Leader of Rockland Independence Party Faces Fight for Political Control

The head of Rockland County's Independence Party faces a primary election for her seat on the political group's leadership committee as a result of a court decision handed down Wednesday.

The Appellate Division of state Supreme Court, with a 5-0 ruling, overturned a lower court decision that had knocked off challengers to Independence Party Chairwoman Marsha Coopersmith. The effort to challenge Coopersmith's position and control of the Independence Party is backed by county Legislature member Frank Sparaco, R-Valley Cottage, who is a candidate for state Assembly.

Sparaco is running against incumbent Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski, D-New City, who has the Democratic and Independence Party lines in the Nov. 2 election. Sparaco, also running on the Conservative line, tried to have Zebrowski knocked off the Independence Party line in court but failed. Sparaco is now waging a write-in campaign on the Sept. 14 primary election ballot to challenge Zebrowski's hold on the Independence Party line.

Zebrowski's 94^th Assembly District includes all of Clarkstown, Haverstraw and northeastern Ramapo.

Sparaco said the leadership of the relatively small Independence Party and its endorsements are key issues in his race and in Rockland County politics because the small party's endorsement can make the difference for a candidate in a tight race on Election Day.

There are about 181,891 registered voters in Rockland County, according to Board of Elections statistics. Of those voters, 85,720 are registered Democrats, 44,380 are Republicans, 3,497 are Conservatives and 6,330 are members of the Independence Party with 543 people registered in the Working Families Party. However, Sparaco said the statistic that makes the Independence Party key in Rockland politics is the fact that there are 41,191 voters who have registered "blank" as their party affiliation.

Sparaco said many voters who do not have party affiliations often confuse the Independence Party line on the ballot as the spot to vote if you consider yourself and "independent" voter. Similarly, Sparaco noted that many Democrats who consider themselves "conservative" vote on the Conservative Party line.

The impact of so-called third party lines was clear last November in the re-election of Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef.  His opponent, then-Orangetown town supervisor Thom Kleiner, received 26,516 votes on the Democratic line while Vanderhoef received 25,700 votes on the Republican line. However, Vanderhoef also won 2,885 votes on the Independence Party Line and 4,830 on the Conservative Party line. Kleiner had another 2,346 votes on the Working Families line, but not enough to catch up to Vanderhoef.

Sparaco said that with his campaign for Assembly he also wanted to bring about change in the power structure of the Independence Party. Sparaco contends Coopersmith personally controls the party's endorsements without regard to the wishes of members of the Independence Party.

Coopersmith, who is a deputy town attorney for the Town of Clarkstown in New City, could not be reached for comment. Messages were left for her repeatedly at town offices.

The court ruling involving Coopersmith stems from a move backed by Sparaco to put Valley Cottage residents Debra Ortutay and Michael Ortutay – Sparaco relatives on his wife's side of the family who formerly lived in Brooklyn – on the primary ballot for state committee seats for the Independence Party. The state committee members effectively control the party.

Coopersmith sued in state Supreme Court to have the petitions putting the Ortutays on the Sept. 14 primary ballot declared invalid, and she won.  The challenge focused on Debra Ortutay, who voted in Brooklyn in the November 2009 election.

However, the Appellate Division judges overturned her victory on Wednesday, saying that Debra Ortutay had changed her voter registration with the Rockland Board of Elections in June and had indicated she wanted to be a member of the Independence Party. The ruling states that Debra Ortutay is eligible to be a candidate for an Independence Party position.

Sparaco said the ruling means that Coopersmith will have a direct challenge on the primary ballot from Debra Ortutay.

"This gives members of the Independence Party to a chance to decide for themselves who should run the party," said Sparaco.

Sparaco estimates the recent court battles over political lines have cost him $10,000.