New GOP Town Leader

Southampton Republicans last week elected a new town leader, G.G. Collins, after the father of former leader Marietta Seaman tried to keep the job in the family.

Collins, the $90,000-a-year senior assistant elections commissioner, defeated Seaman's father, Mike Marzullo of Southampton, by better than a 2-1 ratio in a secret ballot at a party meeting last Thursday. Marzullo did not return calls after the election.

Despite Marzullo's candidacy, Collins said the party is united. "Sometimes it's healthy for people to express different opinions," Collins said.



Skirmish at Water Board

A new tempest is under way at the Suffolk Water Authority as veteran board member Melvin Fritz was stripped of his unpaid title as board secretary last week.

The move was engineered by board members John Gee of Smithtown, Eric Russo of Brookhaven and the newest member, George Proios, an environmental aide to County Executive Robert Gaffney. The three, who now control the five-member board, have been aligned with Suffolk GOP chairman Anthony Apollaro and former legislative Presiding Officer Paul Tonna (R-West Hills) against authority chairman Michael LoGrande.

LoGrande labeled the move "just a lot of nonsense and political games being played by stupid people." He said the job has little import other than to sign bond papers when the authority borrows money.

The move comes as Fritz, a 15-year board member, is coming to the end of his current five-year term next month.

LoGrande also said he has scotched earlier talk that he might step down early from his own term that ends on May 29, 2005. "I think now is more important for me to stick around to watch what is going on," he said.



Seeking to Open Primary

More than 2.5 million New York voters, long shut out of voting in party primaries, will get to cast ballots in the Independence Party's intramural contests, if party officials have their way.

The Independence Party state committee overwhelmingly voted to change party by-laws in a weekend meeting in Albany to let nonaligned voters participate in their statewide primaries starting with the 2004 U.S. Senate race.

However, Lee Daghlian of the state board of election said state election law bars anyone but party members from voting in party primaries.

MacKay, state party chairman, said he believes the law is unconstitutional, citing a 1998 federal lawsuit in Connecticut where Republicans opened their primaries to nonparty members. "They are absolutely wrong and we are willing to go to court to prove it," said MacKay.



Levy Goes His Own Way

Assemb. Steve Levy (D-Holbrook), a contender for Suffolk County executive, was missing from a letter sent by 26 members of Albany's Long Island delegation to protest the merger of the Long Island Rail Road with Metro North.

Levy said he declined to sign the letter to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority because it "went way overboard" in extolling the virtues of the LIRR. He sent his own letter instead. "I don't think we should put them up on a very high pedestal where they don't always belong," Levy said in an interview.

The lawmaker, meanwhile drew about 175 people to his first county executive fund-raiser last weekend, pulling in more than $75,000 with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) as speaker. Levy, who had $70,000 in his Assembly coffers, said he expects to have $200,000 by the end of February.