Essex, Franklin counties to hold primaries Tuesday
By NATHAN BROWN and PETER CROWLEY, Enterprise StaffFact Box
Polling places
Brighton: Brighton Town Hall, 12 county Route 31, Paul Smiths.
Franklin: Vermontville Town Hall, 7 Cold Brook Road.
Harrietstown: Town Hall, 39 Main St., Saranac Lake.
North Elba: District 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6, Town Hall, Lake Placid; districts 2 and 7, Town Hall, Saranac Lake.
St. Armand: Town Hall, Bloomingdale.
Santa Clara: Town Hall, 5359 state Route 30, Saranac Inn.
Tupper Lake: Aaron Maddox Hall, 179 Demars Boulevard.
The polls open at noon and close at 9 p.m.
SARANAC LAKE - Tuesday is Primary Day, and in the Tri-Lakes area there will be an election for registered Conservatives in Franklin County and the town of St. Armand in Essex County, plus one more for Republicans in the Essex County town of North Elba.
Judicial delegate
Conservatives are holding a primary for judicial delegates for the Fourth Judicial District's 114th State Assembly District. Each party will select judicial delegates who will go on to a nominating convention Sept. 22 in Manhattan, where they will choose which three of four candidates the Conservative Party will endorse for state Supreme Court justice in the Nov. 4 general election.
Robert E. White of Rainbow Lake and Garry F. Douglas of Peru are running for the position of judicial delegate. White's candidacy is notable because he supports the lone Democrat who is challenging the three incumbent Republicans.
For judicial alternate delegate, Michael A. Boon of Saranac Lake and Lawrence E. Wolff of Ellenburg Center are running.
The Conservative judicial delegates will have four candidates to choose from at the convention: James Dawson of Essex County, Vito Caruso of Schenectady and Stephen Ferradino of Saratoga Springs, all Republicans, are the three incumbent judges seeking re-election. Robert Muller of Queensbury, a Democrat, is challenging them.
The top three vote-getters in the general election will go on to 14-year terms on the court.
White, a lawyer who practices in Saranac Lake, said he decided to run in order to support Muller, whom he said he has admired as an attorney. He also supports Caruso but said he has yet to choose a third candidate to vote for, if elected. White is a former Republican who said he switched to Conservative because he felt the Republican Party in New York was too much like the Democratic Party.
White said it might get voters' attention if the Conservative Party were to join him in endorsing a Democrat like Muller.
"In a close election, it could make a difference," White said.
Douglas, who directs the Plattsburgh/North Country Chamber of Commerce, was on vacation and could not be reached for comment Friday or this morning.
The 114th Assembly District, which is represented by Janet Duprey, includes all of Franklin and Clinton counties and the town of St. Armand in Essex County. The Fourth Judicial District also includes St. Lawrence County and goes east to the Vermont border, then south to include Montgomery, Schenectady and Washington counties. The district covers 26 percent of the state's land mass, and its courts serve approximately 840,000 people annually.
North Elba town clerk
The only other primary in Franklin and Essex counties will be for the position of town clerk and tax collector in North Elba, where both Lori Dudley and Brenda LaPierre will be on the Republican line. LaPierre dropped out of the race on July 23, which was too late for her name to be taken off the ballot.
LaPierre has said she dropped out because she figured town officials heavily favored Dudley. LaPierre said she was disappointed to learn, just after Clerk Margaret "Peggy" Gadwaw resigned and LaPierre filed to run for the job she had lost to Gadwaw last November, that Dudley had been chosen to fill in as clerk in Gadwaw's absence.
There are no other candidates for this position currently for the Nov. 4 general election. The filing deadline was Aug. 23 for independent challengers. It is Sept. 16 for members of third parties.
