At the Top in November

The role of supervisor is unique in East Hampton Town government. Nowhere else is there a town office in which the role of presiding officer, titular figurehead, and agenda-setter is so entwined. As such, the direction of town government has tended to reflect the personal style and outlook of the person who held that elected office, which has a two-year term. The supervisor oversees the drafting of town budgets, is the public face for Town Hall, and, though he or she has just one vote along with the other members of the town board, has a greater role in establishing priorities for action.

Larry Cantwell, who is to complete his second and final term as supervisor, has had a deliberative and respectful tone combined with an abiding interest in the environment, history, and residents’ quality of life. Bill Wilkinson, who was supervisor before Mr. Cantwell, was brusque and led a period in which business interests came first, to a fault. Bill McGintee is remembered most for a financial scandal involving the misuse of money in the community preservation fund. Before him was Jay Schneiderman, whose survival genius as supervisor at the time was studiously not doing much at all until absolutely forced. 

With Mr. Cantwell retiring, Town Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc is seeking to move up. Voters will have a choice between him and Manny Vilar, a New York State Parks Police veteran and first-time candidate.

Mr. Vilar, a Springs resident, centers his pitch on experience navigating state bureaucracies in his role as union leader of the Police Benevolent Association of New York State. This is a point he makes to a degree that suggests he has little else to offer. The detail deficit is a shame, since, as a longtime law enforcement officer, we would have expected considerable nuance about the county’s opioid epidemic or on welcoming new arrivals, such as East Hampton’s large Spanish-speaking population. Unfortunately, he has not shown enough substance for us to judge how he would approach the complicated job of town supervisor. 

Peter Van Scoyoc has loosened up since his first town position as a prickly first-term member of the zoning board of appeals more than 17 years ago. In the ensuing years he has been on the town planning board, and then been elected twice as councilman. Along the way, he has amassed plenty of experience about what town government is all about. He has also been active in the community, and, somewhat inexplicably for a Northwest Woods resident, won the Mr. Amagansett contest in 2014. We believe he would continue in the manner of Mr. Cantwell, leading fair meetings at which opposing sides of issues would be aired. 

Mr. Van Scoyoc is the hands-down better choice to continue the town’s work on affordable housing, water quality, airport noise, and a range of other issues. He has earned our endorsement with his many years of dedicated public service.