Raspberry from the red beret

ALBANY — Guardian Angels founder and longtime radio host Curtis Sliwa — who moonlights as chairman of the state Reform Party founded by Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino — makes no apologies for using the organization to endorse Astorino’s Democratic challenger.

The Reform Party’s executive committee unanimously backed state Sen. George Latimer — over Astorino — for county exec.

“For me, it was difficult to make that decision since I was a personal friend of Astorino’s and had campaigned for him previously,” Sliwa (photo) told the Daily News.

“But in recent conversations that I have had with him, he seems to have drifted away from the positions of our Reform Party platform.”

The red-beret-wearing Sliwa said that from now on, the Reform Party “will no longer be a rubber stamp for the Republican Party.”

“Whoever the best candidate is will get our endorsement, regardless of party affiliation,” he said. “And in this race, without a doubt, George Latimer is the best candidate.”

Astorino, in an unsuccessful run for governor in 2014, created the party under a different name to attract voters opposed to Common Core education standards.

Looking to tap into anger over ongoing government scandals, he later changed the name to the Reform Party.

Last year, Sliwa and a close ally, Staten Island activist Frank Morano, grabbed control of the party in a move that’s still being challenged in court.

“There’s nothing very tricky about this: Thousands of New Yorkers busted their backsides to create a ballot line in 2014, and a few individuals are now trying to steal it. It’s a tale as old as prostitution,” Astorino spokesman William O’Reilly said.

He added that “Mr. Astorino is the obvious reform candidate — he passed term limits on himself, shrunk the size of his own budget, and never once raised taxes in his seven years in office — but we’ll let a judge decide that. There’s work to be done in Westchester; fretting about this is a waste of time.”

Sliwa, in his role as Reform Party chairman, was recently arrested outside Gracie Mansion trying to serve Mayor de Blasio with papers attempting to get him kicked off the Working Families Party ballot line.

Sliwa’s Reform Party gave its line to former City Councilman Sal Albanese, who is challenging de Blasio in the Democratic primary. But the Board of Elections said the move was improper.