ACTIVIST CALLS FOR OUSTER OF CONSERVATIVE LEADER

Newsday/Rick Brand
6/28/14
Laura Ahearn, the head of Parents for Megan's Law and the Crime Victims Center,yesterday called on state and local leaders of the Conservative Party to oust Edward Walsh asSuffolk Conservative chairman and urged local candidates not to take the minor party's endorsementuntil he steps down.  Ahearn, the group's executive director, referred to Walsh's sentencingto probation for a misdemeanor sex offense as a college student.  Ahearn said she also hasdeep concerns about reports that Walsh did not disclose the arrest on his application to thesheriff's department, where now is he is a lieutenant.  It would be an embarrassment to thepeople of Suffolk County and the members of the Conservative Party if he were to remain as theConservative Party chairman or be allowed to continue in a position in the jail where he can haveaccess to female inmates, Ahearn said.  Newsday and News 12 reported June 5 that Walsh wasarrested in 1984 while a University of Maryland student and sentenced to 12 months' probation in amisdemeanor sex offense.  He did not disclose the arrest on his application to the sheriff'sdepartment, as is required.  Walsh's lawyer has said the Maryland charge was ultimatelydismissed, sealed and expunged, and Walsh's Suffolk hiring application was thoroughly vetted, andhe has served without incident for 24 years. 
(New York)