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Aggressive and energized

The Long Island Advance
By: Sarah Hartmann, Staff Writer
9/27/07

Nov. 7, 2005 was a bad day for Republicans throughout Suffolk County, especially in the town of Brookhaven. Once a bastion of GOP power, the town found itself in the hands of a party that for decades could be easily dismissed as ineffectual. Democrats won the supervisor and three council seats, giving them a slim four-to-three majority.

Back to reprise their town council positions were Steve Fiore-Rosenfeld (1st District), who spent two years as the lone Democrat on the board, and Republicans Kevin McCarrick (2nd District) and Timothy Mazzei (5th District). Councilwoman Kathleen Walsh, the Republican who won the Third District, would take up the reins of her district for the first time, and all three Republicans would now be the official minority in a town where their party had once reigned supreme.

In the beginning, it was a bitter pill. The defeat left Mazzei “visibly shaken,” noted the media and saddened, despite his own win. “I wish I felt better about this. Some of my best friends lost here tonight,” he was quoted as saying to a crowd of supporters equally depressed.

But that was two years ago, and as political strategist Michael Dawidziak has noted, things have a way of changing. For one, McCarrick is not seeking re-election, a fact that Dawidziak laments but appears not to fret over. Instead, he is predicting that Republicans are likely to take at least three, maybe more, of the town board’s seats. “Any gains Republicans might make on Long Island could well be in the town of Brookhaven,” he said.

He credits the party’s new town leadership for the positive movement and notes the GOP’s past problems with self-destruction. “The Republican Party countywide has been practicing fratricide to a huge level. Fish rots from the head down. The leadership of the Republican Party has been very slow to get competitive and attract new sources of fundraising and young workers. It hasn’t been the big tent,” he said. He said that all that has a chance to change with Republican town leader Jesse Garcia. “He’s young and has a chance to unite the party with a few victories,” he said.

An energized party

Garcia agreed that the GOP is far more united and energized now than it was even five months ago. “We have been very aggressive, and I put forward a platform to the party that said we have the opportunity to make history and seize a situation that has escaped us in the past. I told them only if we work hard and stay committed to our core principles will we be successful at the ballot box,” said Garcia.

Dawidziak, who worked effectively as the political strategist for both McCarrick and Mazzei in the 2005 campaign, has continually noted the strength of both men as council representatives. Even now, he contends Mazzei will win his district handily and that other districts are in play.

“The real hot race to watch is the sixth council district race between Republican Keith Romaine and Democrat Ed Hennessey. Hennessey is a party switcher, and that is dangerous,” he said and called the Sixth District race the GOP’s best chance to pick up a seat and possibly win the majority on the board.

Hennessey changed his party affiliation last March, saying his decision had been based on Democratic Supervisor Brian X. Foley’s commitment to reform and on the party’s strong leadership. At the time, Hennessey said he had been considering making a run against Democrat Councilwoman Carol Bissonette (6th District). Instead, Bissonette is running for Receiver of Taxes, and Hennessey, who is running for the sixth council seat, was recently defeated on the Independence line by Joe May in that party’s primary. Political operatives who like to read the tealeaves have conflicting versions of what that defeat could mean going into Election Day.

John Sicignano, president of the Mastic Park Civic Association and no fan of Hennessey, said he worked to get the Independence line win for May. “I like Ed (Hennessey), but he won’t do anything new or radical. I think Joe has a shot to win,” he said. He dismissed newcomer Romaine as too inexperienced. Garcia attacked Hennessey for representing failed policies and being politically expedient. “Two years ago the Democrats assailed him and now they call him a treasure,” he said. Richard Amper, outspoken executive director of the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, called Romaine the environmentalist in the race.

For Republicans, the issue is whether or not Romaine, not to be confused with his father, political veteran Edward Romaine, can win. Dawidziak said his name would help. “Ed (Romaine) is popular in the sixth district. The history in Brookhaven is that of strong family names being passed onto the next generation. Joe Caracappa did it, and so did Brian Foley,” he said.

