Editorial - OOPS! Creighton Campaign Might Want To Take Back Recent Mailing

Oops. May I take that back?  This statement may be the thought of the day for the “Creighton for Supervisor” people.  Right after the committee, trying to win the Republican primary against Patrick Vecchio, mailed a campaign piece contrasting the town’s of Islip (good) and Smithtown (bad), Newsday came out with an article, “S & P lowers Islip Town Credit rating outlook.”

Additionally, Empire Center for Public Policy, Inc. released a report, “What they Make”, ranking towns by employee pay. The Town of Smithtown (TOS) ranked number two and Islip ranked number nine out of the ten towns in Suffolk County.  According to the report (without benefits) the average pay in 2012-2013 to a TOS employee was $54,808 and in Islip the average pay is $39,583. With the “devil being in the details”, make note that TOS has 591 employees and Islip 1,093. Islip is a much larger town*. Do the math, there is an additional $10 million burden for the taxpayers of Islip that doesn’t include pension and health care costs.

Islip might not have been such a good choice for the Creighton campaign.

Is the public paying attention? Some are. I recently met a couple who are long time residents in the Town planning to vote in the September 10 Republican primary. After voting for Vecchio many times, they decided to support Creighton in the primary until they received a pro - Vecchio flyer in the mail stating the positive Bond rating received by the TOS. It completely changed their perspective and they are once again supporting Vecchio.

There is a scant two weeks left before the primary vote. Vecchio, the master of “status quo”, will do what he has always done, paint a picture of a “Lake Woebegone” type of Smithtown.  Is it real?

Mr. Creighton, get rid of the person who is handling your literature.  They are leading you down a path of no return. Tell the voters what is so wrong with Smithtown that there needs to be a change in leadership. In the words of the TV show Mission Impossible, “your job should you decide to accept it,”  and you have accepted it, is to tell the Republican primary voters how your vision is going to improve their quality of life. 

Pat

*omitted in the original posting.