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Chamber Of Commerce Candidates Forum Gets Loud And Nasty
Sunday, October 19, 2014 at 10:20PM 
The list of candidates in attendance included: Congressional candidates Tim Bishop and Lee Zeldin, NYS Senate candidate John Flanagan, NYS Assembly candidates Michael Fitzpatrick and Jason Zove, Suffolk County Comptroler candidates John Kennedy and James Gaughran.
While the other candidates spoke of their goals, accomplishments and asked for attendees votes, Suffolk County Legislator Kennedy, the Republican candidate for Suffolk County Comptroller, used much of his time to defend his hiring of his wife Leslie as his legislative aide. Leslie’s appointment has become a focus of mailings and calls being made by supporters of opponent Jim Gaughran.
Gaughran arrived late and missed Kennedy’s opening statement. Given the opportunity to make his opening statement, he spoke of his plans as comptroller to go after waste and corruption in County Government. Gaughran spoke of his background in government and his involvement in creating an ethics code for the Town of Huntington and for Suffolk County. He praised Leslie Kennedy as a hard worker but criticized John Kennedy for his failure to follow proper procedures in hiring a relative.
Democratic mailings, at least three so far, focus on Kennedy’s hiring of his wife Leslie Kennedy as an aide in his office. The mailings accuse Kennedy of “exploiting and profiting from his political office by giving his wife a $50K pay raise (more than doubling her salary and making her his highest-paid employee), personally signing his wife’s time sheets, consistently crediting her with extra hours, which could allow them to bring home thousands of dollars more in taxpayer money.”
Kennedy announced his intention to rebut Gaughran. Kennedy stood-up and loudly condemned Gaughran, pointing a finger and shouting more than once that Gaughran was a “liar and a criminal”. Kennedy than implied that women should be offended by Gaughran’s attack on his wife equating it as an anti-woman attack. Kennedy made a bizarre statement that he hadn’t pointed out Gaughran’s salary as Commisioner of Suffolk County Water Authority, then stating it was $196,000, nor had he spoken of positions Gaughran’s wife has held which he then went on to describe in detail, nor of patronage appointments in the Water Authority under Gaughran’s tenure.
Gaughran stood and quietly rebutted Kennedy’s comments.
It was now time for questions from the audience. Questions were asked of Congressional candidates. Lee Zeldin, a military reservist, was asked to explain what would happen to the congressional district’s vote if he was called to serve. Zeldin, a NYS Senator, responded that he has only missed one vote in the Senate due to his military commitment and that although he loved the reserves he might consider resigning from the reserves if elected.
The LWV is hosting a Candidates Forum with the same candidates Tuesday, October 21, 2014 at Brush Barn. Smithtown LWV Candidate Forum - Meet And Question 2014 Candidates Before You Vote
Reader Comments (1)
Considering how much time Mr. Kennedy devotes to serving the local community, I think it's a great thing his wife is working with him. It's probably is a marriage saver :) Mr. Kennedy was a very important part of getting my power restored after a dangerous situation durring "Sandy."