SUFFOLK CLOSEUP - Patrick R. Vecchio LI's Best Contender

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

Patrick R. Vecchio He could have been and should have been a contender—for Suffolk County executive. But Patrick Vecchio, who created a bridge between Suffolk and New York City’s maverick Mayor John V. Lindsay—as a NYPD detective sergeant he was Mr. Lindsay’s head of security—had to settle to staying on as a town supervisor.

And did he stay on!  Smithtown Town supervisor for 40 years, he became the longest-serving town supervisor ever in Suffolk County. Indeed, he became the longest-serving town supervisor in New York State.

Now 87, Mr. Vecchio was narrowly defeated in a Republican primary last month to run again for re-election. He regretted the loss saying he had “so much more to do.”

Before he takes leave of the Suffolk governmental stage, Mr. Vecchio should be celebrated. He has been among the spunkiest, most dynamic, most straightforward people in politics in Suffolk I’ve known through the years. 

Mr. Vecchio’s inspiration to get into politics was golden-haired Mr. Lindsay, mayor from 1966 to 1973, and before that a congressman representing the “Silk Stocking” district, Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Mr. Lindsay’s independent-minded approach was clear while he was in the House—he was a leading member of a group of GOPers voting for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, advocated Medicare and establishment of the National Foundation for Arts and Humanities 

As mayor, he continued his independent ways. And in 1969 he lost the Republican nomination to run for re-election. But unlike Mr. Vecchio this year, he already had minor party support—the Liberal Party. And he ran on the Liberal line and won.

In 1971, he switched his enrollment to Democrat and made an unsuccessful bid to be the Democratic candidate for president in 1972. In hindsight, Mr. Lindsay would have been a stronger Democratic candidate against Republican Richard Nixon than George McGovern, who carried only one state, Massachusetts. 

In 1977, Mr. Vecchio, a resident of Fort Salonga, ran as a Democrat for Smithtown supervisor. I hosted a TV program at that time, an interview with Mr. Lindsay and Mr. Vecchio sitting alongside each other. The bond, the affection between the two, and the political similarity—that common independent-minded focus—was apparent.

Mr. Vecchio had been, through Mr. Lindsay’s tenure as mayor, his bodyguard, although he preferred his job to be referred to as head of security. The bottom line no matter what the title: he was there to take a bullet for the mayor if it came to it. That takes a certain kind of courageous person. And it was not just Mayor Lindsay he protected through the years. As a young New York City detective, Mr. Vecchio served in the NYPD guard unit protecting candidate John F. Kennedy in 1960 and then President Kennedy on numerous occasions thereafter, as well as other notable figures.

Mr. Lindsay was excited about Mr. Vecchio being in governmental office.

Then, a few years later, came an opportunity for Mr. Vecchio to get into politics on the  county level—to run for Suffolk County executive (a kind of county equivalent of mayor).

The year was 1979 and then Suffolk County Executive John V. N. Klein of Smithtown, eight years in the post, in a Republican primary lost his bid to run for re-election. (Mr. Klein was a former Smthtown supervisor himself and also a Suffolk County legislator representing Smithtown as well as presiding officer of the legislature.) Islip Town Supervisor Peter F. Cohalan of Bayport (now county historian), focused in the primary on the unfolding scandal involving the $1.2 billion Southwest Sewer District—the biggest sewer project ever undertaken in Suffolk and quite the boondoggle—and won.

With a split GOP, a strong Democratic candidate running for county executive—Mr. Vecchio—would have had a good chance.  

But long-time Suffolk Democratic Chairman Dominic Baranello of Medford, also New York State Democratic chairman then, instead steered the party’s nomination to Martin Feldman, a dentist from Dix Hills and a member of the Suffolk Legislature. Dr. Feldman was trounced by Mr. Cohalan, losing by a still remarkable near100,000 votes. 

Not only in hindsight, but I and many others believed then that the charismatic and colorful Mr. Vecchio would have been a stronger Democratic candidate for county executive that year. Instead, Mr. Vecchio ran in his first of many re-election campaigns for Smithtown supervisor, and won handily. That decision by the late Mr. Baranello to pass over Mr. Vecchio for county executive was at the core of Mr. Vecchio becoming a strong critic of the Democratic chairman and, like Mr. Lindsay, subsequently switching parties—but for him, it was going from Democrat to Republican. He tried again to be a candidate for county executive, in 1983, but lost in a Republican primary to Robert Gaffney of Miller Place, the eventual winner.         

