Michael Torres elected Suffolk Conservative Party chairman for churches bailouts, ny const art 1 sec 3
Claude Solnik
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Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Michael Torres in 2014. Credit: James Carbone
Michael Torres, a former chairman of the Islip Town Conservative Party, has been elected to lead the Suffolk County Conservatives.
Torres, 47, of Eastport, was unanimously elected Tuesday at a convention at the IBEW 25 union hall in Hauppauge. About 75 committee members attended the socially distant event — which in normal times draws about 800 participants — and about 600 people voted by proxy to comply with health guidelines, officials said.
Torres succeeds Frank Tinari, who stepped down from his post to serve as vice chair of the state Conservative Party.
Torres, deputy director of operations for the Suffolk County Off-Track Betting Corp., is a past chairman of the Islip Town Conservatives.
In an interview, Torres said his primary goal is to "get more elected Conservatives in office."
Tinari said he believes the Suffolk Conservative Party — the largest in the state — is in a strong position with Torres as leader after a "turbulent" period over the past few years.
Tinari became chairman in 2016 after former chair Edward Walsh was convicted of federal charges for illegally collecting pay from the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department while golfing, gambling and politicking on county time.
"I’m confident that Mike Torres is going to do an excellent job increasing the role of the Suffolk County Conservative Party," said Tinari, who also was elected Huntington Conservative leader Tuesday.
"He’s tough, and he will protect and defend his party," county Republican chairman Jesse Garcia said of Torres.
Torres, the county Conservatives' first Hispanic chairman, worked previously for the county Board of Elections in a patronage job controlled by Republicans.
Torres was fired in 2015, but in a subsequent federal lawsuit he asserted he was dismissed because he refused to endorse a particular GOP judicial candidate. The case was dismissed in March, records show.
In 2017, Torres pleaded guilty to a noncriminal violation of disorderly conduct for failing to disclose on a 2013 Islip Town Board of Reassessment Review application that he had a prior misdemeanor conviction for promoting gambling.
Rachelle Blidner covers Suffolk County government, politics and breaking news.
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