Candidates News

By Robert Golomb   

Editor’s Note: This column, as syndicated columnist’s Bob Golomb’s previous piece published on these pages two weeks ago prove, the leftist Democrats cause as many terrible problems in Suffolk County as they do everywhere else in America, including right here in Queens. Please share this column with your friends in Suffolk County and urge them to vote for John M. Kennedy for County Executive and, if they live in the 2nd Legislative District, to vote for Linda Kabot.

Most of Long Island’s political media have reported primarily on the battle in this year’s November 5th election for Suffolk County Executive waging between Republican challenger,  County Comptroller John M. Kennedy (whom I interviewed for a column that appeared on these pages 2 weeks ago), and Democrat incumbent Steve Bellone (with whose campaign staff I have been at the time of this writing unsuccessfully attempting to schedule an interview for a column).

This media attention reflects the importance to the county’s 1.5 million residents of the position of Suffolk County Executive, whose authority as the county’s highest elected official includes proposing, seeking legislative approval and enacting the annual budget, managing   the county’s dozens of departments and agencies and representing Suffolk’s interests in its financial and legal dealings with the federal and state governments. 

So far less covered by the media, but collectively of equal importance to the County Executive race, are this fall’s contests between Democrats and Republicans for the 18 seats of the Suffolk County Legislature.  Co-equal to the County Executive, the Suffolk County Legislature is responsible for approving or disapproving the county head’s proposed budget, serving as the official governmental watchdog to prevent wasteful spending, levying taxes and setting county policies, most notably those affecting public health and public safety.       

For the 24 elections held since the Suffolk County Legislator was first established in January 1970 (for 200 years prior a “Board of Supervisors” served as the county’s statutory body), political contests for the 2- year term seats on this legislative branch have been known to be fiercely fought.  However, this year’s contest, the 25^th in the county’s history, has been said by several political insiders with whom I have been in contact to be the most harshly fought of any in recent memory.

According to several of these same sources,  the most intensely fought of all 18 seats (11 currently held by Democrats and 7 by the GOP) has been the battle between the Republican challenger Linda Kabot and 2 term Democrat incumbent Bridget Fleming in Suffolk County Legislative District (LD) 2, the county’s 2nd largest geographical district, which spans the entire South Fork of Suffolk, comprising the towns of Southampton and East Hampton, Shelter Island, East Moriches, and portions of the Town of Brookhaven.   

However, when I interviewed Kabot in Suffolk County last week, I thought, at first, that my usually reliable sources had misled me. To my surprise, rather than beginning the interview with a strong rebuke of Fleming, Kabot told me that she and her opponent share the same views on several important local environmental issues. Citing their agreement on proposals to upgrade septic systems, create sewer districts in downtown village areas and develop storm abatement systems in low lying areas of East Suffolk, Kabot stated, “Both Ms. Fleming and I agree that these programs are vital to protecting the environment and safeguarding our communities from potential natural disasters.”

 However, Kabot, 52, who has in the past served a combined 14 years in the executive and legislative branches of the Southampton municipality, including 6 years as a councilwoman and 2 years as town supervisor, just moments later made it clear to me that beyond their areas of agreement on these environmental programs, she and Fleming hold polar opposite positions on all other key issues.

“Other than our shared support of several environmental programs, I have extremely strong disagreements with Ms. Fleming concerning every major issue affecting the people of Suffolk”, stated Kabot, the married mother of 3 young adult sons.  

The main area of their disagreement pointed to by Kabot relates to the county’s $2 billion accumulated debt, and its interconnected almost $900 million operating deficit. To pay off the interests on that debt and to fund government operational services, Kabot stated, the county under Bellone’s stewardship and with the approval of Democratic legislators, including Fleming for the past 4 years, has raised property taxes by 22% while increasing by $100 million the fees that residents pay to the county for such matters as recording their mortgages, purchasing burglar alarms, registering their vehicles, and for camping, fishing and holding group events at public parks.

“Mr. Bellone’s across the board tax increases, which were rubber stamped into law by Ms. Fleming and her Democrat colleagues in the legislature, have hit our middle-class residents the hardest… This just proves Mr. Bellone’s and Ms. Fleming’s claim to be ‘protecting the taxpayer’ is an outright lie”, stated Kabot.

“Ms. Fleming and her fellow Democrats in the legislature”, Kabot continued, “have also voted in favor of Bellone’s budget deficits which have led to Suffolk County Bond ratings being downgraded seven times, now standing at a dismal Baa 2 rating, just one level above junk bond status.”

True to what I had originally expected, Kabot’s criticism of Fleming became more acerbic.  Noting a recent report issued by New York State Comptroller, which, comparing Suffolk to the other 61 counties in NYS, described it as the state’s financially “most stressed county”, Kabot added, “this is just further proof that Mr. Bellone and legislators like Ms. Fleming have brought the county to the financial breaking point.”

