Southold Voters Guide 2014: A closer look at the ballot
Tuesday, Nov. 4 is Election Day nationwide, and voters on the North Fork will be asked to choose a governor, a congressman, two state legislators, a county clerk, a state attorney general, a state and county comptroller and a handful of judges, while weighing in on special ballot propositions. There is even a special election for Town Trustee.
Click on the page numbers or links below for a closer look at what’s on the ballot:
U.S. House of Representatives
Six-term incumbent Tim Bishop, 64, (D-Southampton), is a lifelong Southampton resident who came to Congress after serving in the administration of Southampton College for 29 years, many of them as provost. He started at the school as an admissions counselor and retired in 2002 after defeating incumbent Republican Congressman Felix Grucci.
He’s focused his seventh run for office on strengthening the middle class through greater access to higher education and defending Social Security. He’s also touted the passage of the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2013, which he helped author. The legislation is designed to cut through bureaucratic red tape and strengthen the country’s water transportation networks and promote economic development.
A 12th-generation Southampton resident, Mr. Bishop received his bachelor’s degree from College of the Holy Cross and his master’s from Long Island University.
He serves on the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
Lee Zeldin, 34, (R-Shirley) is an attorney and state senator making his second run against Tim Bishop for Congress, the first being in 2008.
Mr. Zeldin is a veteran of the Iraq War. He spent four years on active duty with the U.S. Army and deployed in 2006 with the 82nd Airborne Division during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
He’s focused much of his campaign on reining in wasteful government spending and ending dysfunction in Washington. Of his almost four years in Albany, he points often to legislative work that repealed the saltwater fishing license and partially repealed the locally despised MTA payroll tax. He also won funds for the PFC Joseph Dwyer PTSD support program, which helps returning veterans cope with the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Mr. Zeldin is a major in the Army Reserves. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from SUNY/Albany and a law degree from Albany Law School.
Southold Town Trustee
David Bergen, 59, (R-Cutchogue) is a native North Forker who works as an associate dean at Suffolk Community College and has served on the Board of Trustees for nine years.
A graduate of Southold High School, he holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Miami and a master’s degree from Texas A&M.
Mr. Bergen is involved in the Peconic Bay Sailing Association and the Cutchogue Cemetery Association and is a former member of a citizen advisory committee for the Cutchogue Fire Department.
The appointed incumbent, who was previously elected but did not receive a nomination in 2013, has centered his campaign on his experience in office.
He points to his work helping to squash the state’s proposed saltwater fishing license program and authoring a law requiring safe disposal of prescription drugs as examples of the positive work he has done. He has also promoted the use of copper-free paints on boats, gotten three local creeks added to the county’s dredging list and secured grants to purchase pump-out boats in an effort to prevent boat effluent from being flushed into surface waters.
Abigail Field, 43, (D-Cutchogue) is an attorney who runs a small local practice.
She graduated from NYU Law School and holds a bachelor’s degree in geology from the University of Connecticut.
A town Democratic committeewoman, she moved to Cutchogue in 2011 from Shelter Island, where she had lived for four years.
Ms. Field said she left her job at a New York City law firm to become a “public advocate” in New Jersey, where she helped pass laws and write regulations. She also previously worked for two years as an environmental consultant, assessing soil and groundwater contamination, and was involved in a Long Island Sound cleanup campaign in Connecticut.
A freelance writer with website experience, she has made increased transparency a cornerstone of her campaign. She points to a recent meeting in which duck blind regulations were amended with little public notice or participation as a way the Trustees have failed to properly inform people of their actions.
She also thinks the Trustees could make better use of their website, social media and email lists to engage the public and share important information about key votes, public hearings and changes in regulations. Showing the shoreline boundaries between public and private property on the Trustees’ website is one place to start, she says.
New York State Assembly
Incumbent Anthony Palumbo, 44, (R-New Suffolk) is a lawyer who won the 2nd Assembly District seat in a special election last fall, defeating Democrat John McManmon with 57 percent of the vote.
Mr. Palumbo’s legislative efforts led to tax breaks in Southold for first-time homebuyers, who are now exempt from having to pay the Community Preservation Fund tax. He’s also taken a leadership role among Republican assemblymen in slowing down the much-criticized rollout of the Common Core State Standards.
Mr. Palumbo earned a bachelor’s degree in government and law, as well as a law degree, before working with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office as an assistant district attorney. He eventually became East End trial supervisor before starting a private practice in Mattituck in 2004.
Before being elected to the Assembly, Mr. Palumbo served on the Cutchogue-New Suffolk Library Board of Trustees.
Thomas Schiliro, 62, (D-Manorville) is an officer with the Suffolk County Parks police who’s making his third run for public office. The East Meadow native ran for Assembly in Nassau County in the early 1980s and for Brookhaven Town Board in 2009.