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.

Candidates Debate The Rest Is Up To You

Smithtown’s League of Women Voters (LWV) hosted a candidates debate for local and county legislative offices last night. With the exception of the Democratic candidate in the 13th LD, all invited candidates participated in the forum. Robert Trotta, Republican candidate and the incumbent legislator in the 13th LD was in attendance but unable to participate because the LWV rules preclude candidates from participating without an opponent. Town clerk candidates were first to speak followed by town council, legislature, town supervisor candidates. 

For Town Clerk: L-R Conrad Chayes, Justin W. Smiloff, Vincent A. Puleo,Candidates were asked questions by LWV moderator Lisa Scott. Audience members were invited to participate by submitting their questions on cards. Opening and closing statements provided the candidates the opportunity to address issues of their choice. Town clerk candidate Conrad Chayes used his closing statement to explain that he is the only Republican running for town clerk although he does not have the Republican line which is being filled by Vincent Puleo, a Conservative. 

Town Council candidate Thomas McCarthyTown Council candidate Lynne NowickTown Council candidate Patricia StoddardOf the fourteen candidates participating in the debate only Kristen Slevin, candidate for town supervisor, is a not affiliated with a political party. There are no females running for the town clerk position. Lynne Nowick is the only female running for any town office on the Republican ticket. Democrats have two women Amy Fortunato and Patricia Stoddard running for town council seats both first time candidates. Two members of Ed Wehrheim’s Dream Team, Robert Doyle and Thomas Lohmann, are retired police officers who lost in the Republican primary contest and are running on the Conservative line. Doyle and Lohmann are also first time candidates. 

Town Council candidate Robert DoyleTown Council candidate Amy FortunatoTown Council candidate Thomas LohmannRepublican town council candidates (both incumbents) Thomas McCarthy and Lynne Nowick, despite being dissed by the Republican leader William Ellis and Ed Wehrheim, linked themselves with nominee Ed Wehrheim. 

Transparency was the word of the night with candidates united in their goal for providing more transparency. Democratic candidates for town council Fortunato and Stoddard spoke about how difficult it is to follow Town Board and work session agendas that are made public with inadequate information and released too close to meeting date for the public to use effectively. 

Supervisor candidate Edward WehrheimSupervisor candidate Kristen SlevinSupervisor candidate William HolstDemocrat William Holst emphasized the need to put residents before business interests.  Council and supervisor candidates praised civic associations for taking the lead in planning improvements for the business districts in their hamlets. Kristen Slevin emphasized her desire to ensure that Smithtown maintains a small hometown feel and not become another Patchogue. Ed Wehrheim called attention to his plan to bring all interested parties to the table before decisions are made.

All candidates support the two per cent tax cap enacted by Governor Cuomo. Supervisor Vecchio’s legacy of fiscal conservatism may be in it’s waning days as candidates spoke of leveraging the town’s triple A bond rating and using reserves to fund projects.

Legislature candidate Leslie KennedyLegislature candidate Kevin HymsIn the legislative portion of the debate only candidates in the 12th LD spoke. Democrat Kevin Hyms is challenging Leslie Kennedy. A question about reducing the size of Suffolk County Government from current eighteen legislative districts to thirteen engendered a discussion about staffing in the legislature with Kennedy speaking forcefully against overstaffing, Hyms concurred. Kennedy is known for her constituent service and the personal attention she gives to the problems in her district. Kevin Hyms is a scientist who has a history in community service gave voice to public concerns about water and making living on Long Island affordable for young people.

The public has an opportunity to meet candidates this evening, October 18th, at the St. James Elementary school at 7pm. The event is sponsored by the Community Association of Greater St. James.

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP - Wanted Suffolk County Sheriff With Police Background

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

No matter which candidate for Suffolk County sheriff is victorious on Election Day, the winner will be someone with law enforcement experience—thanks to a primary last month.

