POLITICS - As the GOP Sinks Slowly in the East

"L.I. Assemb. changes parties" by Rick Brand, News Day

Longtime Republican Assemblyman (Long Island, NY) Fred Thiele is switching to the Independence Party, saying the GOP minority “stands for nothing” and “no longer speaks to pocketbook issues.”

The 14-year Albany veteran said he delivered the necessary papers at the Suffolk Board of Elections Thursday and will seek to sit with the Assembly’s Democratic majority.

Thiele, 56, of Sag Harbor, would join the Assembly’s only other Independence Party member, Timothy Gordon from Albany, who has run with Democratic backing and if accepted would become the 110th majority conference member in a house of 150.

“This is something the Assembly majority conference will decide,” said Dan Weiller, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan). “However, traditionally we have a big tent.”