Cub Scout Pack 68 Takes Annual Pack Hike At Caleb Smith State Park Preserve

Cub Scout Pack 68 - Mt. Pleasant Elementary, Smithtown

Held their annual pack hike at Caleb Smith State Park Preserve on Sunday, October 19. The boys prepared trail mix for the hike & practiced leaving “no trace” (don’t litter, don’t make too much noise), following trail markers, staying on the trail and using the buddy system during the hike.

Legislator Kennedy Addresses Nepotism and Wife's Employment

By Dana Klosner

In a recent telephone interview, Suffolk County Legislator John M. Kennedy, the Republican candidate for the Suffolk County Comptroller’s office, answered allegations that he skirted the nepotism law when he hired his wife as a legislative aide and failed to file a sworn statement disclosing that he had hired a relative after he first took her on in 2007.

Legislator John M. KennedySupporters of his opponent, Democratic candidate James Gaughran, chairman of the Suffolk County Water Authority, have sent out mailings and automated telephone calls to voters attacking Kennedy over pay increases he gave his wife, Leslie Kennedy that raised her salary by a total of $50,000 and for personally signing his wife’s time sheets, as reported in Newsday.

“No one is circumventing or bypassing the rule of law,” Kennedy said. “Ordinary hiring doesn’t require resolution. In this case, so that there would be no appearance of impropriety there was a resolution, publication and a public hearing. There is nothing untoward, illegal or improper about this. There was simple compliance with the provision of the administrative code.”

When the question was raised whether or not Kennedy would hire his wife if he won the Comptroller’s race he simply said that she has no interest in having any position in the Comptroller’s office. That is not something that is of her skill set or interest regarding work. 

When asked if he sees this as a perversion of the nepotism law. He said, “Not at all. There is nothing contorted. It isn’t improper, illegal or anything outside of conformance. There have been many legislators that have had siblings, children or other folks that have worked in their office. What this really gets at is demeaning or turning a blind eye to the role of the job of an individual as a legislative aide which is a wide and diverse role, and as a matter of fact ultimately the focus should be on if the individual is good at what he or she does regardless of family or marital status.”

“I think that people should trust individuals who are in particular positions be it my political party or any other political party,” Kennedy said. “I didn’t get elected just to represent Republicans I got elected to represent 83,000 individuals. I don’t ask somebody when they call my office, what their registration is. I worked on a consistent basis across the board with folks in the Democratic Party. I spent the better part of eight years defending John J. Foley. I worked with Kate Browning and I worked with John J. Schneiderman who is of the Independent Party.  I work on behalf of every resident whether they are a registered voter or not. That has nothing to do with what I do day in and day out.”

Questioned about overtime Kennedy says his wife does not get overtime. 

“This is an issue that was raised by my opponent that is not just a misperception it’s an outright lie and quite frankly demonstrates how truly little my opponent knows about basic categories of employees in municipal employment,” Kennedy said. “It demonstrates how poorly qualified he is to be Comptroller. By definition an exempt employee cannot get overtime. He chooses to ignore that fact and has sent 18 mailers saying get’s gotten overtime. He intentionally and with malice is lying. She’s paid 35 hours a week.”

“It is sad that this is the only thing that there is to talk about in a race for a county wide office for chief fiscal officer where I bring 39 years of dedicated public service, a Masters in Business Administration, a Juries Doctorate from St. John’s, ten years of hard work and advocacy on the behalf of a legislative district,” Kennedy continued.

At the end of the conversation Kennedy expressed his frustration that important issues were not being addressed. “It appears the only thing that’s of any substance is that my wife is in my legislative office. That’s sad. That’s truly sad.”
 

Chamber Of Commerce Candidates Forum Gets Loud And Nasty

Suffolk County Comptroller Candidates James Gaughran (seated) John Kennedy (standing)The Greater Smithtown Chamber of Commerce hosted a candidate forum at the Brush Barn Wednesday, October 15, 2014.  Candidates for U.S. Congress, NYS Senate and Assembly and Suffolk County Comptroller attended.  Each candidate was given four minutes for an opening statement before taking questions from the audience.

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

Book Review - "The Heist"

Book Review - “The Heist” - Daniel Silva – 475 pages – Harper Collins - Reviewed by: Jeb Ladouceur

With each of his novels, Daniel Silva climbs ever higher in the ranks of American authors of Spy Fiction. Now, with the introduction this month of his newest thriller, “The Heist,” Silva seems to have ridden his popular hero ‘Gabriel Allon’ (the protagonist of fourteen of his seventeen best sellers) all the way to the top of the heap.

Never mind Buckley, Cussler, and Ludlum … it seems there’s a new king of International Espionage reigning; he’s the 54-year-old father of two, who lives in Florida with his acclaimed wife NBC National Correspondent, Jaime Gangel, and is known frequently to take his children, Lily and Nicholas, on junkets with him when researching his several books abroad.