Originally, the Suffolk Republican Party designated State Senator Philip Boyle of Bay Shore to run for sheriff. But Lawrence M. Zacarese, deputy chief of Stony Brook University Police and a former New York City police officer, emphasizing that Mr. Boyle had no law enforcement experience and this was “crucial” for the post, challenged him in a GOP primary, and won.

Although the choices of party leaders and committee people often win in primaries, Mr. Zacarese pulled an upset. “This has been the epitome of an outsider grassroots campaign against a big machine,” said Mr. Zacarese of Kings Park following the primary. “The voters spoke with an overwhelming message that they want a qualified candidate for sheriff.”

Meanwhile, the Suffolk Democratic Party had designated Dan Caroleo, a retired New York City police officer from North Babylon, to run for sheriff. but he abruptly dropped out. He was replaced by a former Huntington Town councilman, Stuart Besen, an attorney with a specialty in personal injury cases.  The word in Suffolk political circles was that the Suffolk Democratic leadership was getting set to endorse GOPer Boyle as its candidate for sheriff and that Mr. Besen was just a “placeholder”—until Mr. Boyle clinched the Republican nomination by winning the primary.

But Mr. Boyle didn’t win it. So the Suffolk Democratic Party replaced Mr. Besen with Errol Toulon of Lake Grove, for 22 years a uniformed officer in the New York City Department of Corrections, then its deputy commissioner, and later an assistant deputy Suffolk County executive for public safety under County Executive Steve Bellone.

If these political gyrations seem complex, that’s because they are.  And they point to important issues in politics in Suffolk. 

“Battle for decency in Suffolk politics,” was the headline of an editorial last month in Newsday. “Race for county sheriff illustrates how cross-endorsements corrupt the system,” was the sub-head. 

The editorial began: “Round one is over. The people won,” referring to the victory of Mr. Zacarese in the primary. And then went into other elements. It spoke of how the anticipated Democratic endorsement of GOPer Boyle for sheriff was tied to a Democratic cross-endorsement deal with the Suffolk Conservative Party involving judgeships on the state Supreme Court here. It spoke of how Edward Walsh, formerly both Suffolk Conservative Party chairman and a corrections lieutenant in the Suffolk sheriff’s office, “was convicted of federal corruption charges on evidence supplied by current Sherriff Vincent DeMarco. Walsh, still pulling the party’s strings, jettisoned DeMarco for Boyle. Getting the Democratic line as well would greatly increase Boyle’s chances in November. That would mean that a man headed to federal prison would wind up determining who is Suffolk’s sheriff, who gets judgeships, and possibly who controls the State Senate, which has a one-vote GOP edge.”

Sheriff DeMarco is a Conservative who has run with Democratic support.  Mr. Walsh was sentenced in June to two years in prison for wire fraud and theft of government services for receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in his position in the Suffolk’s sheriff’s office while gambling, golfing and politicking when he was supposed to be working.

Because of a primary there’s a choice between two candidates for Suffolk sheriff with law enforcement qualifications to oversee the county’s jails in Riverside and Yaphank and supervise almost 900 corrections officers, 250 deputy sheriffs and 130 civilian personnel.

Mr. Zacarese says: “The duties and responsibilities of the sheriff are directly aligned with my experience and academic credentials I’ve been honing for the last 25 years.”

Mr. Toulon says: “I have spent decades working inside some of the toughest jails, guarding the toughest criminals, and I understand what it takes to keep our communities safe.” If he wins, he’d be the first African-American elected to a countywide governmental post in Suffolk.

Regarding history, a “High Sheriff” for East Riding (what is now Suffolk County) was first appointed by the colonial governor in 1683. In 1821, the post of Suffolk sheriff became elected, the situation in most counties in the United States. Neighboring Nassau, however, has a sheriff appointed by the county executive. In 2014, Mr. Bellone advanced the idea of the Suffolk sheriff also being appointed. It got nowhere. Having an elected sheriff, notes the website “Politics Stack Exchange,” allows voters “to determine…a changing of the guard.”

People In The News - Kristen Slevin For Smithtown Town Supervisor

By Stacey Altherr

It wasn’t until Kristen Slevin and her husband opened their own business in March 2016, a chocolate and candy shop off Main Street in Smithtown, that she realized she may have taken an even bigger risk than she had thought.

