Dave Calone To Run For Congress In First Congressional District

Suffolk Businessman Dave Calone opens congressional campaign

Launches Job Creation Council

Setauket, NY – Long Island businessman and former federal prosecutor Dave Calone has opened a campaign committee to run for Congress in Suffolk County, New York’s First Congressional District.

Dave CaloneA native of Suffolk County, Calone has started and helped build companies around the country as the CEO of Jove Equity Partners. He has founded and/or served as a director of companies in the internet, software, health care, real estate, energy, digital media, and entertainment industries. He created the LI Emerging Technologies Fund to help launch new companies based on technology innovations emerging from Long Island’s research labs. Calone has served as the volunteer Chairman of the Suffolk County Planning Commission for seven years where he has led a variety of efforts to grow the regional economy and to protect the air we breathe and the water we drink. Calone is also a former state prosecutor.

Calone remarked, “I’ve spent the past several years helping to create new companies and new jobs – including here in Suffolk County where I was born, where I’ve lived for most of my life, and where my wife and I are raising our three children. I was appointed to serve on the Suffolk County Planning Commission by the last two Suffolk County Executives, enabling me to work with leaders and communities across Long Island on increasing the economic capacity of our region. We need strong federal leadership to make sure that Long Island can compete for the good jobs of the future, both with the rest of the nation and the rest of the world. Congress could use more leaders who have real-world experience creating jobs and growing the economy and the people of Suffolk County deserve a Congressman who’s focused on the right priorities.”

Calone announced that he is establishing a Job Creation Advisory Council comprised of leaders who have helped create jobs in Suffolk County. Members include Marc Alessi (Synchropet); Matt Chartrand (Iron Workers Local 361); Gemma de Leon (RWDSU UFCW Local 1102); Sven Doerge (Festo); Aaron Foss (NoMoRoBo); Carl Gabrielsen (Gabrielsen Farms); Noel Goddard (Goddard Labs); Peter Goldsmith (LISTnet); Andrew Hazen (LaunchPad); Barbara Roberts (Roberts & Co.); Joe Scaduto (Traverse Biosciences);Anne Shybunko Moore (GSE Dynamics); Paul Schwartz (Thermolift); Dr. Yacov Shamash; and Michael Tucci (Energy Fitness). (affiliations are for identification purposes only)

Calone added, “I will be adding to this Job Creation Council as the campaign goes on. One of my top priorities is to come up with new ways to foster innovation, to take advantage of our region’s assets, to help new companies get started and to help our existing businesses grow and create more and better-paying jobs.”

According to Tony Parlatore, Chair of the Brookhaven Town Democratic Committee (Brookhaven Town makes up the majority of the 1st Congressional district), “Dave Calone has never run for office before, but he is a lifelong supporter of Democratic values. His father was an engineer and local chamber of commerce leader and his mother was an elementary school teacher here in our community. Dave Calone is well respected in our region for his work to cut government red tape and enact policies that support job growth. He also has been a leader in protecting Suffolk County’s natural environment by fighting to protect our waters and has been nationally recognized for creating policies that promote renewable energy usage across Long Island. His local leadership, his background in creating jobs, and his law enforcement and national security experience make him the right candidate to take on Congressman Zeldin.”

As a federal prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice, Calone worked on prosecuting cases involving international economic crime and terrorism – efforts for which he was named a recipient of “The Attorney General’s Award”. As a state prosecutor, he investigated violations of the public trust and combated health care fraud – including helping to lead a prosecution that resulted in what was, at the time, the largest Medicaid fraud recovery of taxpayer dollars in state history.

Calone was recently named a Truman National Security Fellow. He is currently the Chair of Patriot Bootcamp – an organization that helps veterans and active duty service members start technology companies. He serves on the board of directors of the United Way of Long Island where he focuses on helping expand STEM education opportunities to underserved districts on Long Island. He also serves on the board of directors of the Community Development Corporation of Long Island where he has worked to support affordable housing developments in Suffolk County.

Calone is a graduate of Port Jefferson High School, and an honors graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School. Calone lives in Setauket, where he and his wife Kate, a Presbyterian minister, are raising their three children.