Politics on the Hudson

Jon Bandler reports:

A week ago, Tony Castro was touting himself as the real Democrat in the race for Westchester District Attorney.

Tonight, he hopes for a nomination to run for state Supreme Court on the Republican ticket.

If he gets the nod, it will end his third bid for District Attorney. He would have to give up the Independence and Working Family lines that he held in the DA race.

After he lost to incumbent Janet DiFiore in last week’s Democratic primary, Castro suggested he would bow out of the race if he was convinced he couldn’t win and if it would help Republican Dan Schorr beat DiFiore in November.

Castro could not be reached for comment today. But Doug Colety, chairman of the Westchester Republican party, said he expected Castro would be nominated tonight at the party’s judicial convention in Poughkeepsie.

Colety said he wasn’t dissuaded by the fact that Castro was a Democrat.

“He reached out to us to be interviewed. We found him qualified and it wasn’t like we were bumping anyone else,” Colety said.

Four state Supreme Court judgeships are up this year in New York’s 9th Judicial District, which covers Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Orange and Dutchess counties. In addition to Castro, the Republicans are expected to nominate incumbent Orazio Bellantoni, a Supreme Court justice since 1996; Yonkers City Judge Charles Wood; and Terry Stewart, a lawyer from Pawling in Dutchess County.

The head of the Westchester Democratic party, Reginald Lafayette, said Castro was a hypocrite for running with the GOP for judge after complaining about DiFiore’s 2007 switch from Republican to Democrat.

“It shows the intent to put him in the DAs race was to beat up on Janet DiFiore,” Lafayette said. “He spent the whole time complaining that she switched parties, that he was the true Democrat. Doesn’t it show the height of hypocrisy? At least Janet stood by her convictions. She said she switched for ideological reasons.”

The Democrats will hold their judicial convention tomorrow night in White Plains.

Janet DiFiore, who is seeking re-election as Westchester County District Attorney, chided aspiring Mount Vernon City Council candidate Samuel Rivers for his comments about her yesterday. Rivers said the city’s Democratic committee was wrong to endorse DiFiore over Democratic challenger Tony Castro. 

DiFiore issued this statement today: “Mr. Rivers seriously misjudges the integrity and intelligence of the people in the city of Mt. Vernon. My positions are well-known to serious and informed voters. I am a recognized leader in advocating for reform of the drug laws and I am not a proponent of the death penalty. Of greater concern to all should be the fact that Sam Zherka walked Tony Castro into the Board of Elections to file Castro’s petitions for District Attorney, the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of the county. Anyone who wants to be District Attorney should have better sense then to be led around by a strip club owner who is under investigation and Sam Rivers, a criminal defendant in this county.”

Reporter Rich Liebson writes:

WHITE PLAINS – Saying he was the true Democrat in the race for Westchester County district attorney, Tony Castro today said he’d submitted nominating petitions with more than 14,000 signatures in support of his primary challenge of incumbent Janet DiFiore.

“The rank and file recognize me as a true Democrat, not the candidate of a wealthy and powerful political machine,’’ he said at a news conference outside the county Board of Elections office. “The people know that we can win, and they want an independent prosecutor, not an imbedded politician, as the district attorney.”

Castro, who ran two close but unsuccessful campaigns for the job with the Democratic endorsement in the past, was snubbed by party leaders at their convention this year. The party endorsed DiFiore, who defeated Castro while running as a Republican in 2005.

She switched parties in 2007.

Castro also submitted petitions with 2,000 signatures to secure the Independence Party line in the November general election.

The Republican candidate is Dan Schorr. (more…)

The Westchester County Chiefs of Police Associations endorsed District Attorney Janet DiFiore for re-election.

The chiefs association is made up of police commissioners and chiefs from 42 local and state police agencies in Westchester County.

Ther association liked DiFiore’s “nuts and bolts understanding of police operations and the unique aspects of prosecuting crimes in Westchester County,” Association President Chief Joseph Benefico of the Pelham Police Department said in a statement. Her “accomplishments in the first term of office validate our previous endorsement and warrant this one.”

