Metro

Dad’s bid to ‘steal’ elex in LI teen’s run

A bitter Long Island school-board race turned bizarre yesterday when the father of a teenage candidate swiped a ream of sensitive election documents and sprinted away with them, officials said.

Jeff Lafazan, the dad of candidate Josh Lafazan, 18, a high school senior, grabbed a list of absentee ballot recipients in the race pitting his son against four other candidates for three spots on the Syosset board, officials said.

Voting is today, and if his son wins, he’ll be the state’s youngest elected official.

“Mr. Lafazan removed the records without permission and ran away,” District Clerk Christine Costa said yesterday.

“A chase by district security ensued. The resident escaped with the records and Nassau County police were called.”

But Lafazan says his son’s opponents trumped up the charge to derail the teen’s attempt to defeat two entrenched incumbents.

Cops said they were investigating — but no arrests were made as of last night.

“I’m right here in my home,” Lafazan said. “I’m not hiding from anyone.”

The mortgage broker repeatedly asked school officials for the documents to see if his son’s friends who are now away at college had requested absentee ballots.

“These are public documents,” he said. “They kept stonewalling me.”

They were finally made available, and when he arrived at the district office, he thought they had made copies for his personal use.

“Costa put them on a table and left,” he said. “I thought it was a copy, so I started to leave.”

As for running away, he says he has a simple defense.

“I’m a fat guy,” he said. “Who am I running from? I’m sure there’s videotape of the whole thing.”

The incident angered young Josh Lafazan, who said that he hopes to unseat entrenched interests in today’s election.

“The tactics that the Syosset school administration are using should be an insult to the intelligence of the Syosset voters,” he fumed.

“This district will do anything to prevent me from winning.”

Additional reporting by Kieran Crowley