Voters in Southold Town will head to the polls on Primary Day tomorrow to cast their ballots for the candidate they’d like to see on the Republican, Conservative and Independence lines for town justice in the upcoming election.
In June, local attorney Eileen Powers announced that she would wage a primary for the town justice seat on the GOP, Conservative and Independence lines.
Her news came after the GOP announced William Goggins as their choice to receive the Republican nomination; the Dems nominated Brian Hughes to run for town justice.
The candidates are running for the position currently held by Justice Rudy Bruer, who will retire this year.
Powers’ past experience includes serving as deputy chief of the major crimes bureau for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office; she began her career as in intern for former Assemblyman Joseph Sawicki of Southold and was appointed to the town’s ethics committee by former Southold Supervisor Jean Cochran. Powers, currently in private practice in Riverhead, is also a former Southampton Town attorney.
“I have been a trial attorney for 23 years. I know what my clients want in a judge. I know what attorneys want in a judge. No matter who they are, people really just want a judge who knows the law, works hard and is fair,” Powers said. “Local courts are the closest to the people and I bring the knowledge, ability and experience needed to mete out justice fairly and impartially as a Southold Town justice.”
Mattituck attorney Goggins, who ran for the seat in 2013 but lost the race to incumbent Justice Bill Price, has been representing clients since 1993 in Supreme Court, as well as county, district and local justice courts, in more than 200 bench and jury trials. He has also represented clients before the planning board, trustees, and zoning court of appeals.
He is a member of the New York State Bar, the Bar of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, and the United States Tax Court, he said.
Raised in Southold Town, Goggins graduated from Mattituck High School in 1978 and lives in New Suffolk with his wife Donna; they are the parents of five grown children.
Goggins said in the past, he’s served as president and zone chairman of the Cutchogue Lions Club and was former chairman of the Mattituck-Cutchogue Fund for Students; he also coached youth soccer and baseball and served as a pro bono arbitrator.
In addition, Goggins said he is the endorsed candidate of the Republican, Conservative and Independence parties and was found qualified to serve as town justice by the Suffolk County Bar Association.
A veteran, Goggins said he was honorably discharged as a sergeant and earned an expert marksmanship ribbon as well as a good conduct medal; he says his military experience helped shape his desire to help and protect others.
Meanwhile, at the Democratic nominating convention, Hughes, who is also a firefighter, explained why he’s running for town justice: After attending law school, he served as an assistant attorney general for New York State investigating corruption in New York City’s court system and later, worked for the department of investigations in New York City, uncovering “criminal or civil wrongdoings, like stealing the public’s money.”
He has 30 years of courtroom and trial experience as an attorney, with a longtime practice in Southold; in addition, he has coordinated multi-agency investigations and trials involving homicides, arson, public corruption and gang activity, he said.
Hughes completed a judicial ethics training program, is qualified by the Suffolk County Bar Association, is an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and has served as chair of the Southold Town ethics committee since 2010. He was also bureau chief and executive assistant district attorney in the Brooklyn district attorney’s office and served as inspector general, providing oversight over criminal activity in New York City municipal agencies.
Of the recent Southold justice court clerk who “absconded” with town funds, he said the goal is to restore ethics and confidentiality to the town’s justice court.
“Somebody wasn’t watching the cash box,” he said. “A quarter of a million dollars was removed from our coffers. That’s a significant amount of money. This is Southold.”
According to the Suffolk County Board of Elections, voters tomorrow will weigh in for either Powers or Goggins on the GOP line and Goggins, Powers, or Hughes on the Conservative and Independence lines.
To find your polling place, click here. Polls open at 6 a.m. tomorrow and close at 9 p.m.