Benefico said Difiore displayed “a fair, resolute and thorough approach to criminal prosecution.”

The endorsement was made this week at the Half Moon Bay restaurant in Dobbs Ferry.

Dan Schorr, a Republican candidate for Westchester County District Attorney, is having a fundraiser Thursday at 6:30 p.m., Vintage, 171 Main Street in White Plains.Contributions start at $100. Schorr is running against incumbent Janet DiFiore. Call 914-513-3745 for information or log onto www.electdanschorr.com. 

In the race for Westchester County District Attorney, Reporter Shawn Cohen sends along this item from his in-box:

Dan Schorr, a Republican challenging Janet DiFiore, a Democrat, in next year’s Westchester District Attorney’s race, spoke out today on the controversial suspension of Pleasantville police Detective Sgt. Stephen Bonura — who got in trouble when he criticized prosecutors for allowing a career criminal to walk free. (See related story, from today’s paper, here.)

Schorr didn’t specifically defend Bonura, but offered some supportive comments. In an e-mail, he stated:

“First, I worked closely with him on the attempted murder prosecution of Sheila Davalloo and came to know him as an excellent, skilled, hard-working law enforcement officer.  In large part because of his outstanding work, the defendant was successfully convicted and sentenced to the maximum of 25 years in prison.  The Journal News extensively covered this trial in 2004.
Second, Detective Sgt. Bonura is just one of many in the Westchester law enforcement community who have recently expressed frustration with the current leadership in the DA’s Office.  I have spoken with many other law enforcement officers who cite the DA’s Office’s failure to adequately prosecute dangerous criminal defendants and its tendency to give probationary pleas to offenders who belong in prison.  While others may not have spoken out as vocally as Detective Sgt. Stephen Bonura, the sentiments he expressed are shared by many other cops throughout the county who work hard to arrest dangerous people, only to see them released by the DA’s Office.”

Dan Schorr, who’s positioning himself to run against Janet DiFiore for Westchester District Attorney, will hold a fundraiser next month at Vintage, in White Plains. Suggested donations of up to $1,000, as well as “other,” are listed on the official invite to the Oct. 16 evening event, which includes an open bar and buffet dinner.Schorr’s also launched a Web site, www.electdanschorr.com, to support his GOP bid against DiFiore, who ran as a Republican but has since changed her affiliation to the Democratic Party.

The news breaking from the Westchester County Courthouse this hour is that former Mount Mount Police Officer George Bubaris has been acquitted on all charges in the death of Rene Javier Perez, a homeless Guatemalan immigrant found dying on a country road last year.

The jury’s verdict, reached after less than a full day of deliberations, gives District Attorney Janet DiFiore one of the most high profile defeats of her tenure.

Republican Dan Schorr seems to think that Washington, D.C., campaign donnors will have an interest in who serves as Westchester’s district attorney.

Schorr, a former assistant district attorney under former DA Jeanine Pirro, sent an e-mail to supporters this morning announcing a June 17th event at Lounge 201 on Capitol Hill.

Tickets for the cocktail reception start at $50.

Schorr has not formally announced his candidacy but appears to be the leading contender for the Republican nomination to take on incumbent Janet DiFiore in 2009. DiFiore was elected on the GOP line in 2005 but switched her party affiliation to Democrat last summer.

Dan Schorr, a former assistant district attorney under Jeanine Pirro, has yet to formally announce a candidacy for Westchester District Attorney, but he does seem to be rallying county GOP leaders to his cause.

Tomorrow, White Plains Mayor Joseph Delfino will be the featured guest at a Schorr rundraiser at Vintage, a bar/restaurant on Main Street in White Plains. Tickets for the 6:30 p.m. event start at $50.

Westchester GOP Chairman Doug Colety, while not endorsing any candidate yet for the post, has made it clear that defeating incumbent Janet DiFiore is a top priority for the party in 2009.

DiFiore was a Republican when she was first elected in 2005 to replace Pirro. But she infuriated many within the party when she switched to the Democrats last summer, just weeks after Colety became chairman.