The East Hampton Town Republican Committee re-elected the group’s executive board to two-year terms at its 2019 organizational meeting on Friday.
Manny Vilar, a former candidate for town supervisor and councilman, was re-elected as the committee’s chairman at the meeting, held at the American Legion Hall in Amagansett. Diane McNally, a former longtime clerk of the town trustees, was re-elected vice chairwoman. Kyle Vorpahl Ballou will serve another term as secretary, and Rich Gheradi was re-elected treasurer.
In a statement issued by the committee last week, Mr. Vilar said that special interests have monopolized the town’s government and that “increasingly, decisions are made more often than not that fail to serve our community’s greater good.” He likened the town board and the trustees to the Suffolk County Legislature, all of which bodies he called “unresponsive to the basic needs of our hardworking residents.” He called on East Hampton Republicans as well as Jesse Garcia and Nick Langworthy, the party’s county and state chairmen respectively, to “bring government back to the people by working together with everyone in our community regardless of political affiliation.”
“This is a new day for the East Hampton Town Republican Committee,” Mr. Ballou said in the statement. “We cannot forget about our past. I have a deep sense of place here and I would like to keep it. Our traditional way of life in East Hampton has been eaten away and curtailed in ways that are unexplainable and unexpected. It is time to rally our supporters and reclaim East Hampton.”
Mr. Ballou’s grandfather, Stuart Vorpahl Jr., was a bayman and longtime trustee. His mother, Susan Vorpahl, was elected to the board of trustees in 2017 and is seeking a second term this fall.
Democrats presently enjoy a 7-to-2 majority on the trustee board. “I’m looking forward to working with the Republican Committee to have our experienced and honest candidates elected,” Ms. McNally said in the statement, “and am especially determined to secure a majority of the trustee board once again.”
East Hampton Republicans have endorsed registered Democrats, Independence Party members, and unaffiliated candidates in the Nov. 5 election for town board, trustee, and other offices.