County Legislature Hopefuls Spar

The South Fork’s two candidates for the Suffolk County Legislature continued to clash this week over key issues that affect the region. Amos Goodman, a Republican, and Bridget Fleming, a Democrat who sits on the Southampton Town Board, traded assertions this week in an interview with The Star that often saw Ms. Fleming defending herself from Mr. Goodman’s remarks on her political record and career.

Ms. Fleming, who ran unsuccessfully for the State Senate in 2012, has cited as among her accomplishments a part in Southampton’s successful erasure of what was once an $8.1 million deficit. The town ended 2011 with an operating surplus over $1 million.

Mr. Goodman, who is a financial consultant with a background in defense and security, called his opponent a “career politician.” He said there was a “political class” in charge, which had “dropped the ball” on issues like budgeting and business development. Instead, he said, “citizen legislators” are needed.

“I think it’s essential for a new generation of people to come forward,” said Mr. Goodman. “The same problems have festered. I think it’s time for action.”

“My background has spanned both worlds and I think I can do a better job, frankly.”

Ms. Fleming responded that she has been criticized as “both an outlier and an entrenched member of the political class.”

“The idea, I guess these are implied, that I made backroom deals or am beholden to political bosses and unable to be independent is absolutely untrue, and my record reflects that,” she said. “I’m hearing a little bit of talking out of two sides of the mouth.”

Mr. Goodman questioned whether the Army Corps of Engineers’ Fire Island to Montauk Point reformulation plan, now decades in the works, would ever “come down the pike.” He said he believes that the Corps’s dune project on the downtown Montauk beach is “not a good idea.” Ms. Fleming’s position on the project was less clear in her interview on Monday, but she said that she recognized that in downtown Montauk “retreat,” or moving buildings away from the shoreline, was not a viable alternative.

Asked how to handle what many perceive is an imbalance of representation at the county level — western Suffolk is represented by 16 legislators, while the North and South Forks have just one apiece — the two candidates differed in their approaches.

Mr. Goodman said he would look at “the entire health of Suffolk County.”

“There is a key divergence of views. Is this a question of 16 to 2? There’s the traditional paradigm that the East End is special and we have unique needs,” he said. “But I think if you put it in a 16-2 paradigm, you’re already relegated to irrelevance . . . The better western Suffolk does, the better the East End does. We’re paying the price. We’re propping it up. I don’t think that’s right.”

Ms. Fleming said the specific needs of the East End cannot generally be lumped together with the whole county’s.

“I recognize there is a difference in what the various legislators bring to the table and that there is a numerical imbalance. The differences are real — traffic, overcrowding, affordable housing, natural resources issues. All those things are different.” She later added, “I think it is really important that the needs and concerns on the East End are something different from what people represent in Babylon or Islip on the needs of their constituencies.”

Asked what the county might do to help the South Fork deal with the massive influx of summer visitors and all the attendant problems that come with a seasonal population explosion, the candidates agreed that the county could play a role in improving local infrastructure.

Mr. Goodman took the opportunity to criticize East Hampton Town’s dealings this summer with Uber, the on-demand car share service. “East Hampton banning Uber was a big mistake,” Mr. Goodman said. The county might also be able to cut through local NIMBYism to take action on school consolidation or affordable housing, he said.

 “This is a source of real difference in the fact that Mr. Goodman . . . has actually suggested overriding the local town supervisor and town board with what the county might think is a better solution to the problem,” Ms. Fleming said. “That is truly problematic. There is a reason why we have local governments . . . I am absolutely opposed to the county overriding positions by local governments.”

Mr. Goodman said his remarks had been mischaracterized. “This is not even a first, second, or even tenth option. This is a last resort on certain things.”

The candidates did agree that a multi-year approach to budget planning was needed. In some of her campaign mailings, Ms. Fleming has promised to “hold the line on taxes” if elected.

“With regard to good financial management practices, I think we need to more conservatively project sales tax revenues,” she said. “I was the first to say we need a multi-year financial plan . . . There are steps we should try to replicate or try to look at opportunities to get those expenditures down. We did erase the deficit in Southampton. I think we can do it [in Suffolk] but it’s going to take some hard, careful planning.

Mr. Goodman has criticized “one-shot revenue deals,” like the sale of a county’s nursing-home facility. In his campaign literature, he has pledged to “fight Albany-style, top-down programs and work to cut waste, reign in spending, and balance the budget.”

“There are areas in which we can consolidate the indebtedness, take advantage of low interest rates . . . We can refinance. We’re doing some of that already but we need to do more,” he said. “I’ve looked at public budgets, private budgets. I understand where the gimmicks and one-shots are.”

What is expected to be the final debate between Ms. Fleming and Mr. Goodman will take place tonight at 6 at the Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton, under the sponsorship of the League of Women Voters.