Suffolk Notebook: Demos Targets Altschuler, GOP Targets Demos [POLL]

In the First Congressional District race, 2012 is setting up to be 2010 all over again since Ronkonkoma-based Securities and Exchange Commission prosecutor George Demos this week threw himself into the ring for the Republican nomination for Congress. The move means Demos will face St. James businessman Randy Altschuler for the GOP nod ... again.

Demos and Republican Chris Cox both lost to Altschuler in the 2010 primary.

Republican and Conservative leaders, however, didn’t exactly roll out the red carpet for Demos. In fact, they made it very clear that they view his candidacy as a potentially dangerous distraction. In 2010 Altschuler lost out to Democratic incumbent Rep. Tim Bishop by a hair in a vote that ended in a lengthy recount. But the GOP thinks it has enough momentum this year to force a different outcome.

“George Demos claims to be a conservative, but after his announcement today he might as well be on Tim Bishop’s payroll,” said Suffolk Conservative Party Chairman Ed Walsh in a statement issued jointly with the Suffolk GOP. “The fact of the matter is that Demos can’t win this race and he knows it.

The Suffolk GOP chairman, John Jay LaValle, wasn’t any kinder. (See correction.)

“We need to learn from last year’s mistakes and not let divisions within our own party allow Tim Bishop to sneak back into office again,” he said. “Our country is in the midst of a severe economic and fiscal crisis, and we need a business leader like Randy Altschuler in Washington to fix it.”

Even Republicans in Brookhaven, where Demos lives, took shots at the candidate.

“George should stand down for the good of the hard-working families of the First District, the good of the party, and abandon plans to run again. Frankly, I'm surprised he’s making this announcement when there's so little support for him locally,” said Brookhaven Town Republican Chairman Jesse Garcia.

Demos said the cool reception, however, doesn’t change anything.

"I may not be the candidate of the party bosses, but people decide elections,” he told Patch.

"If Randy Altschuler couldn't win in the year in which Republicans couldn't lose, he proved himself unelectable."

Bellone Stumps in Melville

Suffolk County Executive candidate Steve Bellone , talking business needs and economic development in perhaps the county’s hub for high-powered businesses.

His platform: Suffolk needs to support business, which often means getting out of their way.

For example, several attendees took aim at county health department policies, which they say impede their businesses.

“We put chairs on the sidewalk to draw people in so that they could eat outside if they wanted. The County Health Department came down and said we had too many chairs outside,” said Jack McCarthy, owner of McCarthy’s Pub in Southampton and president of the Suffolk County Tavern and Restaurant Association.

“It defeated the whole purpose of trying to get more people in the restaurant.” He added that small restrictions such as the chair limit are major problems for restaurants in the Hamptons because most businesses only have 16 weeks during the summer to make money.

Earlier this month, Bellone .

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misidentified the chairman of the Suffolk GOP.