Throughout the campaign, Mr. Schiliro continued to pledge his support for the stalled Women’s Equality Act, even its divisive 10th component pertaining to abortion rights. He also supports an increase in the minimum wage.
After earning degrees in political science, Mr. Schiliro earned a master’s degree in secondary education. He went on to teach at Sachem High School before working at SUNY/Farmingdale and later at Hicksville High School, teaching law courses.
In 1995, he continued following the law when he became a member of the Suffolk County Parks Police Department, from which he intends to retire at the end of this year.
New York State Senate
State Senator Ken LaValle, 75, (R-Port Jefferson) is a lawyer who has served in his current position in Albany since 1977.
A former teacher and executive director of the state Senate education committee, he now serves as chair of its higher education committee.
Mr. LaValle is respected by many in the local environmental community and elsewhere for his authorship of the 1993 Pine Barrens Preservation Act. He was also one of the architects of the state’s STAR school property tax relief program.
Mr. LaValle, a graduate of Hempstead High School, has degrees from Adelphi University, SUNY/New Paltz and Touro Law School.
Michael Conroy, 57, (D-Manorville) has experience as a construction worker and labor representative.
He is a 37-year member of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, having served it as an 14-year executive board member as well as a political director and an organizing director.
He’s been an active Democrat for 20 years, during which time he’s been vice chairman of both the Suffolk County Democratic Committee and Brookhaven Town Democratic Committee.
Mr. Conroy is a former chairman of the Suffolk County Democratic Committee screening committee and is currently a member of the New York State Democratic Committee.
(Editor’s Note: Mr. Conroy did not respond to requests for interviews and a head shot.)
Governor
The governor’s race pits incumbent Democrat Andrew Cuomo (D-New Castle) against Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino (R-Mount Pleasant). Mr. Cuomo, son of former governor Mario Cuomo, is seeking his second four-year term, having first been elected in 2010. He had been state attorney general for four years before that. Mr. Astorino has been Westchester County executive since 2010, and has been involved in the radio industry.
Mr. Cuomo’s name also appears on the Working Families, Independence and Women’s Equality lines, while Mr. Astorino has the Conservative and Stop Common Core lines.
The ballot for governor also includes Howie Hawkins on the Green party line, Michael McDermott on the Libertarian line and Steven Cohn on the Sapient line.
State Comptroller
The state comptroller election pits incumbent Democrat Thomas DiNapoli against Republican challenger Robert Antonacci, Green Party candidate Theresa Portelli and Libertarian candidate John Clifton. Mr. DiNapoli also has the Working Families, Independence and Women’s Equality lines, while Mr. Antonacci has the Conservative and Stop Common Core lines.
State Attorney General
Incumbent Democrat Eric Schneiderman also has the Working Families, Independence and Women’s Equality lines, while Republican challenger John Cahill has the Conservative and Stop Common Core lines.
In addition to the two major party candidates, there’s also Libertarian candidate Carl Person and Green Party candidate Ramon Jimenez.
County Comptroller
The race for county comptroller, a seat being vacated by incumbent Republican Joe Sawicki, has a couple of former county legislators squaring off. The Democratic candidate is Jim Gaughran, who also has the Working Families and Independence lines, while Republican candidate John Kennedy has no other lines.
County Clerk
Incumbent Judith Pascale is unopposed and has the backing of the Democrats, Republicans and Conservatives as well as the Independence line.
Family Court
This is an uncontested election, with Barbara Kahn, now a county court judge, getting the Republican and Democratic lines.
County Court
The race for two county court judgeships has Tim Mazzei, a former Brookhaven Town councilman, and Philip Goglas, a district court judge, running unopposed, with the backing of the Republican, Democratic, Conservative and Independence parties.
State Supreme Court
Six state Supreme Court seats are up for election, and the Republicans and Democrats have cross endorsed six candidates for those justice positions. They are Sandra Sgroi, Sharon Gianelli, Anna Anzalone, Gail Prudenti, Thomas Whelen and Angelo Delligatti. Ms. Sgroi, Mr. Whelen and Ms. Prudenti also have the Conservative and Independence lines and Michele Woodard is on the ballot with the Working Families and Independence lines. Ms. Sgroi also has the Working Families line and Kathy Bergmann and David Morris are on the ballot on the Independence line. Propositions
There are five countywide propositions on the ballot and one specific to Southampton:
Proposition One amends state redistricting procedures to create a redistricting committee every 10 years beginning in 2020.
Proposition Two allows state legislators to distribute bills electronically.
Proposition Three is a $2 billion “Smart Schools Bond Act” that would provide money to schools for classroom technology and high-speed internet connectivity.
Proposition Four is a Suffolk County proposition to merge the functions of the elected office of county treasurer into the office of the county comptroller.
Proposition Five would amend the Suffolk County Drinking Water Protection Program to allow the county to continue to use the sewer stabilization reserve fund to balance the county budget, while requiring the fund be repaid by 2029. The fund would continue to be used for sewer and septic system projects.
