Political Briefs 10.18.18

Town Board Candidates to Debate

East Hampton Town Councilman David Lys and his challenger, Manny Vilar, will meet on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the East Hampton Library in a debate presented by the East Hampton Group for Good Government.

Mr. Lys was appointed to the town board in January to serve the remainder of Peter Van Scoyoc’s term, following Mr. Van Scoyoc’s election to supervisor last year. Mr. Lys, who changed his party affiliation from Republican to Democratic, is now seeking election in his own right. He also represents the East Hampton Unity Party, formed this year. 

Mr. Vilar, the founding president of the Police Benevolent Association of New York State, is running on the Republican and Conservative Party ballots. He ran unsuccessfully for supervisor last year.

The debate will be televised on LTV’s channel 20.

 C.W.

Three League Debates Loom

The League of Women Voters of the Hamptons has scheduled three debates ahead of the Nov. 6 election. 

Next Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m., two debates will be held at the Hampton Bays Senior Center. State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle, a Republican, and Greg Fischer, his Democratic challenger, will debate first. Another pitting Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., a member of the Independence Party, against Patrick O’Connor, his Republican challenger, will follow. 

The candidates will make timed opening and closing statements and answer questions posed by a panel made up of representatives of the Press News Group, The Sag Harbor Express, the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, and the Hampton Bays Civic Association. Members of the audience can ask questions, too. Susan Wilson, the league’s co-president, will moderate. 

Representative Lee Zeldin and Perry Gershon, who is challenging him in New York’s First Congressional District, will face off on Oct. 29 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Hampton Bays High School auditorium. The candidates will make timed opening and closing statements and answer questions submitted by the panel and the audience. Cathy Peacock of Amagansett, who is co-chairwoman of the league’s government committee, will moderate. 

It is expected to be their only in-person debate of the campaign. Mr. Zeldin, a Republican seeking a third term in Congress, and Mr. Gershon, a Democrat and a first-time candidate who lives in East Hampton, addressed voters separately in an event hosted by the New York League of Conservation Voters on Monday in Riverhead. 

The New York State League of Women Voters maintains an online voter guide, accessible at votingnewyork.org or my.lwv.org/new-york-state. C.W.