“From the first day of my store opening, every single customer asked me ‘Are you going to make it?’ ” Slevin said. “They were so concerned because they have seen so many businesses open and close.”

Interest piqued, she started to watch the town board meetings online and was amazed at what she saw; work sessions without agendas, votes without any discussions, and other dynamics within the board that seemed not very conducive to public participation.

“It was all around just lax,” she said, “The downtown revitalization, revamping the animal shelter, the marina and boat slip issues… They are all important things, but I am looking more at it from a foundation issue.”

She points to the town codes, which are either antiquated or so poorly written that residents couldn’t even figure out how to follow the town’s own rules, she said.

“It’s kind of like working in a business and not have an employee manual,” Slevin said.

As more people approached her, she got more interested in the idea of someone outside the usual political circles running for the top post of town supervisor.  

“I was not my first choice,” she said. “I asked at least a dozen people – attorneys, teachers.” But others convinced her to run.

Slevin needed 1,500 signatures to get on the ballot, and she was able to get 1,781; some from volunteers who went door-to-door and other signatures from a petition at her shop. She is funding this run with $1,000 of her own money, will not be fundraising or handing out yard signs, she said. She is running on the ballot without any party affiliation. Her slogan on her Facebook page is “None of the Above.”

Slevin has no political experience, but has worked in corporate jobs most of her life before opening Yottabytes (Yotta is the largest decimal unit prefix in the metric system) with her husband Brian Medeiros. They have a son, Luke, 22 months old, and Slevin has a daughter from a previous marriage, Mailyn Colletta, 12. Slevin grew up in Hauppauge, graduating from the high school there in 1994.  She attended SUNY Oswego but never finished (“My biggest regret,” she said), but was active in clubs. 

She was president of her school’s National Panhellenic Society, an umbrella group for college sororities.  In high school, she was active in student council and was an officer in the Future Business Leaders of America organization.

Slevin said her volunteers, who span across all parties, have been maligned by some for taking votes away from the party’s candidates, but that the party leaders themselves have been neutral. In particular, fellow candidate Republican Edward Werheim has admonished those who publicly malign her for running for the seat.

If she wins, she is prepared to run the town, she said. Slevin points to a You Tube video online where the current town supervisor who has held the seat consecutively for 40 years, Patrick Vecchio, says in an interview that he had no political experience when he took on the job. 

“He’s my hero,” Slevin said. “He was a total outsider.”

Slevin knows she is a longshot to beat out two heavily politically connected candidates, but sees this as an opportunity to voice the concerns of those who visit her chocolate shop.

“I always planned this with the [thought] that I won’t win,” Slevin said. “I am prepared to win. But if I don’t, it’s not about who does but that something gets done.”

“Whoever wins, wins. It’s about making the town a better place.”

Stacey Altherr is a former Newsday reporter now living in Sarsasota, Florida. Her beats included Smithtown, where she covered governmental affairs.  She now runs a café in Longboat Key near her home and writes freelance. Altherr has won many awards, including a 2010 Society of Silurian Award for community service journalism for a multi-part series, “Heroin Hits Main Street,” and a third-place National Headliner Award for public service for a multi-part year-long investigation on spending at fire districts on Long Island.

Theater Review - "Gypsy"

Theater Review – ‘Gypsy’Produced by Engeman Theater – Northport

Reviewed by Jeb Ladouceur 

 ‘Gypsy’ is one of those ‘can’t-miss’ names that’s a virtual synonym for Show Business. We all know the account of ‘Rose’ the insistent stage mother who lives vicariously through her daughters Louise and June, and “…damn the vaudevillian torpedoes—it’s full speed ahead!”

But the chief problem with The Engeman’s current production of ‘Gypsy’ is that while it’s billed essentially as Louise’s ‘rags-to-riches’ story, it’s too much of a non-stop saga about Mama Rose’s maniacal pursuit of fame, and those anticipated torpedoes never come close enough for us to fear that the determined Rose won’t manage to dodge them. Accordingly, we’re left with a mere footnote to the plot when Louise (now Gypsy Rose Lee) crams a couple of successively more glitzy ‘strip’ routines into a few minutes at the end of what has become a somewhat confusing show.