That means, of course, that Nicholas and Lily have seen quite a bit of the civilized world … particularly the art-rich centers of Europe and the Middle East. You see, the peripatetic ‘Gabriel Allon’ (though fictitious) is probably the world’s best-known art restorer, an occupation that Silva neatly dovetails with Allon’s other intriguing vocation, that of Israeli Intelligence Expert.

In “The Heist,” whose title is the only thing I dislike about this book (it almost smacks of a two-bit stickup in Brooklyn), ‘Gabriel Allon’ is in the process of restoring a priceless altar painting for a church in Venice, when the only event that could take him from his labor of love suddenly occurs—a dear friend stands suspected of murder, and Gabriel must apply both his artistic expertise, and spying skills, to finding the real killer.

This blending of sixteenth century artisanship and state-of-the-art technological plotting is what makes Daniel Silva so fascinating, and in “The Heist” Silva’s fans get a double dose of the formula. That is not to say this book is so intricate as to be confusing; the author’s too good a writer to let that happen. Let’s put it this way, “The Heist” is twice as satisfying in the aggregate as the average Silva novel. Which is saying something!

One cannot help but wonder at Daniel Silva’s amalgamation of knowledge concerning the two dominant aspects of his thrillers. First, readers of the ‘Gabriel Allon’ series are invariably provided an almost scholarly treatise on the Renaissance, and the role of the Roman Catholic Church in commissioning and preserving painted masterworks. Following that, Silva habitually displays an uncanny knowledge of Middle Eastern (and specifically Israeli) demographics, as well as the history and practice of Judaism.

There is a good reason why the author is almost uniquely equipped to address these issues so confidently. Daniel Silva was born in Michigan, then moved to California as a child, where he was raised Roman Catholic. Significantly, some years later he converted to Judaism as an adult. Thus the man’s resulting keen insight into both aspects of the plots on which his ‘Gabriel Allon’ books are based, is eminently understandable.

“The Heist” reads as if it could have been written last week … though, the realities of publishing procedures inform to the contrary. Nonetheless, the more cynical among us might be forgiven if we question whether National Journalist Gangel might have had a hand in fashioning her husband’s timely plot this time around.

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Award-winning Smithtown writer Jeb Ladouceur is the author of eight novels, and his book and theater reviews appear in several major L.I. publications. In Ladouceur’s next thriller, “Harvest” due this month, an American doctor is seized and ordered to perform illicit surgeries for a sinister gang of organ traffickers in The Balkans.

Commack Resident Janet Koch Takes Over As Executive Director Of Life's WORC

Janet Koch Announced as New Life’s WORC Executive Director

Janet KochMs. Koch has over 20 years of industry experience and expertise to help advance the mission of Life’s WORC.

Donald Barrick, Life’s WORC Board Chairman announced that Janet Koch has been hired as the new Executive Director of Life’s WORC, a 501(c) (3) not-for-profit corporation. Ms. Koch assumes this leadership responsibility as Peter Smergut retires after twenty (20) years in this position. After a thorough and extensive executive search process, the Life’s WORC Board is confident Ms. Koch has the vision and skills consistent with the needs of the organization. She will assume her position as Executive Director on Monday, November 3, 2014.

Since 2009, Ms. Koch, 44, has been the Chief Financial Officer of Life’s WORC, overseeing a $45M annual budget. Her introduction to the developmental disabilities field began more than twenty (20) years ago at Family Residences and Essential Enterprises (FREE) in Bethpage, NY. She is a native of Queens, NY who graduated from St. Francis Preparatory School, then earned a BBA in Business Administration from Dowling College, and an MS in Accounting from C.W. Post College/Long Island University.

Ms. Koch stated one of her primary goals is to evaluate the continuum of services, supports and programs offered through Life’s WORC in line with the significant challenges providers need to address in the coming years. “Life’s WORC has earned recognition and success for what it has accomplished,” she explains. “However, the paradigms it has been using are changing as dictated by new government mandates. Government’s role is shifting from a traditional fee for service funding partnership and moving towards a business model using the principles of a managed care environment. My concern lies in being able to effectively synthesize human needs with corporate efficiency and reduced funding.”

Life’s WORC (www.lifesworc.org) based in Garden City, NY was founded in 1971. The agency currently manages 36 homes and 12 non-residential programs throughout Nassau, Suffolk and Queens Counties providing programs and services to over 1,500 individuals with developmental disabilities and autism. Life’s WORC has established an excellent reputation in the provision of quality services and supports to people with developmental disabilities and autism. The organization has also ensured for its fiscal responsibility with 91 percent of the funds received by Life’s WORC being spent directly on the individuals supported in the agency homes and programs.

Ms. Koch will also oversee the Family Center for Autism, www.FCAutsim.org, an affiliate corporation of Life’s WORC. This new Center (located next door to Life’s WORC) is set to open in January 2015, and will offer a unique environment supporting individuals with autism and their families. This family centric model has been created to address a significant unmet need within our community.

Ms. Koch, and her husband, Harold Koch, are residents in Commack, NY and are the parents of three girls, ages eight and four-year-old twins. She is a Licensed Notary Public and is a member of the audit committee for the Commack Union Free School District board of trustees.