Political Briefs 04.06.17

Democrats to Hold Elections Forum

The East Hampton Democratic Committee will host an event that will focus on participating in elective government tomorrow from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in Amagansett. “Candidates for Our Future: How to Elect and Be Elected” will feature presentations from Democratic Party leaders including Supervisor Larry Cantwell, Councilwoman Sylvia Overby, Betty Mazur, the East Hampton Democrats’ vice chairwoman, and Andrew Harris. The event is free and open to the public.

“It’s a response to a couple of things,” Jeanne Frankl, the East Hampton Democrats’ co-chairwoman, said. “First of all, the activists — a huge and burgeoning group — have begun developing an awareness that, ultimately, electing people to office is the way to make change. They’ve expressed an interest in how can they run and nominate candidates.”

Second, Ms. Frankl said, “We have seen that in the era of Trump it’s going to be action at the local level that will make change in the directions that interest us. So we’re more interested than ever before in getting involved at the local level. This program will tell people about East Hampton government, its component parts, and how candidates can help potential candidates learn the ropes in a sequence of more important roles in offices.”

“And, above all,” she said, “how we do a campaign to get people elected.”

Mr. Cantwell will deliver a presentation with the self-explanatory title “Getting to the Top,” Ms. Frankl said. Ms. Overby will speak about the town government. Ms. Mazur “is going to tell the story of how East Hampton turned from red to blue,” Ms. Frankl said, “and how we register voters in campaigns.” Mr. Harris will discuss the importance of data in contemporary elections. Party officials will take questions from the audience.  

G.O.P. Candidates Push Water Quality

Republican candidates for the East Hampton Town Board have signaled that water quality will be a primary issue in their campaign with the release this week of a plan for the protection of environmentally sensitive waterways and drinking water reservoirs from failing septic systems.

Paul Giardina, a candidate for town board who spent more than 40 years at the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, drafted the plan before voters approved a referendum to allow up to 20 percent of the Peconic Bay Region Community Preservation Fund’s proceeds to be used for water quality initiatives.

That amendment to the C.P.F. is a step in the right direction, the Republican candidates said, but inadequate relative to the magnitude of the problem, chiefly aging septic systems from which nitrogen is leaching into groundwater and waterways.

Their plan would incorporate the State Environmental Facilities Corporation and the E.P.A.’s Clean Water Act State Revolving Fund. Under the plan, residential septic systems would be inspected, with those within a specified distance to a watershed given priority. Those that do not pass inspection would be identified for each watershed and included in databases to be kept by the Building Department. Watersheds identified as having a high number of failed septic systems would be referred to the Suffolk County Department of Health Services in order to obtain funding for upgraded systems using the Environmental Facilities Corporation and the revolving fund. After 2020, all septic systems would have to be inspected within 25 years of their initial installation or upgrade.

The plan includes the creation of at least one full-time position, an engineer who would be tasked with establishing the watershed databases and preparing the watershed funding lists for the county.

Red Horse H.Q. for G.O.P.

Reg Cornelia, chairman of the East Hampton Town Republican Committee, has announced the imminent opening of the committee’s new headquarters at the Red Horse Market complex at 74 Montauk Highway in East Hampton.

The committee will hold a grand opening with appropriate festivities “as soon as we get the place somewhere near shipshape as far as decor,” Mr. Cornelia said in a statement issued on Monday. Hours of operation and contact information will be announced before the opening.

One event has already been scheduled, however: Candidates will hold a round-table discussion about the town’s rental registry on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

In the statement, Mr. Cornelia said that the headquarters, in unit 17 of the complex, would serve both as a place for committee members to meet with Republican candidates for town board and town trustee, and as a hub where candidates, committee members, volunteers, and the public can interact.

He expressed confidence in the quality of this year’s Republican slate, which includes Manny Vilar, a sergeant with the State Parks police and the party’s candidate for supervisor; Gerard Larsen, who recently retired as chief of the East Hampton Village Police Department, and Paul Giardina, who recently retired after 40 years with the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The latter two are candidates for town board..