The play follows Mama and her distinctly different daughters from their pre-teen singing and dancing years (as 9-year-old ‘Baby June’ironically turns-in the family’s most winning performances) right up to early adulthood … when Baby June’s finally had enough of pretending to be a kiddie hoofer. She recognizes vaudeville’s impending demise … as well as the impossibility of ever satisfying her overly-aggressive mother … and quits the stale act to pursue the more mature life of a wife and legitimate actress.

Rose, of course, is devastated, and viciously decides to turn her more withdrawn daughter Louise into the star she’d been grooming June to become … whether Louise likes it or not.

Admittedly, everybody’s angst becomes a key component in nervy Rose’s self-delusional tale of woe, and when second fiddle, Louise, replaces long-gone June at her mother’s insistence, Louise winds up booked into a naughty burlesque strip joint. This proves to be the best thing that could have happened to the Engeman audience, because there, a chubby dancer named ‘Mazeppa’ treats us to one of the funniest routines we’ll ever see on stage.

‘Mazeppa’ is played by the magnificently gifted Long Island veteran, Jennifer Collester Tully, and she stops the show in its tracks with her risqué, off-key, trumpet-blaring rendition of ‘You Gotta Get a Gimmick.’ Tully’s got a gimmick, alright, and in all the years I’ve been watching her hilarious interpretations, she’s never failed to outshine everybody else onstage. It’s known as talent, folks, and Jen Tully has it in spades.

But not even Tully and her suggestive sidekick, ‘Electra’ (expertly played by Amber Carson) can save this spotty production from the repetitiousness sadly built into so many Stephen Sondheim musicals. Heretical though it may seem, even the almighty ‘West Side Story’suffers from Sondheim monotony in my view. In fairness, be advised that this is not a universal, or even a widely held opinion on Broadway. Indeed, Stephen Sondheim is regarded by many professional composers as America’s greatest lyricist! And inexplicably he has won more Tony awards than any other musical wordsmith. So, go figure.

The indisputable fact is that ‘Gypsy’ … even when it opened in 1959 at The Broadway Theatre starring the great Ethel Merman … failed to win a single Tony, despite having been nominated in eight categories (none of which nominations, incidentally, involved Sondheim). Not until Angela Lansbury played ‘Rose’ in the 1974 Broadway revival did the American Theatre Wing finally smile on ‘Gypsy’ by giving the British-born star a Best Actress Tony in the revival.

It must be noted here, therefore, that the problems associated with this show are almost exclusively attributable to lyricist Sondheim and playwright Arthur Laurents (Laurents, having died in 2011, incidentally is buried with his partner under a memorial bench in out-east Quogue). In summary, it is this critic’s view that the current Engeman cast and crew are in no way to blame for ‘Gypsy’s’ shortcomings … any more than it is Ethel Merman’s or Jack Klugman’s fault the widely-acclaimed show couldn’t score a Tony in its debut.

At the Engeman, the insistent Michele Ragusa does as well as can be expected in the demanding role of an obsessed Mama Rose. In Act I, 11-year-old Kyla Carter (young Baby June) proves as accomplished as any child star we’ve seen currently performing on Long Island. And the hi-jinx loaded combination of profane Jen Tully and Amber Carson in Act II is, itself, worth the hefty price of admission. In future shows it surely won’t be hard for Wojcik/Seay Casting to come up with a pair of comedic specialists who can probably save any musical that might need resuscitation. Make a note of their names if you haven’t already—Tully & Carson—these plump, appealing pros are just plain irresistible!

Igor Goldin directs this show that runs thru October 29^th. Next up at Northport’s plush Engeman Theater is the ever-popular ‘Annie,’ starting November 9^th. 

Award-winning writer, Jeb Ladouceur is the author of a dozen novels, and his theater and book reviews appear in several major L.I. publications. His recent hit, THE GHOSTWRITERS, explores the bizarre relationship between the late Harper Lee and Truman Capote. Ladouceur’s newly completed thriller, THE SOUTHWICK INCIDENT, was introduced at the Smithtown Library on May 21st. The book involves a radicalized Yale student and his CIA pursuers. Mr. Ladouceur’s revealing website is www.JebsBooks.com