Lettre’s Democrats

Registered Democrats have been doing Ed Lettre’s dirty work this season

BY DYLAN SKRILOFF

Town employees of Clarkstown and Ramapo who are registered Democrats have done a large share of the petition gathering for Conservative Party director Ed Lettre’s efforts to fill committee seats, the Rockland County Times has learned.

Well-known Democrats Joel Epstein, code enforcer of the Town of Clarkstown, and Mona Montal, director of purchasing of the Town of Ramapo, each notarized signatures for dozens of committee positions. Of records the Rockland County Times has reviewed thus far, Epstein notarized signatures for about three dozen committeemen and Montal notarized signatures for about a dozen and a half.

In order to notarize such signatures legally, the notary must be present at the time of the signature. Only party members can gather signatures, with the exception of public notaries.

Sabrina Greco, director of operations of the Town of Clarkstown, also notarized signatures for about a dozen committee seats. The Rockland County Times only has surveyed about half the committee petitions, so far.

Democratic candidate Ricky Sanchez told the Rockland County Times he secured several signatures for the Conservative Party as “a favor.” Sanchez is not a notary, so he collected the signatures with notary Dian Cifuni present. He told the Rockland County Times he is not involved in any internal Conservative Party politicking and whoever wins the chairmanship of that party is none of his business.

Last week former Conservative Party chairman, Nicholas Longo, told the Rockland County Times he was on the verge of taking the Conservative Party back from Ed Lettre and party chair Mary Loeffler. Lettre and Loeffler had taken leadership from Longo, now 72 years old, over 10 years ago in a surprise coup.

Longo alleged in last week’s article that town supervisors were working with Lettre to keep his side in power, even though the supervisors are not registered Conservatives. Epstein and Greco are both close subordinates of Clarkstown Supervisor Alex Gromack and Mona Montal is a subordinate and well-known enthusiastic supporter of Christopher St. Lawrence.

Adding to the intrigue, both Longo’s team and Lettre’s team have submitted approximately the same number of committeemen to the Board of Elections. However, Longo says he believe Lettre rushed in his work and has accidentally signed up committeemen who will vote for Longo’s team to be in power.

  alex gromack, Clarkstown, conservative party, democrat, democrats, dylan skriloff, ed lettre, gathering, joel epstein, lettre, local, longo, mona montal, petition, political, politics, Ramapo, registered, republicans, ricky sanchez, sabrina greco