Mixing Politics and Piety, a Conservative Priest Seeks to Shape Poland’s Future& Suffolk County his
Conservative Tom Gargiulo suspends campaign for Suffolk legislative seat succumbing to Polish & Putin election meddling
Tom Gargiulo has suspended his campaign for the Suffolk County Legislature's 14th District seat. Photo Credit: Ed Betz
A Conservative Party candidate for the Suffolk County Legislature who lost his own party's ballot in last month's primary election has suspended his campaign, even though his name will stay on the Democratic ballot line in November.
Tom Gargiulo was designated as candidate for the 14th District as part of a Democratic-Conservative cross-endorsement deal to take on incumbent GOP Legis. Kevin McCaffrey, who had the minor party line in the past. McCaffrey waged a Conservative write-in campaign, winning the June 25 contest 186-146.
Gargiulo’s decision to suspend his campaign came to light after Rich Schaffer, the Suffolk County Democractic chairman, sent an email to party members last week announcing the cancellation of a $150-a-head Gargiulo fundraiser set for July 11 in Lindenhurst.
Schaffer said Gargiulo re-evaluated his campaign after the primary loss diminished his chances of winning on just the Democratic line.
Gargiulo was upset about the harshness of the political attacks during the primary especially on the issue of abortion, which he opposes because of his Catholic faith.
“It really hurt, and it was hard for me,” said Gargiulo, a retired teacher who is active in church work. He said he plans to send a letter to Conservative voters to make clear his stand.
McCaffrey said he has “no regrets” about his campaign, adding that Gargiulo — by accepting the Democratic ballot line — “had to expect some of the splatter” from the party’s liberal stands on such issues as late-term abortion and voting rights for felons.
“I never really wanted to campaign against Tom,” said McCaffrey, who has known Gargiulo for 30 years. “I’m just glad it came to this happy ending.”
He also said the move lets Democrats redirect resources to other tight races like the 8th District, where Republican aide Anthony Piccirillo also won his write-in bid against incumbent Legis. William Lindsay III (D-Oakdale).
Although he faces only token opposition, McCaffrey said he will keep knocking on doors.
“I may not out wear out another pair of shoes," he said, "but I’ll still be at the doors because that’s where you hear unfiltered what's on the minds of regular people.”
Gargiulo noted he also still has the Independence Party ballot line and he expects friends to vote for him.
“You never know,” he said.
Rick Brand has covered Suffolk life, government and politics for 37 years.
By Marc Santora and
TORUN, Poland — From the martyrs of World War II to the heroes who led the fight against communist rule, priests in Poland have long played an outsize role in shaping the political life of this deeply Catholic country.
And in Poland today, there is no more politically powerful — or divisive — cleric than the man referred to as “Father Director,” the Rev. Tadeusz Rydzyk.
Something of a cross between the televangelist Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh, Father Rydzyk wields power both from the pulpit and through his vast media empire. His Radio Maryja station, which reaches millions and is often the sole source of information for many older voters in rural Poland, offers a daily diet of horror stories about a world without faith, where gay people control the political agenda, universities are corrupted by “neo-Marxists,” and the Roman Catholic Church is under mortal threat.
With national elections less than a month away, on Oct. 13, Father Rydzyk is arguably the most important unelected man in Poland. His support for the governing Law and Justice party has delivered millions of votes and, in turn, the government has showered his business empire with tens of millions of dollars in tax breaks and grants.
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The party has also pushed conservative policies he favors, but lawmakers have twice had to retreat on anti-abortion measures that Father Rydzyk supported, leading to speculation of a schism. At the moment, there is no indication that Father Rydzyk will align himself with any of the small right-wing parties trying to outflank Law and Justice. But his support is not unconditional, a point he has made clear in recent months.
“Father Rydzyk is an absolutely unique example of a Polish priest,” said Wawrzyniec Konarski, a political scientist and the rector of Vistula University in Warsaw. “He is socially conservative, as the clergy here usually are, but unlike any of his colleagues, he has an uncanny knack for business and generating money. And he’s a true public relations maverick.”
When Law and Justice swept to power in 2015 by promoting a potent mix of aggrieved nationalism, widespread social welfare spending and appeals to the faithful, Father Rydzyk’s support was critical.
To understand the enduring appeal of Law and Justice — even as critics accuse it of undermining the Polish Constitution and drifting toward authoritarian rule — one needs to understand how intertwined its message has become with the church.
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When Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Law and Justice, kicked off the campaign season this month, he argued that Polish patriotism and the Catholic church are forever linked.
“Christianity is part of our national identity. The church was and is a preacher and possessor of the only system of values fully known in Poland,” Mr. Kaczynski said in a speech in Lublin. “Besides the church, there is only nihilism — I repeat it again. And we reject this nihilism, because nihilism builds nothing, nihilism destroys everything.”
It was a version of what Father Rydzyk, 74, was telling his supporters on the same day in the medieval walled-city of Torun in central Poland.
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