Shake-Up in the East Hampton G.O.P.
A month after being fired from his position at the Suffolk County Board of Elections and four months after a resounding defeat in his campaign for East Hampton Town supervisor, Tom Knobel has resigned his position as chairman of the East Hampton Town Republican Committee. Reg Cornelia, the Republican Committee’s vice chairman, delivered Mr. Knobel’s resignation letter on Monday.
Mr. Cornelia, a member of the Springs Citizens Advisory Committee and a former member of the hamlet’s school board, will serve as chairman at least until the party’s meeting next month. He was elected vice chairman in January 2014, shortly after Mr. Knobel became chairman.
“Tommy was my friend before I got into politics,” Mr. Cornelia said yesterday. “He’s a Boy Scout, a straight shooter. He’s always been loyal to me and to the party. . . . Whatever happened between him and the county, I don’t know.” He said that he hoped Mr. Knobel, who did not return calls seeking comment, would remain on the Republican Committee. “But now he’s figuring out what he’s doing,” he said.
Mr. Knobel had served for 16 years at the board of elections. Nicholas LaLota, the Republican elections commissioner, did not return a call seeking comment. John J. LaValle, the county’s Republican chairman, said yesterday that the party does not comment on personnel matters.
The town Republican Committee was to meet last night and planned to discuss the election of a new chairman, Mr. Cornelia said. An election could not be held last night because a five-day advance notice is required. “I’m thinking along the lines of staying on for the rest of the term,” Mr. Cornelia said. “There are one or two other people who are probably interested, but this is all just shaking out now.”
Mr. Knobel’s abrupt resignation followed lopsided losses for the party in November, when Supervisor Larry Cantwell was re-elected by a 2-to-1 margin over his challenger. Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc and Councilwoman Sylvia Overby were also re-elected, defeating their Republican challengers, Lisa Mulhern-Larsen and Margaret Turner, by wide margins. Republicans also suffered a significant loss on the town trustee board, where Democrats now hold a 6-to-3 majority.
Town board-enacted regulations at the East Hampton Airport and an infusion of political donations by aviation interests dominated the campaign. “The airport was certainly part of it,” Mr. Cornelia said of Republicans’ election losses. “But this town . . . we’re outnumbered 2 to 1, probably more than that,” he said of residents’ party affiliation. “People moving out here tend to be Democrats. We have to find a way to convince New York City Democrats that they should at least consider us.”
Last time around, “our issues didn’t catch on, and I think people decided to give them another shot,” Mr. Cornelia said of the re-elected Democrats. “We didn’t have anything that really caught the public’s attention.” He praised Fred Overton, who is not a Republican but ran and won on that line in 2013, and said that he hoped Mr. Overton would seek re-election. “We’re going to have to search for good candidates. Unfortunately, Margaret and Lisa came on board kind of late in the process. We didn’t get off to a rolling start.”
The party would regroup, starting at last night’s meeting, Mr. Cornelia said. “We just took a drubbing, but we have to remain a loyal opposition, and a viable opposition. Democrats,” he said, “get giddy when they see a big pile of taxpayer money.”