Letters to the Editor: 07.26.18

Went Missing

Amagansett

July 20, 2018

Dear David:

I fully agree with the content of Matt Harnick’s letter in the most recent edition of The Star. Basic civil norms have seemed to take a sharp decline in recent summers. This past week we took relatives from Europe over to the beach at the end of Fresh Pond Road. We were greeted by the sight of a used syringe where the parking lot meets the beach. Not a great advertisement for the area. Then, upon making our way back to our car, sandals that were left on the beach went missing. As there was just one other family at the beach with us, and as they left earlier, we had to think they helped themselves to new footwear. 

We were left to explain that this experience was not representative of life out here (at least we hope it’s not).

GERRY PANE

Dangerous, a Disgrace

Amagansett

July 19, 2018

To the Editor:

Thirty-five years ago I started my cycling journey in the Hamptons. Every weekend and many extended weeks. I ride with the same small group, and we know every road both main and side. We are getting slower each year but are as determined as ever.

There have been several changes I have noticed only in the last few years. The drivers have become more courteous and have bought into the share-the-road concept. We cyclists have more work to do. We need to ride in single file, not blow through stop signs. It would be nice to give a car a friendly wave when they stop to let you cross the road. And texting while cycling is crazy.

The major change I have seen is the conditions of the roads, which have deteriorated more and more each year. They are the worst I have ever seen. Not just in some spots. They are extremely dangerous and disgraceful. One of my group hit a pothole and broke his collar bone on Further Lane. Two weeks ago on Stephen Hand’s Path one of our group got forced off the road and landed on his helmet, which cracked. Fortunately no injuries, but bruises and road rash.

Please, in the interest of safety, the town should make road resurfacing a priority.

Thank you,

JERRY SLOANE

No Sign Up

East Hampton

July 20, 2018

To the Editor: 

This morning, early on July 20, a very hot summer Friday, I had an appointment to meet a busy professional. And I do not like to keep people waiting whoever they are. I was driving my 1994 Dodge pickup truck. It has no power steering, and being a “woman of a certain age,” this vehicle is difficult for me to climb into, much less steer, particularly to back it up! 

Well, driving along Route 114 north for my appointment, I was happy to notice that there was no sign on the street to designate construction ahead . . . detour ahead. Great, I thought. Then I won’t be late! But on getting to the five-way intersection and still no sign, I attempted to continue. Well, to be as brief as possible in writing this letter, there were men, several of them, who yelled at me: “Back up. You can’t go down here.  This is one-way.” 

Try as I did, no one would listen to me when I attempted to explain that there was no sign up to indicate that the road was closed had I wanted to continue on to Sag Harbor. 

My question is: Who is in charge? The Village of East Hampton? The construction company hired to do this work?  This has been going on for months. I did ask a driver next to me to phone the village police to notify them of the situation. Traffic was backed up at the intersection of Route 114 and Main Street. The couple in the car next to me were only too happy that I suggested they make the call. I would have done so, but I had left my cellphone at home re-charging. Besides, I do not have “blue tooth” in my ancient truck, only in my nice old station wagon. 

This is a cry for help. Where can one go to get away from the craziness that now happens, not just with the “summer folk,” but now the workers. Civility is forgotten by one and all. Or is everyone mimicking our White House? Is it total ignorance or just plain stupidity everywhere in the U.S.A.? Vive la France! Here I come! 

JANE MAYNARD

Next Village Election

East Hampton

July 22, 2018

Dear David,

I am a business owner, retired East Hampton Village Police chief, and life-long resident of East Hampton. This letter is written in response and support of your editorial, “Village Market” (farmers market).

Steve Ringel, the president of the chamber of commerce, has been doing an outstanding job promoting business in East Hampton. He has organized street fairs, parades, business mix­ers/net­working opportunities, and has increased the chamber’s membership. 

However, at every turn, every idea in his attempt to bring business and community back to a village that is suffering, he has met resistance from a majority of the East Hampton Village Board. In my opinion, the village board should be supporting business, residents, and tourism, not fighting it. 

