The Race for Rockland County Executive has become a 3-way race once again. A state judge returned Suffern Mayor Dagan Lacorte to the Democratic primary ballot for county executive. Supreme Court Justice Gerald Loehr found Lacorte’s ballot petitions had more than the 2,000 needed signatures for placement on the Sept. 10 primary ballot.

“It won’t be the special interests’ choice this September- it will be yours,” Mr. Lacorte worte in an email to supporters,” Monday night. “I will bring proven, independent leadership to Rockland’s government. I will bring taxes under Governor Cuomo’s property tax cap, as I have as Suffern’s mayor, expand programs for our seniors and provide independent leadership.”

The decision to restore Lacorte’s name on the ballot, dealt a blow to the campaign of County executive candidate David Fried, a former legislator and Spring Valley judge, who three of his volunteers had challenged the petitions submitted by Lacorte in an attempt to push him off the ballot.

Fried’s campaign will decide Tuesday or Wednesday whether to appeal the judge’s decision to a higher court, his campaign spokesman Stephen Papas told the Journal News. “I am disappointed that the bipartisan determination of the Rockland County Board of Elections was overturned,” Mr. Fried said in a statement. “The voters of Rockland deserve better from their candidates than the fraudulent petitions submitted by the campaigns of Dagan Lacorte and Vladimir Leon.”