To the Editor:

It’s always such fun to watch members of the St. Lawrence County Conservative Executive Committee like James O’Neill twist themselves into political pretzels as they try to justify their latest endorsement of a liberal Democrat over a conservative Republican.

This time, they bypassed Nicholas Pignone, a U.S. Army veteran and a self-made man who put himself through college and law school after losing both his parents when he was very young, to endorse liberal Michelle Ladouceur for St. Lawrence County Surrogate Court Judge.

As a longtime, if not lifetime, member of the New York State Democrat Party, Ms. Ladouceur apparently agrees with and supports the extreme philosophies espoused by her party. Issues like defunding the police, allowing career criminals to roam free and re-offend because holding them in jail on bail is somehow unfair, limiting law abiding citizens’ Constitutional right to own a firearm, “gender transitioning” treatments for children, promoting policies that condone late-term and partial-birth abortions, allowing wide open borders and refusing to enforce immigration laws designed to protect our country.

By comparison the Conservative Party supports law enforcement and holding irresponsible citizens accountable for their criminal activities, the U.S. Constitution and all Amendments as written and intended by America’s Founders, recognizing that life begins at conception and ends at natural death, enforcing all immigration laws, and they oppose making “transgender” a special class of citizens.

Nick Pignone is the only true conservative in the race for Surrogate Court Judge. It’s that simple. If the St. Lawrence County Conservative Executive Committee couldn’t bring itself to endorse Mr. Pignone, why throw their principles out the window and endorse a liberal Democrat? Why did they endorse liberal Nicole Duve over conservative Judge Greg Storie three years ago? Is it just a coincidence that this same Conservative Executive Committee endorses attractive liberal females over male candidates who reflect their Party’s conservative values?

Most enrolled Conservatives I know support candidates who share their beliefs in the bedrock issues and policies that separate them from the members of other parties who tend to vacillate and blow in the current political winds.

Only one Surrogate Court Judge shares those philosophies, which are shared by most of the citizens of St. Lawrence County.

That candidate is Nicholas Pignone. Don’t let them fool you into thinking otherwise.

Joseph D. Gray
Massena