Hurricane Earl and Suffolk County Preparations

Suffolk Executive Steve Levy Discusses County Preparations for ‘Hurricane Earl’ and Hurricane Season

Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services and Public Works Departments Step Up Coordination

County’s Natural Disasters Website Offers Tips for Pre- and Post-Hurricane Activities

 New ‘Code RED’ System Provides High-Speed Emergency Notifications to Residents

Hauppauge, NY –Suffolk Executive Steve Levy today discussed numerous steps being taken by the county to prepare for hurricane season and advised residents to prepare for the potential impact of “Hurricane Earl” later this week. 

“Cooperative planning among local, state and federal officials, along with proper public education, are crucial to mitigating the potential impact of ‘Hurricane Earl’,” said Levy. The county executive also announced that a new, high-speed notification ‘Code RED’ system is available to residents seeking phone, e-mail and/or text messages about actual or impending emergencies, such as the hurricane. Residents can sign up for the Code RED messages and get tips for pre-and post-hurricane planning via the Suffolk County Mitigation Education for Natural Disasters (MEND) website.

Levy was joined at a news conference by Suffolk’s Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services (FRES) Commissioner Joseph F. Williams and Suffolk Department of Public Works (DPW) Commissioner Gil Anderson while briefing the media on steps taken by the county in preparation for the hurricane season.

Suffolk FRES unit has contracted with Emergency Communications Network to license the latter’s Code RED high-speed notification system. The Code RED emergency notification method is an utilizes a high-speed telephone communication service to deliver customized, pre-recorded emergency messages directly to Suffolk County homes and business at the proven capacity of millions of calls per day. Code Red also has high speed email and text messaging capability

To sign up, access the following link: Code RED Sign-Up.

Individuals who do not have Internet access may call the Office of Emergency Management’s Customer Service Center  at 631-852-4900, from Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., to receive Code RED information over the phone.

Through funding from a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant that is administered by the NY State Emergency Management Office, the Suffolk County M.E.N.D. website offers numerous tips to residents for pre- and post-storm actions. Prior to this hurricane season, nearly 100,000 M.E.N.D. brochures had already been mailed to Suffolk County addresses located within a hurricane flood surge zone.

Depending upon the severity of a storm, the county may open shelters for use by residents. The media will be notified in such an event about which shelters are being opened and at what times. Shelters are opened based on the nature, severity of an emergency and the number of residents impacted. County Executive Levy noted that shelter locations are also available to residents who visit www.SuffolkCountyNY.gov.

FRES Commissioner Williams noted that a series of steps have already been taken in preparation for “Hurricane Earl,” including participation in conference calls with New York State Office of Emergency Management officials; storm tracking through the National Hurricane Center, and testing of all equipment, computers, phone lines, internet and audio/visual equipment in the FRES Emergency Operations Center (EOC).

DPW Commissioner Gilbert Anderson said DPW staff will be on standby in the event that severe weather conditions, such as flooding, pose a threat to safe roadway safety.

Anderson advised residents to stay inside and under shelter during stormy weather, and never touch any downed wires or utility poles. Residents who live in low-lying flood prone areas should, as directed, seek shelter at higher elevations, according to Anderson, and residents who have sump pumps in their homes are reminded not to connect them into sanitary house connections that in turn connect to public sanitary sewers.

George Demos Welcomes Tim Bishop's Support Of St. Nicholas Church

Brookhaven, NY- George Demos, the Conservative Republican candidate in the First Congressional District of New York, released the following statement on the news that his opponent, Congressman Tim Bishop, has joined his efforts to fight for rebuilding St. Nicholas Church at Ground Zero.

George Demos said:

“I am very pleased that today Representatives Tim Bishop and Carolyn Maloney have answered our call and joined our efforts in calling on the Port Authority to honor its agreement to allow St. Nicholas Church, the only house of worship destroyed on September 11, 2001, to be rebuilt.  

Last Monday, I was joined at the hallowed Ground Zero by former New York Governor George Pataki to renew our call on the Port Authority to rebuild St. Nicholas at the agreed upon 130 Liberty Street.  Since our first in the nation call to rebuild the Church over five weeks ago, support for this neglected, yet most worthy effort, has grown tremendously, and we will continue to lead the fight to rebuild the Church. 

This is not a partisan issue.  This is not a political issue.  It is an issue of leadership.  In Congress, I will lead members from both sides of the aisle to defend our Judeo-Christian values.”

