Election 2015: Meet Your Riverhead Town Candidates
Town Justice, four-year term
Candidates:
Jeanmarie Costello
Hamlet: Riverhead
Occupation: Attorney
Party lines: Democrat, Green, Working Families, Women’s Equality
About her: Ms. Costello, 58, is an attorney in private practice on Griffing Avenue. She started her career in the New York City Law Department, where she worked for six years. She moved back to Riverhead in 1986 to take over her family’s law practice, which she now runs, specializing in criminal, matrimonial, family, real estate and trust and estate law. Ms. Costello, who has two children, is a member of the town’s Board of Ethics, Riverhead Community Awareness Program and has served as president of Aid to the Developmentally Disabled.
Her pitch: Ms. Costello seeks to continue her family’s presence behind the bench. Her father, Thomas, served as a town justice in the 1960s. A registered blank, Ms. Costello said she has never registered with a party or been involved with politics. The St. John’s University School of Law grad has volunteered in several organizations in Riverhead and beyond; the Suffolk County Bar Association has honored her with three Pro Bono awards throughout her career as an attorney.
In her words: “I have the temperament, integrity and intelligence to perform the duties required of this office.”
Lori Hulse
Hamlet: Riverhead
Occupation: Assistant town attorney, private attorney
Party lines: Republican, Conservative, Independence
About her: Ms. Hulse, 48, has worked in the Town of Southold as an assistant town attorney since 2003, prosecuting town code violations, handling civil matters and also aiding the town in drafting its own code. A graduate of St. John’s University School of Law, Ms. Hulse spent eight years in the Kings County District Attorney’s office, leaving as deputy bureau chief, before moving to Suffolk County’s major crime bureau for five years. She has served on the Riverhead Board of Education for a total of nine years, acting as president for four of them, and also advised the town’s Landmarks Preservation Commission for three years.
Her pitch: Ms. Hulse touts her experience as a prosecutor, noting that she has tried over 50 felonies including murder, drug, gun and domestic violence cases. In addition, she points to her management experience as deputy bureau chief — where she managed a staff of 30 — to earn a seat on the bench. The BOE member said she would shut down her existing law practice if elected town justice, though she’d like to keep her spot on the school board. Whether that would be allowed would be up to the Office of Court Administration.
In her words: “I will not continue a private practice, which takes time away and creates potential conflicts of interest.”
