Larsen to Make a Run
The East Hampton Town Republican Committee was poised to screen its final candidate to run for town board last night, just days after officially endorsing Gerard Larsen for one of the two seats.
Mr. Larsen, known as Jerry, was until recently the East Hampton Village police chief. He retired in late December after 13 years in the position and 32 years with the department.
A registered member of the Independence Party, he will run on the G.O.P. ticket with Manny Vilar of Springs, a sergeant with the State Parks police who is running for town supervisor, and, if all went as planned yesterday, Paul Giardina, an East Hampton resident with 40 years of experience with the Environmental Protection Agency, for which he was chief of the Radiation and Indoor Air branch in the New York regional office. The three have more than 100 years of combined public service and administrative experience.
Mr. Larsen, 52, and Mr. Vilar, 56, have known each other since 1984, when they went through the seasonal police academy together. Both grew up in the East Hampton area.
“I’ve always been interested in doing it,” Mr. Larsen said of a run for town office. “Now that I’m retired, I’ve got the freedom to do it.” His wife, Lisa Mulhern-Larsen, ran unsuccessfully for town board as a Republican two years ago. “I got hooked” on town politics after that, Mr. Larsen said.
He considers himself a moderate. Party affiliations are not important to him, and he is able to work with everyone, he said. He contacted all three political parties, asking to be screened, but as of yesterday had not heard back from the Democratic Committee. The Independence Party has not yet screened candidates.
“I don’t really have an agenda moving forward,” he said, adding that he is open-minded and willing to meet with people on all sides of the major issues facing the town.
“I’ve always done a lot for the community, I feel. This is just another way for me to keep doing things for the community.”
Mr. Larsen moved to East Hampton at the age of 8 and graduated from East Hampton High School in 1982. He started a career in law enforcement as a traffic control officer with the village the following year, and then worked as a seasonal police officer before getting hired full time. He rose through the department’s ranks, serving as detective, sergeant, and then lieutenant before being hired chief in 2003.
In addition to running the village’s Police Department, Mr. Larsen, who has a bachelor’s degree in public affairs from the State University at Westbury, also managed the Emergency Communications Department, which handles 911 calls for the East Hampton Town and Sag Harbor Village Police Departments and the fire and ambulance agencies from Montauk to Sag Harbor. He acted as the emergency manager for East Hampton Village, coordinating fire, police, and emergency medical services during natural disasters and special events, and he was an integral part in the formation of the village’s paid paramedic program.
Like Mr. Vilar, who has served for many years in leadership roles with the Police Benevolent Association of New York State, Mr. Larsen has union experience. He was elected president of the Police Association of Suffolk County, with more than 2,000 officers in its membership, in 2006, after holding other elected positions since 1995.
Mr. Larsen lives in East Hampton with his wife. They have six children between them. They have run Protec Security, a security and property management business, since 2005.