Turner, Seasoned Observer
Margaret Turner bundled up in a warm coat on Monday afternoon, ready to spend a few hours walking door-to-door in East Hampton as part of her campaign for a seat on the town board. She forgot to bring a pair of gloves, though, and by the time she finished a walk down Conklin Terrace, a dead-end street with perhaps 20 houses, the chill of the 40-degree afternoon had gotten to her.
But soon enough, as she turned from Newtown Lane onto Cooper Lane, she ran into a friend who happily lent her a pair of sassy-looking red gloves. Ms. Turner pledged to return them soon. That’s a campaign promise that should be easy enough to keep, but she knows the other statements she has been making along the way will require more effort.
Ms. Turner, a Republican, said her top issues are water quality protection, “full transparency and public involvement in all of our decision making,” and better planning for the town’s future.
If elected, she said, she intends to work closely with the town’s Planning Department to support the needs of people in multiple demographics, such as an aging population and young families who may not be able to afford to stay here much longer. She said she would like to see more public-private partnerships, expanded health care options, and even an assisted living facility.
“I think we have to work harder to plan for our residents’ needs,” she said during Monday afternoon’s walk. “I do not believe this town has done a good job of planning. . . . I’m very focused. This is important.”
Her bid for a town board seat is her first run for a public office, but Ms. Turner, a full-time resident of the town for close to 20 years, is no stranger to Town Hall. She served for 10 years as the executive director of the East Hampton Business Alliance, stepping down in July, and said she has been to every town board meeting during that time, more “than any of the sitting town board members.”
Since 2009 she has served on several town committees, appointed by three different supervisors to help deal with affordable housing, energy sustainability, wastewater management, and more.
She is involved with Maureen’s Haven, a shelter for the homeless, volunteers for the monthly wintertime soup kitchens at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church and for Elsa’s Ark, and is active at Most Holy Trinity, where she has been the treasurer of the Silver Tea fund-raiser for the last eight years.
Her career background is in management and product development, and she also runs Loving Hands Pet Care, taking care of pets when their owners are out of town.
In the span of an hour, Ms. Turner stopped to pet a tiny black poodle, introduced herself to a young girl on a bicycle, and saw two more people she knew. She said she is more of a runner than a walker, and so the houses went by rather quickly. At most she left a piece of campaign literature personalized with a message: “Sorry I missed you.” At others, she found a friendly audience willing to give her a few moments for an introduction. One man she encountered said he identified as a Republican but tended to vote Democrat in local elections. He called town politics “tribal,” and Ms. Turner replied by sharing her vision for a bipartisan effort to get things done.
“I’m in this because there are issues we should all be concerned about,” she said. “I feel our issues cross all party lines. We should be working jointly to solve them.”
Moments later, after wrapping up the conversation with the resident, Ms. Turner said, “This is the part that I enjoy. . . . It’s important to get your message out and answer questions.”