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DiCarlo: It's 'time to exfoliate'

The North Shore Sun
May 31, 2007

By Denise Civiletti

HOLTSVILLE-- "Taxes, taxes, taxes." That was the Republican battle cry at the town committee's designating convention at the Radisson Hotel last Thursday evening.

Party officials gathered to designate Robert DiCarlo (R-Stony Brook) as their candidate for supervisor and to name a slate of six town council candidates, three of them women, including Jane Bonner of Rocky Point, who seeks to succeed outgoing Republican Councilman Kevin McCarrick in District Two, and Roberta Owens of Gordon Heights, who will challenge Democrat Connie Kepert in District Four. Keith Romaine, of Center Moriches, is the GOP designee for the Sixth District council seat being vacated by Democrat Carol Bissonnette. Incumbent council members Tim Mazzei of Blue Point and Kathy Walsh of Selden also got the party's nod for re-election.

Mr. DiCarlo, 50, a former state senator who represented the 23rd senate district in Brooklyn from 1993 to 1996, is also the former chairman of the Brooklyn Republican Party.

"Republicans are coming to the rescue," Mr. DiCarlo proclaimed to his cheering supporters in the hotel meeting room. He chided the Democratic incumbent, Brian Foley, for "the biggest tax increase in history," for which he blamed the administration's "increase in spending," and for failing to take action against concentrations of registered sex offenders living in certain neighborhoods. Mr. DiCarlo called on Mr. Foley to join him in demanding state legislation that would incarcerate "all recidivist sex offenders" for life.

Mr. DiCarlo lambasted Mr. Foley for embracing his former Republican rival, Ed Hennessey, on the Democratic slate this fall. "Were you lying to the people of Brookhaven when you said 'corruption, corruption,' and you pointed your finger at Ed Hennessey?" Mr. DiCarlo asked, referring to the 2005 supervisor's race pitting Mr. Foley against then-Republican Town Councilman Ed Hennessey. "Or are you lying now when you wrap your arms around him and embrace him as part of your team?"

Mr. Hennessey announced in March he was switching his party enrollment to Democratic, and on Wednesday he received the town Democratic party designation for the District Six council seat, the post he vacated to challenge Mr. Foley for supervisor in 2005. Ms. Bissonette was elected to the 6th district seat that year, but she agreed to run for tax receiver this year, opening the door for Mr. Hennessey to run for his old seat on the Democratic ticket.

Charging that Brookhaven "has had enough of Brian X. Foley," Mr. DiCarlo declared, "Now is the time to exfoliate."

Ms. Bonner, 41, is a registered Conservative. She will face Democrat Bill Shilling in what many Brookhaven insiders expect to be the most hotly contested and important town race this election season. The surprise decision of Mr. McCarrick to bow out of politics created an opportunity for Democrats to pick up a supermajority on the Town Board, according to Mr. Foley.

Ms. Bonner, an aide to Dan Losquadro, the Republican conference leader in the county legislature -- who placed her name in nomination -- is finishing up her fourth and final year on the Rocky Point Board of Education. She did not seek re-election this year. She is also the past president of the Rocky Point Civic Association.

"My platform is the Republican-Conservative platform, to cut taxes and improve the quality of life for all residents of the Second Council District," Ms. Bonner told supporters.

Ms. Owens, 50, a social worker with IGHL, was introduced by town party chairman Jesse Garcia as "Brookhaven Republican Party's newest and rising star." She thanked the party for "giving this little old girl from Gordon Heights an opportunity." Predicting victory on Nov. 6, Ms. Owens said "There will be a new voice, a new time, a new leadership in Brookhaven Town."

As expected, Republicans Thursday also designated incumbents in the first and sixth legislative districts for re-election. Edward Romaine (R-Center Moriches) will seek a second term on the county legislature, while Mr. Losquadro, the minority leader, will seek his third term of office.