Kabot, who has worked closely with Kennedy throughout the campaign, told me that if he and she are both elected, they, along with other Republican and some moderate Democratic lawmakers, will introduce policies and establish guidelines to restore the county’s financial viability.   

The first item on their agenda, she stated, will be to repeal a law, supported by Bellone and Fleming, which currently requires the county to use funds acquired from its casinos to be directed to pay for the public financing of political campaigns.

 “Taxpayers should not be forced to help finance any candidate’s political campaign. Casino revenues should be directed into the general fund and be used to help pay off our huge debt”, said Kabot.

The next item on Kennedy’s and her agenda, Kabot said, will be to conduct a formal review of the dozens of the county’s executive departments and agencies, which, she contended, have increased significantly in number under Bellone, adding to the county’s debt without providing any tangible benefit to the public.

“This overblown bureaucracy created by Bellone and his rubber stamp legislators, such as Ms. Fleming, provides no benefits to our overtaxed citizens”, Kabot charged. “To reduce spending, the entire budget will be carefully reviewed {if she and Kennedy are elected} department by department. We will be focused on such reforms as combining agencies that perform redundant jobs and reducing the number of departments in the county’s executive branch.”

The final financial item we discussed, while budget related, touched upon an issue connected to a bitter national debate concerning the rights of illegal immigrants. Kabot noted that Fleming favors wide- ranging entitlements for the thousands of illegal immigrants living in Suffolk. Referring to Fleming’s support for the county’s paying for their health care services, college tuition and legal aid, Kabot stated, “As a child of parents who came here as legal immigrants, I am committed to assisting people who came to America through legal means.  However, I view the status of legal and illegal immigrants to be totally different…. We have funneled millions of dollars from our $700 million public assistance programs to pay for services for illegals. That money must be redirected to help pay off our enormous deficit.”

Our discussion of her and Fleming’s opposing views on illegal immigrants did not end there.  Kabot attacked her opponent for her highly controversial vote against a resolution presented to the Legislature on February 7^th, 2019.  The resolution (which was passed with the vote of every legislator other than Fleming) called for the county to accept $ 65,000 in federal funding related to the Suffolk County’s Police Department’s (SCPD) participation in the “ICE EL DORADO TASK FORCE” (IEDTF) program.

 Comprised, among other law enforcement agencies, of Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents and SCPD detectives, IEDTF was primarily formed, Kabot noted, to target criminal gangs made- up of illegal immigrants, including the notorious MS-13.

“Fleming’s vote against receiving federal money directed to aid law enforcement- which she tellingly  defends by saying she was opposed to ICE’s participation in the task force- proves that she is indifferent to the safety concerns of every person living or even visiting Suffolk County”, stated Kabot.

Come the late evening of November 5^th, we will learn whether or not the voters of Suffolk County share that depiction of Ms. Fleming.  

Robert Golomb is a nationally and internationally published columnist. Mail him at MrBob347@aol.com and follow him on Twitter@RobertGolomb         

By  Frederick R. Bedell Jr.,  Grand Knight of St. Anastasia Knights of Columbus Council #5911 

November 5th is Election Day, and is a time for all registered voters to get out and vote for a better community. In the last General Election the voter turn out was low. Well in my opinion I find that to be a total disgrace. We live in a free country and we have the right to chose who can better represents us. When we don’t vote the possibility exist that wrong candidate gets elected who doesn’t represents our vital interest.

We need representatives who want to serve the people and are truly concerned with what we the people hold most dear. There are many issues that should concern us and they are: taxes, education, homelessness, affordable housing, health care, crime, and transportation. The issues are endless and need to be address by our elected representatives who hopefully have workable solutions.

When we don’t vote we have no right to complain how bad things are. Added to that when we don’t vote, the quality of life decreases. We all need to express a desire for better communities. To my fellow citizens please get out and vote on election day because it is very important. So wake up and smell the coffee and  get out and vote !

By Robert Golomb  

Editor’s note: This column reveals how leftist Democrats fail everywhere, including, in this case in Suffolk County. Please share this column with your friends in Suffolk County and urge them to vote for John M. Kennedy.

Suffolk County Comptroller John M. Kennedy, 62, the Republican Party candidate for County Executive against 2 term Democratic incumbent Steve Bellone in the upcoming November 5th election, has long stood out in the highly contentious world of politics for his well- known practice of de-personalizing his criticism of his opponents. Kennedy’s distaste for mounting personal attacks against his political adversaries has even been said to annoy some Republicans.  

However, it has apparently worked well for Kennedy, an attorney, who has won every one his 7 political contests, going back to his first in November 2004, when he was elected as a Suffolk County legislator, continuing with his 4 successful re-election bids to that 2 year term office and cresting with his first election to the executive position of County Comptroller in 2014 and his re-election to that post 4 years later.

