Politics on the Hudson

It might be easier to keep track of the public officials and municpalities not being sued by Sam Zherka. This time it’s Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore who is being charged with violating the First Amendment rights of the Westchester Guardian publisher and owner of a real estate empire that includes a Manhattan strip club.

The violation, Zherka says, came in a March 21, 2007 phone call from Janet DiFiore. It left the 6-foot-3 Zherka “chilled in the exercise of his First Amendment protected rights, humiliated, menaced and rendered anxious and upset, and otherwise rendered sick and sore.”

That conversation, according to Zherka’s legal papers, came after the Westchester Guardian published a report about supposed dealings between Independence Party chairman Giulio Cavallo and DiFiore’s husband, attorney Dennis Glazer, concerning the Independence Party’s endorsement in the District Attorney’s race in 2005. Read more about this in The Journal News and LoHud.com.

It appears that Westchester District Attorney Janet DiFiore has at least one potential challenger interested in running against her in 2009 — her first re-election effort and her first campaign as a Democrat.

Dan Schorr, a former assistant district attorney who served when Jeanine Pirro ran the office, is holding a Feb. 27 fundraiser at Zanzibar in Manhattan. According to the invite — a copy of which was circulated via e-mail by the Westchester GOP — the event is in support of “Dan Schorr for Westchester County District Attorney.” Tickets start at $99.

Schorr, who left the district attorney’s office before DiFiore was elected in 2005, has yet to formally announce a candidacy for the office. He is perhaps best known as the attorney who prosecuted Sheila Davalloo, a Pleasantville woman was convicted in 2004 of attempted murder for nearly killing her husband during a kinky sex game.

Republican leaders, stung by DiFiore’s decision last summer to change her registration and become a Democrat, have vowed to vigorously contest her re-election campaign.

One might think that after helping to convince two of the biggest figures in Westchester Republican politics – Mike Spano and Janet DiFiore – to switch parties, Democratic Chairman Reginald LaFayette might be getting a swelled ego.

Not so, says the always affable and well-dressed party leader.

“I’m just a small town chair that happened to jump in deep waters and is still staying afloat,” LaFayette joked in a telephone interview.

Meanwhile, here’s how some other political figures in Westchester reacted to DiFiore’s party switch:

“Janet DiFiore is an outstanding, dynamic and independent DA, her party affiliation is irrelevant and she will continue to serve Westchester well,”’ said former state Sen. Nicholas Spano, a Republican and close friend of DiFiore’s.

“I have had an excellent working relationship with Janet DiFiore regardless of political party affiliation. In fact, ever since she became District Attorney, we have created a partnership in our efforts to protect Westchester residents and keep them safe. While her party affiliation made no difference to me when it came to working together, the fact that she is now a Democrat, is great,” said Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano, who is not related to the former state senator.

Not every Westchester Democrat is celebrating Janet DiFiore’s decision to bolt from the GOP.

Tony Castro, the Democratic Party’s candidate for district attorney in 2001 and 2005, said DiFiore’s switch shows that “she will do what she has to do in her self interest.”

“It surprised me that she chose to switch to the Democratic Party,” Castro said. “It was only two years ago that she said the party was being soft on cime.”

Castro, who refused to rule out a candidacy for district attorney in 2009, said DiFiore’s move shows the strength of the Democratic Party in Westchester but it is not necessarily a good thing for county residents.

“It reinforces the notion that we are becoming a county of Demo-publicans,” Castro said in a telephone interview. “There is almost no distinction anymore between a Republican and a Democrat in this county.”

Castro added: “I don’t think it is good for the people of the county for one party to have control over all its political affairs.”

Westchester Democratic Party Chairman Reginald LaFayette called Castro’s comments “strange.”

“If expected to win at the time he was running with (County Executive) Andy Spano and (County Clerk) Tim Idoni, it would have meant that the party would have had three Democrats in office at the time,” LaFayette said.

In a telephone interview a few moments ago, Westchester’s newly-Democratic District Attorney Janet DiFiore said her decision to switch parties was “intensely personal” but steadfastly refused to offer any additional insights into why she bolted from the GOP.

“Given my position as district attorney, the most important position in local government, the underlying reasons for the switch are not important,” said DiFiore, who after filing her paperwork at the Board of Elections this morning left for a family vacation on Long Island.

“And that’s because those things do not affect or impact the way in which I do my job as the district attorney and the way in which I run my office,” DiFiore continued. “And I hope you all realize that by now.”

In a written statement to the media this morning, DiFiore said she switched parties “because the principles of the Democratic Party are closely aligned with my views.”

On the telephone, DiFiore declined to elaborate on that statement.

DiFiore’s decision has already generated a sharp reaction from the leader of the Westchester GOP, Doug Colety.

“Janet DiFiore’s decision to abandon the Republican Party and those who worked so hard for her in her races for County Court, Supreme Court and District Attorney has proven her to be an opportunistic, self-serving politician who is more concerned with her own re-election than the public safety of the residents of Westchester County who elected her as a Republican on three separate occasions,” Colety said in a statement.

Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore made the rumors official today: She has changed her party affiliation, registering as a Democrat.

DiFiore joins Assemblyman Mike Spano of Yonkers as the second major Republican in the county lately to abandon the GOP.

Asked by my colleague Glenn Blain if he expected DiFiore to be the Democratic nominee for District Attorney in the next campaign cycle, Reginald LaFayette, chairman of the county Democratic Party, said: “Of course I do.”

Her statement, after the jump.

Is Westchester District Attorney Janet DiFiore contemplating a switch to the Democratic Party?

That’s been the on-again, off-again rumor buzzing around Westchester political circles for weeks. And since Assemblyman Mike Spano’s announcement last week that he was dumping the Republican Party and becoming a Democrat, the DiFiore talk has begun to percolate again.

When asked this week whether DiFiore might change her party registration from Republican to Democrat, spokesman Lucian Chalfen offered a very non-definitive statement.

“We don’t talk about politics in this office,” Chalfin said, quoting his boss’ response to the question.

Hmmmm.

DiFiore, who is close friends with several top Westchester Democrats, including County Executive Andrew Spano, is in the middle of her first term and does not need to run for re-election again until 2009. So there’s no immediate rush for her to make a decision.

But losing DiFiore would be a huge blow to the Westchester GOP. She is the only Republican holding a countywide elected office and, along with Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone, one of the party’s few remaining marquee figures in Westchester.