PEEKSKILL In yet another twist in the citys infamously rough and tumble politics, Democratic city council candidate Reginald Johnson has been forced to withdraw from the race after being told he would not be able to keep his county attorney job if elected.
Democratic District 1 leader and former party chair Darren Rigger confirmed the news Tuesday after it was first reported on a local blog.
I think its horrible they would put him in that position, Rigger said. Rigger said that Johnsons supervisor in the legal department, an appointee of Republican County Executive Robert Astorino, told him after he had finished colleting petitions that he would be forced to take an unpaid leave of absence from his role as a county attorney if he was elected to the Peekskill Common Council. Rigger said as far as the county Democrats know, there is no written county policy forbidding people like Johnson from running.
The opinion of the attorney for the [Westchester] Board of Legislators, who works with Chairman Ken Jenkins and the Democratic majority, is that it is not illegal or a conflict or reason he should take an unpaid leave, Rigger said.
Rigger said the Peekskill Democrats committee on vacancy would be able to fill Johnsons space on the 2011 ticket and were already vetting candidates. Johnson replaced another county employee, Lawrence Cunningham, on the ticket last month. Cunningham learned he was unable to run because the county transportation department recieved federal funding, a violation of the Federal hatch Act.The Democratic ticket also has the endorsement of the Working Families Party and more surprisingly, the Independence Party line. This is the first time a Peekskill Democratic slate has been endorsed by the Independence Party, Rigger said.
Westchester County Board of Legislators spokesman Tom Staudter said that according to attorneys the board has consulted, there was no law saying that all county employees cannot run for office. However, many county employees step down when elected, he said. Calls to Johnson were not immediately returned.
County Executive spokesman Ned McCormack referred questions to the county executive's communications manager Donna Greene, who said that the law department has a longstanding policy which discourages the acceptance of outside employment by assistant county attorneys which may result in conflicts of interest.
"That question does arise where the postion is a policy and decision making postion which could involve decisions regarding contracts, i.e., intermunicipal agreements, or litigation to which the County is a party," Greene said.
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