and George Bartunek won election to the town council.

Ed Densieski, the top vote-getter in the 2003 balloting, ran for supervisor in 2005, with Coates again managing the campaign of the entire Republican ticket — after a bloody primary battle in which John Dunleavy ousted incumbent councilwoman Rose Sanders.

Coates ran Walter’s successful 2009 campaign for supervisor, when he unseated Cardinale. He remained Walter’s paid political adviser, a role for which he earned $1,000 per month. He frequently accompanied Walter to meetings and on lobbying trips to Albany, which drew criticism from some town board members.

Walter asked the board to hire Coates in 2012 to the full-time position of legislative secretary at a salary at $65,000 plus benefits, but only Dunleavy supported the idea, which died on the vine.

Coates, a lifelong Democrat, switched his party enrollment to Republican in 2012 and in 2013 attempted to wrest the Republican council nomination from incumbent Councilwoman Jodi Giglio. He lost a hard-fought primary election by a wide margin.

Last year, Coates switched his party back to Democratic and has publicly flirted with the idea of running for supervisor.

This afternoon, he described himself as a reluctant candidate in the first place. He said he will concentrate on his recently launched website, betterriverhead.com, because he cares deeply about the future of Riverhead and wants to help bring about positive change.

When informed of Coates’ announcement, Walter said he intends to run his re-election campaign on his record.

“The town is moving in the right direction and has been since we took office,” Walter said, noting that Coates helped him craft the policies he’s put in place to achieve his three basic goals: balancing the town’s budget, revitalizing downtown and finishing a subdivision at EPCAL.”

Walter said he’s proud of his record and he hasn’t “run out of energy.”

“I truly want to deliver this town to the next supervisor with a balanced budget, a vibrant downtown and a developable EPCAL,” Walter said. “Once you get through those major problems you can really start thinking about the great things this town can do. At that point I’m happy to hand it to the next person who can take it to the next level,” he said.

“Mr. Coates once said to me that the sequel is rarely better than the movie,” Walter said. “I dont know why the election would turn out any different.”

Walter bested DeVito in 2013 by about 12 percent of the vote.

Correction:  A previously published version of this article incorrectly stated that Anthony Coates first came to Riverhead in 2001.