Randy Altschuler Calls on Chris Cox To Stop the ...............

Signed Pledge in March Saying He Would Run on CP Line Alone

The campaign of Randy Altschuler, the conservative Republican candidate for Congress (NY-1), today again called on Chris Cox to stop the “lies, disinformation and dirty tricks that have become the hallmark of his campaign”. The Altschuler campaign was referring to an August 27th news release from the Cox campaign where Chris Cox is caught red-handed lying to the media and the Republican voters of the 1st Congressional District.

THE LIE: In the release Chris Cox is quoted saying “I will support the Republican candidate. I always have and I always will.” Cox is referring to what he would do if another candidate were to win the September 14th GOP Primary. The release goes on to chastise Randy Altschuler for saying he would stick by his pledge to remain in the race as the Conservative Party nominee.

THE TRUTH: On March 21st, 2010 Chris Cox signed the identical Conservative Party pledge, committing to remain an active candidate on the Conservative Party line through the November 2nd, 2010 elections. The pledge reads; “I hereby commit to the voters in the political subdivision that encompasses the office I am seeking, to run a full, committed campaign on the Conservative Party line throughout the complete campaign cycle of June 2010 to November 2, 2010.” (Click here to view the pledge)

Christopher Maloney, campaign manager for Randy Altschuler said, “Chris Cox has now been caught red handed lying to Republican Primary voters and this time he can’t wriggle out of it. It’s amazing that a candidate for public office would think he could get away with such a bold face lie. Chris Cox and his campaign need to apologize to the GOP voters and admit that he signed the exact same pledge as Randy Altschuler; committing to run on the Conservative Party line whether or not he won the GOP nomination.

“Lies, disinformation and dirty tricks have become the hallmark of the Cox campaign. Chris Cox is desperate and will say or do anything to keep his floundering campaign alive. He claims to have created jobs but, cannot point to one. He claims to be a successful businessman but, refuses to speak about his business achievements. He claims fraud in other candidates’ petitions only to have his own thrown out by the courts. Republican voters are catching on to Chris Cox’s sad and pathetic routine and that’s why Randy Altschuler will defeat him in the GOP Primary.”

Chris Cox On Randy Altschuler

ALTSCHULER OUTSOURCES HIS LIES ONCE AGAIN.  Still Refuses to Support Republican Nominee

Smithtown, NY — The campaign of Chris Cox, the genuine conservative Republican and the only candidate assured of a ballot line in November for the First Congressional District seat, today responded to the latest outsourced job by former Green Party member Randolph Altschuler: a series of outright fabrications.

“Once again, while refusing to address the issue at hand - Mr. Altschuler’s refusal to support the eventual Republican nominee and his insistence on a doomed minor party run despite its consequences for the people of Suffolk County - the Altschuler campaign shows it has no regard for the truth whatsoever,” said Brad White, Campaign Manager for Chris Cox for Congress.

“Last Thursday evening, Chris Cox repeated to the hundreds of assembled members of the Smithtown Republican Committee in reference to his intentions should he not win the September 14^th primary: ‘I will support the Republican candidate. I always have and I always will.’  That is the pledge which Chris Cox has made throughout this campaign to all the voters of the First CD in the knowledge that the best way to defeat the liberal Democratic incumbent was with a genuine conservative running on the Republican and Conservative lines.  Even Suffolk Conservative Chairman Walsh agrees.  Unfortunately, Mr. Altschuler has, at best hemmed and hawed.  In his campaign’s latest outsourced attack, he still refuses to support the Republican nominee.  He didn’t commit to Republicans when he was screening for the GOP designation nomination, and he refuses to commit now.  Apparently, he thinks Republicans are stupid and will believe any lie his money can try to sell.”

THE LATEST OF THE MANY OUTSOURCED LIES: Altschuler’s Campaign Manager claiming that Chris Cox “signed pledge in March saying he would run on CP [Conservative Party] line alone.”

THE TRUTH: There is no pledge to run on the Conservative line alone.

In seeking both the Republican and Conservative designations, Chris Cox made eminently clear that he would support the eventual winner of the Republican Primary.  On March 21st, Chris Cox did sign the Conservative Party “Candidate Commitment.”  In no way does that commitment lessen his more important commitment to the Republican Party, or force him to split the ticket regardless of other circumstances.

