Politics & Government

Rocky Point's Maertz Drops Candidacy for New York State Assembly

Jennifer Maertz will not run for vacated second assembly district seat.

Just over two months after declaring her candidacy for the empty Second Assembly District seat vacated by former Assemblyman Dan Losquadro, Jennifer Maertz, D-Rocky Point, announced Thursday that she will not be pursuing a Democratic Primary election for the seat.

“It is not worth the time and expense of litigation, particularly where there are conflict of interest issues that have not been addressed by the State Board of Elections," said a Maertz campaign spokesperson. "The litigation could be counterproductive for a successful campaign on the important issues this year.” 

The Maertz campaign called prospective primary opponent John McManmon being the son of the Democratic Deputy Commissioner of the Suffolk County Board of Elections a "conflict of interest". The campaign also announced that it is going to the new Moreland Commission on Public Corruption with the matter.

McManmon said on Friday afternoon that he is looking forward to facing Republican opponent Tony Palumbo, a New Suffolk attorney, next fall and Meartz's accusations were not even worthy of a comment.

"I'd be curious how many signatures she actually collected," he said. "The rules are the same for everybody. If you are not able to do that, then you are unable to appear on the ballot."

McManmon said he collected close to 1,500 signatures, well over the 500 required.

Maertz, meanwhile, signaled that she intends to run next year, when the remainder of Losquadro's term runs out.

“We decided to regroup and focus on the 2014 election cycle, in hopes that these oversight issues will be resolved and that specific safeguards will be put in place to avoid any conflicts of interest and to ensure a fair electoral process,” Maertz said in a release. 

The second assembly seat was vacated after Losquadro was elected as Brookhaven Town Superintendent of Highways during a special election in March.


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