Philip Pidot on Wednesday dropped his federal lawsuit to force a Republican primary in the 3rd Congressional District and plans to file a new one, delaying the July 11 hearing on the matter.
Pidot dismissed the suit he filed himself June 27 in Central Islip’s federal court because his newly hired attorney, Jerry Goldfeder of Manhattan-based Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, is “amending and enhancing it,” said Jerry McKinstry, a Pidot spokesman.
McKinstry said Thursday a new complaint will be filed “in the next few days,” but oral arguments will not begin Monday as originally scheduled.
“We voluntarily withdrew the case to enhance the complaint – a routine litigation procedure,” Goldfeder said in a statement. “We are confident that the court will allow the Republican voters to have a primary.”
Pidot’s campaign said Thursday it hired Goldfeder because John Sweeney, the lawyer who represented Pidot in lower courts, will be traveling to the Republican National Convention, which begins July 18 in Cleveland.
The dismissal of the first suit further extends a more than two-month court battle over whether there should be a GOP primary between Pidot, of Glen Cove, and state Sen. Jack Martins of Old Westbury.
Pidot’s original complaint asked Judge Joseph Bianco to reschedule the primary for later this summer after state Supreme Court Judge Arthur Diamond’s June 24 ruling that there was not enough time to get Pidot’s name on the ballot for the June 28 primary.
Diamond found Pidot had the required 1,250 signatures from Republican voters to make him eligible for a primary despite the state Board of Elections saying otherwise. But he waited too long to appeal the Supreme Court’s dismissal of his challenge to the Board of Elections ruling, Diamond said.
Martins won the Republican Party’s endorsement in March in the North Shore district stretching from northeast Queens to northwest Suffolk County, but will not be certified for the general election ballot against Democrat Tom Suozzi until September.
Martins’ campaign strategist E. O’Brien Murray has said Pidot’s failure to get a primary is his own fault because he delayed the legal process. Pidot’s campaign has countered that Martins’ lawyers dragged out court proceedings.
In an email, Murray called Pidot a “perennial fringe candidate” and noted he filed a motion to withdraw his complaint the same day Martins’ legal team filed a response.
“His actions confirm what we have said all along — he has been needlessly delaying this process,” Murray said.