The commitment reads; “I hereby commit to the voters in the political subdivision that encompasses the office I am seeking, to run a full, committed campaign on the Conservative Party line throughout the complete campaign cycle of June 2010 to November 2, 2010.” 

After the Appellate Courts restore the Conservative Opportunity to Ballot, and Chris Cox wins both the Conservative and Republican primaries, he will indeed run a full, committed campaign on both lines.

AN EARLIER OUTSOURCED LIE:  Altschuler and the Conservatives seek to unify the ticket.

Suffolk Conservative Party Chairman Ed Walsh sent a July 7, 2010, letter to Chris in which he wrote:  “Traditionally, the Republican and Conservative Parties have worked together here in Suffolk County to elect officeholders who stand for a series of principles and common ideals that we both endorse…. however, what is absolutely required for success, is that our nominee shares Conservative and Republican support.”

Apparently, Mr. Walsh and Mr. Altschuler either were lying then, or are lying now.

 THE TRUTH:  Lifelong Republican Chris Cox sought both the Republican and Conservative lines precisely because he intends to run a full, committed campaign on both lines.

Chris Cox is also the only candidate to amass the endorsement of major Tea Party organizations, such as the largest affiliated group in the First CD, the Suffolk County 9-12 Project.

Chris Cox filed thousands of independent signatures, which means — when added to the signatures already filed for the Republican Party and the Conservative Party Opportunity to Ballot — that more voters signed petitions for Chris Cox than for his two Republican competitors combined.

 AN OUTSOURCED LIE ABOUT OUTSOURCING: “Randy Altschuler has never outsourced an American job.”

That is the most blatant of the stunning mistruths spoken by Brookhaven Councilwoman Jane Bonner - an enrolled Conservative — in a robo-call attacking Chris Cox and refusing to acknowledge his residence in Westhampton Beach or his lifelong residence in the State of New York.

THE TRUTH: The widely reported fact that Mr. Altschuler sent American jobs overseas has been reported in countless business and news publications, including Business Week, Time Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times.

In the documentary “Office Tigers” Mr. Altschuler and his partner Joe Sigelman not only admit they moved American jobs overseas to India and elsewhere, but wrap themselves in glory for the dubious achievement.

Soon after they sold their company OfficeTiger to RR Donnelley for some $250 million, RR Donnelley was ranked 49 in the Top Offshoring Providers list, a sub-list of The Global Outsourcing 100, by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP).

A sampling of links:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_28/b3942429.htm

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_37/b3950087_mz020.htm

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/rr-donelley-acquires-officetiger-for-250-m/37185/

Remembering Haiti

By John Dennehy

    In 2007 I visited some villages in India that were destroyed by the Indian Ocean tsunami three years before, and I was saddened by what I saw.  The greatest natural disaster of my lifetime had brought headlines and aid money to the south-eastern coast of India, but the money and the reporters left long before anything sustainable was built, and the disaster dragged on silently. 

    A few months after returning from a visit to Haiti I saw the news headlines about that nations capital reduced to rubble and I expected a similar pattern of immediate but short lived concern.  I was wrong.

    More than half a year on and the world has not forgotten.  Much of the pledged money has not yet come and it seems likely that much of it never will, but no matter.  As much as we like to think that throwing money at a problem will solve it, that is so rarely the case.  Immigration and debt reform, government corruption, environmental policy and the myriad of other issues that made the western third of the island of Hispaniola so vulnerable to disaster do not have price tags, but they can be solved. 

   Haiti´s burden of debt has been erased by many donor nations.  The severe immigration restrictions have been eased by many of Haiti´s neighbors.  The next government will, with little effort, be the least corrupt in generations.  Not only are these real changes but they are long term; and they are because the world continues to care.  Unlike past tragedies that fade from our thoughts as quickly as they appeared, this Caribbean nation has held our attention, and that makes all the difference.  The immigration reform, the debt relief, and everything else is greatly helped by the simple fact that we have not forgotten.  If we had ignored the nation as we did before, I believe that the other governments would happily continue to collect debt interest and the next Haitian government would fill its pockets with as much gold as all the past ones have, but not now, not while we watch. 

    I think it may be hard for many Americans to comprehend how desperate the situation in Haiti was before the earthquake and so this wound will take a very long time to heal, but even from this skeptics perspective, we are making progress.