Dawidziak said that district two is also a hotly contested race and called Republican Jane Bonner a very strong candidate. She is running against Democrat Bill Shilling, the town’s current deputy commissioner of parks. “Jane is the president of the Rocky Point Civic Association. She is involved politically and environmentally. I have to have it proven to me that the Democratic contender is strong there. Now if Lori Baldassare were in the mix, I’d say the district was up for grabs. Both women have serious resumes,” he said. Baldassare, who has been Foley’s chief of staff since he took office, ran against McCarrick twice.

Civic leader Sid Bail, who is president of the Wading River Civic Association and a past president of ABCO, said that both Bonner and Shilling were well known in their respective communities, a fact that should make that particular race an interesting one. “Republicans lost an attractive candidate with Kevin McCarrick. I have nothing against Jane Bonner, and Bill is a personable guy,” said Bail.

Weighing in on the Fourth District race that is pitting past Republican town worker Roberta Owens, an African-American, against incumbent Connie Kepert, Dawidziak said he needed proof that Owens is “real,” similar to the proof he said he needed concerning Democrat Bill Shilling running in the second district.

Supervisor’s race

Dawidziak is also predicting that Robert DiCarlo, who is the Republican candidate running against Foley, can be competitive because of several issues that resonate with the Republican base. Dawidziak mentioned taxes, while others have noted illegal immigration. “Foley has an albatross around his neck because he raised taxes,” he said. Frank Tassone, campaign manager for DiCarlo, said taxes was among the top two issues of this campaign and that raising taxes, while approved by bond rating agencies, was the wrong move for taxpayers and no way to encourage people to remain living in the town.

Republican strategists have jumped on the tax issue, calling the 2007 reinstatement of the general tax line a huge tax hike. The prior town administration zeroed out the general tax line for two years, insisting they were simply giving back to citizens and not taxing the public when they didn’t need the money.

Democrats called the move a gimmick, something Republicans could work during the 2007 election. Outside financial experts called the tax holiday a bad idea that led to deficit in several of the town’s major funds. Since that time Foley reinstated the tax levy to a level slightly lower than it was in 2003. Still, Republican campaign operatives insist that spending has been increased, while Democrats note that they funded the budget lines realistically so as not to dip into the surplus afterwards, a move that conceals spending.

Tassone called Foley’s record on illegal immigration weak, asserting that the town has not closed down one overcrowded house. “Issuing violations is not enough. We will be unveiling our plan to take care of the issue,” he said. He added that so far polling numbers indicate to him that voters are responding to DiCarlo’s position on both issues.

Amper said his concern was for the environment only and candidates who would act in a pro-environment fashion. “Both Foley and DiCarlo have sought the Long Island Voters Forum endorsement, but it is unlikely we will make an endorsement in that race,” said Amper. Amper, who is the secretary of the forum, a political action group that campaigns for candidates it deems to be pro-environment, withdrew the forum’s endorsement of Foley last February. At that time, Amper and Richard Johannesen, the group’s chairman, said Foley had been too slow to initiate a Community Preservation Fund (CPF).

Three months later, Foley, along with environmental groups across Long Island and the Long Island Builders Institute, announced that the CPF would appear on the ballot in November. The initiative, which will create a continuing revenue source to preserve open space and the environment, is modeled after what has so successfully worked on the five East End towns. Voters are expected to pass the measure.

Amper, while in strong support of the CPF, however, is not supportive of candidates that take contributions from builders. He said that Foley went after the support of developers, as did the Republicans before him. He said nothing specifically about DiCarlo and contributions. “Politics on Long Island are getting more complicated and the lines are blurring. A Republican like Fred Thiele and a Democrat like Steve Englebright are both pinnacles of environmental leadership, and rank-and-file Republicans support the environment as much as rank-and-file Democrats,” he said.

For Garcia, the lines are not blurred at all. His goal, he said, is to win back the town for the Republicans. “Our town board minority stood up to the Democrats again and again. That is one reason we are on the precipice to town-wide victory,” he said.