Board of elections: Giglio wins GOP primary election by 41-vote margin

Councilwoman Jodi Giglio has won the Republican primary for town supervisor. A final canvas at the Suffolk County board of elections this morning determined that she won by 41 votes.

Balloting on Sept. 10 ended with Giglio holding a 29-vote lead over incumbent Republican supervisor Sean Walter. The election ultimately came down to 114 absentee and affidavit votes, which were counted by hand at the Board of Elections today.

“The taxpayers decided that they want to have me as their Republican candidate,” Giglio said Monday. “We’re going to do great things for this town. We’ve got a lot of plans, a lot of great ideas.”

Walter, after hearing the results, said he “wasn’t surprised.” “I was out-spent three to one. This was all about the Suffolk County PBA,” he said, referring to a series of mailers, phone calls and advertisements funded by a well-financed super PAC created by the Suffolk County Police Benevolence Association, attacking Walter and supporting Giglio.

“The residents have to wake up and smell the coffee,” Walter said. He said he estimated the county police union spent $100,000 to $125,000 promoting Giglio’s candidacy. “You can’t believe that money doesn’t come with strings attached,” he said. “Those ‘strings’ are handing the town police department over to the county.”

Giglio vigorously denied Monday that she would pursue a county takeover if elected supervisor.

“That’s a fabricated story, a political distortion of the truth for someone who wants to hold onto his political power,” she said. “I’m not interested in merging.”

She added, however, that she believes the Riverhead Police Department is currently “mismanaged.”

“Our police need to be given the tools that they need so they can confidently do their job,” she said. “Right now, our police officers don’t have the support or the resources that they need.”

Walter said he will remain on the ballot on the Conservative Party line in November, making it a three-way race for supervisor.

“Since the councilwoman and I split the core Republican vote evenly, this race will be won with the votes of blanks [voters not enrolled in any party] and soft Democrats,” Walter said.

The Republican ticket for November now includes Jodi Giglio for supervisor, Tim Hubbard for councilman, incumbents councilman James Wooten, Lori Hulse for town justice, Laurie Zaneski for tax receiver and Mason Haas and Paul Leszczynski for assessor.