Suffolk Closeup: Ed Romaine Is Sworn In As Suffolk County's 9th County Executive

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

If only Washington would be this way.

Ed Romaine is sworn in as Suffolk County’s 9th County ExecutiveThe inauguration last week of Ed Romaine as the ninth county executive of Suffolk County was a celebration of non-partisanship in government. 

And it was a big salute to Romaine.

“He never let partisanship get in his way,” declared U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, in a presentation effusively praising Republican Romaine.

There were loads of Republican public officials, leaders and just plain GOP rank-and-filers among the hundreds of people packed into the auditorium at the Eastport South Manor Junior-Senior High School on January 1. This included the two members of the U.S. House of Representatives who represent Suffolk, Nick LaLota and Andrew Garbarino, and many state, county and town Republican officials including District Attorney Ray Tierney, and, of course, Suffolk Republican Chairman Jesse Garcia. Romaine is the first Republican Suffolk County executive in two decades.

But there were also plenty of Democrats. Those in attendance besides Schumer included New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, Suffolk Democratic Chairman and Babylon Town Supervisor Rich Schaffer, Suffolk County Legislators Steve Englebright and Ann Welker, Suffolk Sheriff Errol Toulon, and the new Southampton town supervisor, Maria Moore.

Suffolk County Conservative Party Chairman Mike Torres was there, too.

I’ve covered Suffolk County executives since 1962 and regularly wrote about the first person to hold that office, H. Lee Dennison, a Democrat who crusaded for governmental reform, and then his successor, John V. N. Klein, a Republican who championed environmental initiatives including the first-of-its-kind Suffolk County Farmland Preservation Program and was a leader in challenging oil-drilling off Suffolk’s coast.

Senator Chuck Schumer Republican Dan Panico, who now follows Romaine as Brookhaven Town supervisor, said in his presentation at the inauguration: “Ed will be one of the best county executives this county has ever seen.” 

I agree with Panico having covered Romaine since 1985 after he left being a history teacher at Hauppauge High School and began putting into practice the ideals about which he taught. I’ve regularly written about his leading in numerous environmental and good-government initiatives as a long-time member of the Suffolk Legislature, innovations as county clerk, and as supervisor of Brookhaven, Suffolk’s largest town in size and population. Through many decades, he’s among the finest officials in Suffolk I have known. 

Panico spoke of Romaine’s “impeccable character” and his having “dedicated his life to make the lives of people better.”

That view was mirrored in the remarks of Schumer. “It’s a great day for Suffolk,” said Schumer. “You are getting a great representative for your county executive.”

Romaine, said Schumer, “will always put community first.”

“Suffolk County is a bastion of the middle class,” said Schumer, who hails from Brooklyn. He spoke of Suffolk being composed of “people who don’t ask for much, who just want a decent life for them and maybe have a better life for their kids….Ed understands that instinctively.”

Schumer listed many accomplishments of Romaine in government. Among these, he noted, was a pioneering federal law they worked on together “to regulate helicopter traffic” triggered by the “racket” of helicopters delivering visitors from the city to the Hamptons.

The inauguration began with Paige Patterson of Port Jefferson Station singing the opening lines of the tune “Feeling Good”—“It’s a new dawn. It’s a new day….And I’m feeling good.” The master of ceremonies, former State Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, a Republican, opened with: “This is a good day.”

Romaine began his “Inaugural Address” with: “It is a new day in Suffolk County.”

“I have a long list of to-do’s,” he said. 

“This administration will be rooted in the values and traditions of hard work, personal initiative and accountability, so we can build a future that is safe and more affordable, and provides hope and opportunity to our citizens,” he continued. He outlined many of the areas he will focus upon including creation of affordable housing so people “can live here,” the environment, fighting crime, solid waste, and the highway system. He singled out the ordeal of driving “on Sunrise Highway and County Road 39 in Southampton clogged by “the ‘trade parade.’” 

The county “legislature and county executive must work together,” he said. The legislature’s presiding officer, Kevin McCaffrey, a Republican, had a front-row seat. And he said he wants “to work with our [town] supervisors.” 

“I want to start the work of building a better Suffolk County,” said Romaine.

The Rev. Patrick Riegger of St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church in Center Moriches—where Romaine and his wife Diane reside—gave the opening invocation. The priest spoke of building a “society founded on the principles of truth, peace and love.”  The closing benediction was offered by Rabbi Aaron Benson of the North Shore Jewish Center in Port Jefferson Station who said “today is a day of new beginnings” and of “hope and promise.” 

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.