Calcaterra nominates replacement to oppose LaValle

Democratic State Senate candidate Regina Calcaterra announced Wednesday
that she is withdrawing from her race against Senator Ken LaValle, and
has instead passed the torch to one of her staffers.
The
announcement comes one day after the New Suffolk resident lost an
appeal of a State Supreme Court decision that had her thrown off the
ballot for not meeting residency requirements.
Ms. Calcaterra said
she is instead asking county Democrats and Working Families officials
to designate her petitions to colleague Jennifer Maertz, an attorney
from Rocky Point. Ms. Maertz, who has worked on the Calcaterra campaign
for the past year, had sought a spot on the Brookhaven Town Board in
2009, but failed to get the nomination from the town committee.
Ms. Calcaterra said in a statement Thursday that Ms. Maertz is the right person to earn the nomination.
“[She]
has been at my side throughout this campaign meeting with voters and
working with me to build solutions to our problems,” Ms. Calcaterra
said. “Jennifer’s platform is in complete sync with mine, and I want to
let my supporters know that she will not just run as hard a campaign as
I have, but she will provide Senate District 1 with the strong
leadership and fighting spirit it has, for decades, been lacking in the
state Senate.”
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