County Exec race heats up as Conservatives endorse Brahimi

In the relatively short history of the Putnam County Executive's office – which didn't exist until 1979 – every officeholder has been a Republican. But despite the conventional wisdom that Putnam remains a mostly deep red county, some GOP party stakeholders are concerned that incumbent Republican Kevin Byrne may be in danger of losing because of a rift between the Republican and Conservative parties that has included accusations of collusion, backroom dealing and personal vendettas.

Byrne, who won what some considered an upstart primary to earn the GOP nod in 2022 before running unopposed in the general election, faces Democrat Brett Yarris, whom one GOP observer called the strongest-ever Democrat to run for the office.

While Byrne has strong support from the county GOP, Putnam's Conservative Party declined to endorse him, initially backing party chair William Spain and then announcing the committee's unanimous support for activist and social media influencer Tatiana Ibrahim Brahimi, who built a 7,000-plus following as a vocal critic of the Carmel School Board.

Both Byrne and Yarris, who is also running on the Working Families line, sought the Conservative Party endorsement.

In a statement, the county Conservative Committee said the decision "was neither hurried nor made lightly."

"After careful deliberation, the committee concluded that Tatiana, a registered Conservative who affirmatively sought our endorsement, best represents the principles and values of our party," the statement said. "We further believe that she can, and will, win this election."

But many Republicans believe her candidacy will siphon votes away from Byrne and open the door for Yarris.

One Republican expressed concern that high turnout expected due to the race between Republican incumbent Mike Lawler and Democratic challenger Cait Conley for New York's 17th congressional district will benefit Democrat Yarris.

Meanwhile, the GOP Putnam County Chair Andres Gil told Mahopac News he believes the GOP-Conservative split will hurt Lawler as well as Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman.

"In a year where the Republican Party has a platform of state candidates more qualified, more liked, and more diverse than the Democrats—the local Conservative Party leadership showed their true colors," Gil said. "Rank and file Conservatives should be outraged that their leadership is attempting to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by putting forth a non-serious loudly outspoken candidate who can draw votes away from Kevin Byrne, allowing the Democrat candidate to walk into office with less than 50 percent of the vote."

In a Facebook video, Byrne accused the Conservatives of colluding with the Yarris camp by supporting Brahimi and said County Attorney Compton Spain – brother of Conservative Party leader William Spain – told him that Democrats said they would extend his tenure in the role if Yarris wins.

“Henry Lopez, a member of the Conservative Party leadership that backed this new candidate, is also actively working as a campaign manager to elect my Democratic, Working Families Party opponent, Brett Yarris," Byrne said in the video. "Yes you heard that right. A Chairman of the Conservative Party in Putnam County is running the Democrat candidate’s race.”

Byrne also said County Attorney Compton Spain (brother of Conservative Party Chair Bill Spain) “told me and members of my staff that the Democratic Party Chairwoman offered to renominate him as County Attorney if he helped Yarris.”

“The so-called Conservative Party leadership in this county has been completely compromised and has concocted a scheme working directly with the Democratic Party to split conservative votes and fool voters into flipping this entire county Mamdani blue,” Byrne said.

In an interview with Mahopac News, Democratic Party Chair Jen Colamonico called Byrne's accusations "bizarre" and denied any connection to the Conservative Party and said she didn't know why the PCCP nominated Brahimi.

In a statement on the Putnam Democratic Party website, Colamonico called Byrne's accusations "demonstrably false" and said she had not retained Spain—who separately denied having spoken with Democratic Party leaders in a written statement on County Law Office letterhead.

"This is completely untrue," Colamonico said. "Either someone fed [Byrne] incorrect information or he is grasping at straws to rationalize this shocking development" of the Conservatives choosing Brahimi.

In his Aug. 20 letter responding to Byrne's accusations, Spain said there was no arrangement concerning his future as county attorney and argued that the premise of such a deal was flawed from the start. He said the county attorney does not serve at the pleasure of the county executive and can only be removed with the concurrence of two-thirds of the County Legislature, a structure he said was intended to insulate the office from political pressure.

Spain also said he already plans to leave the office at the end of the year.

“There was therefore nothing to ‘deal’ over,” he said. “Nothing was promised to me. Nothing was offered to me. No agreement was made concerning my position.”

He added that Byrne was “not entitled to manufacture facts” and said the County Attorney’s Office should not be used as “a political bargaining chip.”

Byrne, however, doubled down on his assertions "regarding Compton Spain’s claim of being ‘offered’ renomination" if he helped Yarris in an email the following day.

"I stand by those words," Byrne said. "They are the truth, and Spain knows it."

Byrne also accused Spain of misusing taxpayer dollars by using county resources "to develop and distribute partisan campaign messaging as a personal political attack."

"That is entirely unacceptable, and the matter is under review," Byrne said.

Meanwhile, the decision to nominate Brahimi seemed to come as a shock to leaders of both parties.

Colamonico acknowledged that Yarris had met with the Conservative Committee and assumed Byrne had done the same.

"We figured it would be one or the other, or if they were mad enough at [Byrne] they would leave Spain on," she said. "But this move to Tatiana is bonkers."

Meanwhile, GOP Chair Gil said he was "confident Republicans will unify around our candidates" but accused the Conservative Party Leadership of going against the party's own values by opening the door for Yarris.

"If I were a conservative, I would be outraged and call for the immediate resignation of the Putnam Conservative Party leadership," Gil said. "Republicans want to return common sense to government... drill for natural gas to reduce energy costs, and bring fiscal accountability back to government spending."

But in an email to Mahopac News, Conservative Committee Chair William Spain said that while the party had "enthusiastically" backed Byrne in 2022 as a "reformer who would challenge the status quo" it has soured on him.

"Three and a half years later, the record speaks for itself," Spain said. "We were wrong."

Spain accused Byrne of becoming part of the establishment "he was elected to challenge."

"He has coddled liberals, protected entrenched bureaucrats and insiders, wasted taxpayer dollars and resisted meaningful reductions in spending and taxes," Spain said.

"One cannot campaign as a reformer and then spend four years tending to the establishment," he added, arguing that Byrne has not done enough to reduce taxes or reduce the size of government in Putnam County and questioning his political courage.

"Kevin is free to blame me, our committee or anyone else for his political difficulties," Spain said, calling Byrne's complaints ironic. "He is not, however, entitled to rewrite the record. We supported him. We gave him a fair opportunity to govern. We have now had three and a half years to judge the result."

"We believe Tatiana will surprise a lot of people, especially Kevin Byrne," Spain said.