SUFFOLK CLOSEUP
By Karl Grossman
Before we forget—as most of us sure would like to—about what happened in 2020, notably the start and then spread of the COVID-19 plague—some attention is due in Suffolk County to 2020 having been the 50th anniversary year of the Suffolk Legislature.
It was established in 1970 as a result of the judicial affirmation that there should be one-person-one-vote. The prior county governing body was the Suffolk Board of Supervisors made up of the supervisors of each of the 10 towns in the county. Each supervisor had the same vote on the county board whether representing a lightly populated town or one with significant population.
The Suffolk Legislature is made up of 18 legislators from districts of about equal population, so the vote of each legislator reflects the one-person-one-vote principle.
I’m the only journalist around who covered both the Suffolk Board of Supervisors and the Suffolk Legislature. They were quite different governmental bodies.
A strength of the board was that each of the supervisors was the executive of his town and thus came to dealing with county business with experience in how governments run. I say “his” town because there was never a woman on the Suffolk Board of Supervisors.
Until Judith Hope was elected the supervisor of the Town of East Hampton in 1973—after the board dissolved—only men had served as town supervisors in Suffolk. Thus, the Suffolk Board of Supervisors for all its 287 years consisted of only men, only white men at that.
The Suffolk Legislature, on the other hand, has been diverse. There have been plenty of women legislators. And there have been Blacks and Latinos.
The thinking in Suffolk politics when the legislature came into being was that the job of legislator would be part-time. This didn’t last very long and it soon became a full-time position.
The chairmen of the Suffolk County Board of Supervisors whom I covered and got to know included some who were, in my judgement, excellent, and I’m speaking especially of Evans K. Griffing of Shelter Island and John V.N. Klein of Smithtown.
Mr. Klein, who was chairman in the board’s last four years, stepped down from being Smithtown supervisor as the board was getting set to be disbanded and ran for the new legislature. He was then elected the legislature’s first presiding officer. In the intelligent way he conducted himself and in the policies he initiated—for example, the Suffolk County Farmland Preservation Program, the first sale-of-development-rights program in the nation—he was as fine a public official as I’ve ever known.
Most, but not all, of those who followed him as presiding officer were excellent. A few were poor. Outstandingly good have been Gregory Blass, William Lindsay, Sondra Bachety (the first female PO), Maxine Postal and DuWayne Gregory (the first African-American).
The current presiding officer of the legislature is Rob Colarco, elected to the position by fellow legislators in 2020. For Suffolk County government, this was a good thing about 2020.
Mr. Colarco was first elected as a legislator in 2011, voted in as deputy presiding officer in 2016, and last year arrived at the top post, considered the Number 2 position in Suffolk government after county executive. He is self-effacing, dedicated to government service and works well with others. He’s very smart, energetic and focused on solutions.
A native of upstate Auburn, he came to Suffolk to attend Dowling College in Oakdale, which is now defunct. And that’s a shame. It’s sad that Southampton College and Dowling College, both of which drew lots of talented, bright people to Suffolk, many of whom stayed and enriched this county, closed.
Mr. Colarco’s official biography provides this picture: “Rob watched his family struggle to make ends meet and contributed to the household with whatever small jobs he could obtain. He learned early the values of hard work and respect for all people. Inspired by his father, who served 34 years in the Auburn Fire Department and led the effort to unionize the department… Rob comes to public service naturally.”
He received a Bachelor’s in political science at Dowling and went on to get a Master’s in public administration at Stony Brook University “at night while working full time,” says the biography. It notes: “Rob lives in Patchogue Village with his wife, Laura and his daughter, Alma Rosa and his two sons, Patrick and Bodhi. They share their home with their dog, Buck. They enjoy walking to the parks and caring for their vegetable garden.”
Next week: accomplishments of the Suffolk Legislature in 2020.
Karl Grossman is a veteran investigative reporter and columnist, the winner of numerous awards for his work and a member of the L.I. Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury and the author of six books.