Wearing a ponytail and a pierced earring, Frank MacKay at first glance looks more like a roadie for a rock band than a conventional political leader.

And his Independence Party, which claims just under 17,000 members countywide, is one of the more minor of the minor parties.

Yet when buttoned-down former Republican prosecutor Thomas Spota takes office as Suffolk County's new district attorney in January, it will be 34-year-old MacKay, the state chairman of the Independence Party, who as much as anyone else should probably get his first thanks.

The cop unions may have given Spota their endorsements, and Suffolk Democratic chairman Richard Schaffer may have supplied $300,000 to help fund Spota's campaign, but it was MacKay who was Spota's most unwavering backer from the very start and a key tactician in the trenches.

"His backing was very important," said the new district attorney-elect.

It was MacKay who early in the year was Spota's main cheerleader for DA when some leading Democrats, including state chairwoman Judith Hope and former county executive Patrick Halpin, were pushing federal prosecutor David Kelly, who won convictions in the first World Trade Center bombing case. Spota, whose ties to the Democratic Party were still newly minted, confessed to friends that the nod might well go to Kelly.

In retrospect, Halpin said, "MacKay was an ardent supporter of Spota and that was important piece of the puzzle."

It was also MacKay, according to party sources, who not only gave Spota his own party's line, but also helped engineer support for him among other minor parties and helped forge the candidacy of former baseball player Richard Thompson, who ran and won a Conservative primary against Catterson, even though he was initially reluctant.

Thompson's primary victory not only denied Catterson the Conservative line, but it also cemented the backing of the last of the police unions in a unified front for Spota. Some also say it was the turning point in momentum where money and support began to dry up for Catterson.

"Frank was the central figure in keeping that odd coalition going," said Legis. David Bishop (D-West Babylon).

Some party officials said MacKay has become the Raymond Harding of the suburbs. It's a reference to the legendary chairman of the state's minuscule Liberal Party, whose political backing helped launch Rudolph Giuliani's mayoral career and who leveraged substantial patronage and influence for himself.

"He's beyond Ray Harding because he doesn't have a laundry list of jobs in his hands," said Schaffer, "Frank simply thrives on the game. He's a political junkie at heart."

However, MacKay's backing helped Spota pull in 9,688 votes on the Independence line, more than either the Conservative or Right to Life Party in the DA's race. Most of the Independence Party's votes came from Republicans, defecting from Catterson. The party's turnout in the DA's race was about 50 percent higher in than other countywide contests.

The ties between Spota and MacKay go back four years when Spota first put his name forward to run for DA and MacKay, an upstart in his own party, was challenging then-Independence chairman Jack Essenberg, who tended to side with Republicans. Spota's candidacy was short-circuited, but the two men remained in touch. In the meantime, MacKay ousted Essenberg as local party chairman and later as state Independence Party boss.

"Frank's the kind of guy that once he takes up your cause, he sticks with you," said said one-high level Republican official who did not want to be named.

"I think people tend to underestimate Frank because of his long hair and his background as a bar owner," Bishop said. "But he's smart and energetic, and he's always going to be a force."

Even Anthony Apollaro, Suffolk's Republican chairman who at times has clashed with MacKay, takes nothing lightly when it comes to the Independence leader.

"I treat him appropriately as a county and state leader," said Apollaro. "And I also know he plays a role in gubernatorial elections, and with that in mind, I not only treat him accordingly, but so does the state Republican Party."

Gov. George Pataki would like nothing better than to have MacKay's backing for re-election next year and even feted the minor party leader at his Albany mansion with a cake to celebrate his marriage earlier this year.

MacKay's decision on whom to back for governor may hinge on which candidate will help the party get at least 50,000 votes to keep the statewide ballot line and hopefully even more to retain the coveted Row C, just below the major parties.

"Forget the long hair and the earring," said Desmond Ryan, a veteran Albany lobbyist. "There's isn't a major contender for governor who wouldn't like to see him as a valuable ally next year."

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