Kennedy, whom I interviewed last week, explained his restraint in attacking past political adversaries.

“I always possessed a personal respect for my {Democratic} opponents”, he stated. “So in every one of my campaigns I never questioned their integrity or sincerity. What I did question was their policies. And I tried my best to explain to voters why my policies would better serve the needs of their families, their communities and the county than would those of my opponent.”  

 While Kennedy told me that as in the past he will focus his current campaign on the issues affecting the county, he added that unlike his former contests, he is running a “gloves off’’ race against Bellone.

“How do I in good conscience give Mr. Bellone a personal free pass when he has so severely damaged the financial stability of Suffolk County while burdening its citizens with out of control taxes”, he charged.       

 Repeating to me what he has been saying to voters on the campaign trail and stating to other media, Kennedy blamed Bellone for the downgrading of the county’s bond rating to Baa2 (a ranking associated with junk bonds), raising property taxes by 22% and increasing the employee payroll cost by more than $100 million, while, paradoxically, eliminating almost 1,000 jobs from the county workforce over the same time span.

“Where do I begin in describing the horrible job Bellone has done the past 7 plus years he’s been in office?” stated Kennedy, who, clearly no longer burdened by his past self-generated dictum to go easy on his opponents, added, “The county’s fiscal mismanagement has resulted in our abysmal bond rating, creating a fiscal crisis so severe that we struggle to meet our weekly and monthly financial obligations.” 

 “The increased property taxes”, continued Kennedy, “have placed a tremendous burden on home owners, and the decrease in the workforce has reduced the quantity and quality of services the county is responsible for providing its citizens. And we have one main person to blame for this man- made mess, Steve Bellone”.   

Kennedy also blamed Bellone for increasing county service fees, which, he noted, Suffolk’s nonpartisan Budget Review Office reported in 2017 had increased by a total of $80 million from the previous year and has  continued to rise since then. This increase, the Republican challenger contended, is the reason why residents reportedly now pay higher amounts for such transactions as recording their mortgages, purchasing burglar alarms and even taking their dogs to the groomer.

 Kennedy also charged that under Bellone’s stewardship the county has upped the fees at public parks for recreational activities ranging from camping, fishing, hunting and group events, as well as raising the amount residents pay for parking on the encompassing public grounds.

“These multiple fees are nothing less than onerous hidden taxes, which hit the working-class residents the hardest. Bellone should be ashamed of himself”, said Kennedy.  

Kennedy, a lifetime resident of Suffolk County who with his wife of 44 years, Leslie, raised now adult children and has 7 grandchildren, imputed these increased taxes and higher fees to the 16,000 population decline the county has suffered during the incumbent’s tenure.

“Thousands of Suffolk County mothers and fathers have seen their children and their children’s children forced to leave the county and the state due to the burden of Bellone’s tax hikes, which, by the way, indirectly increase the cost of other day to day living expenditures”, contended Kennedy.   

Kennedy promised that if he wins in November, he will implement policies which will reverse this trend and restore the county’s fiscal health.  While stating that he plans to save millions of tax payer dollars by merging agencies that perform the same jobs, reducing the number of departments in the county’s executive branch and establishing cost cutting partnerships with town governments, he stressed that the major way he plans to reduce the county deficit will be by bringing new  businesses  into Suffolk,  which, he said, will create many new tax- paying jobs and generate millions of dollars in tax revenue to the county.

“We will save money by reducing wasteful government spending.  Even more importantly, we will raise funds to meet our expenses by adding revenue brought in by new businesses, which will be established in the county”, said Kennedy “This will be accomplished by creating a pro- business climate, which will be the direct opposite of the progressive leftist high taxes, over- regulation anti- business climate created by Bellone, which, sadly, has caused hundreds of businesses to close in Suffolk.”                             

 Kennedy reflected that his current job as comptroller, which involves auditing the finances of both county department and county funded nonprofit agencies, processing county invoices, signing off on county checks and issuing annual county financial reports, but does not include any form of control over taxation and spending, has been both enlightening and frustrating.  

“As comptroller I have gained a very thorough understanding of the complexities of the county’s budget. However, the authority of the comptroller is limited by statute”, explained Kennedy. “So I did not have the legal power to stop Bellone from raising taxes and fees. And I did not have the legal authority to prevent him from overspending to such an extent that the county now faces the ticking time bomb of a $900 million deficit. If I win in November, I pledge to reverse his policies and return fiscal sanity to Suffolk County.”   

After all of the votes are counted in the late evening of November 5^th, we will learn whether or not Kennedy will have the chance to make good on that pledge.

Robert Golomb is a nationally and internationally published columnist. Mail him at MrBob347@aol.com or follow him on Twitter@RobertGolomb