In this request for a farmers market, I agree with your editorial and think the Schenck parking lot is a perfect location. However, to be denied the use of Herrick Park is silly; this is clearly a “safe” place. Wear and tear in a public park? There used to be football, rugby, softball, baseball, soccer, and even ultimate Frisbee played in the park. It’s a park, not a museum.

Hopefully, in June of 2020 (the next village election), we will see the same landslide election results to remove the last three obstacles standing in the way of a village board that will represent its residents, promote business, and embrace tourism.

JERRY LARSEN

Overheard

Amagansett

July 14, 2018

Dear David,

Overheard near the doll’s house at the L.V.I.S. Bargain Box:

Lady 1: “He said what?”

Lady 2: “That she’d be ‘a pretty addition to the East Hampton Village Board.’ ”

Lady 1: “What did she throw at him, a copy of the Magna Carta?”

Lady 2: “She beat her male opponent 3 to 1.”

Lady 1: “It’s a new day in the village!”

Lady 2: “I was in the checkout line at the I.G.A. when I asked for my ‘old lady’ discount. A lovely man said, ‘You may be old, but you’re still beautiful!’ ”

Lady 1: “Is he in the will?”

Lady 2: “I plan to live long enough to elect a woman president!”

Lady 1: “What if she’s pretty?”

All good things,

DIANA WALKER

Take a Breath

Montauk

July 22, 2018

To the Editor:

I read the article concerning service at the Montauk Post Office. I think that the post office employees do a good job, considering the summer volume and craziness (You really have to order toilet paper from Amazon???) and personnel turnover. Then there are the issues with summer residents who don’t understand — no mailbox, no home delivery. And add the questions from people who find “snail mail” a total mystery. Yes, I’m talking to you people under 35.

In all honesty, the post office employees have more patience than I would. That said, time to take a breath, relax: just a couple more weeks to go.

With zen,

PAT LUKASZEWSKA

Not Guilty

Sagaponack

July 23, 2018

Dear Editor:

I am very happy to know the residents of the Town of East Hampton have a residents-only parking lot at Ditch Plain Beach in Montauk. This will be fun for families and their crew and give them a better chance of getting a parking spot.

However, folks who purchased a Town of East Hampton non-resident sticker need to be notified by email, snail mail, or a phone call (the town has all the purchases contact details when one buys a sticker) indicating that their permit is not valid at the “poles lot” or “comfort station lot.”

The Town of East Hampton passed a resolution on June 28 that ticketing will be enforced. The Highway Department needs to put signs (residents-only signs) up indicating it is a residents-only parking lot. (Maybe the Highway Department can see how the Village of East Hampton places their signs at the beaches.)

The East Hampton Town non-resident stickers were somehow printed not mentioning Ditch Plain residents parking at all, before the resolution went into effect. That is a very effective move to generate income for the Town of East Hampton. I hope those ticket funds give the lifeguards a well-deserved pay raise.

Yes, I got a ticket, and, yes, I am not guilty.

JEREMY GROSVENOR

Discouraging Visitors

East Hampton

July 23, 2018

Dear David Rattray,

Why hassle the Pollock-Krasner House? Recently, the town board decided to curtail the attendance of the Pollock-Krasner House to conform to the letter of an agreement 30 years old. Only in the summer months does the attendance grow once in a while to the numbers of a large dinner party bunch. Usually, attendance trickles in and visitors are allowed to drop in unannounced without making the “by appointment.” 

With the new town board rules, attendance would be by appointment — with the intention of discouraging visitors. During the same summer months there are huge parties scattered here and there in East Hampton, and many places like Round Swamp. Why hassle the Pollock-Krasner House? The brief overflow of cars at the Pollock-Krasner House could be solved with a parking attendant. 

NATALIE EDGAR

Invaluable Resource

East Hampton

July 23, 2018

Dear Mr. Rattray,

When I wrote last week congratulating our elected officials and some volunteer groups for their successful efforts in securing a $1.33 million grant for the Springs School to install a nitrogen-reducing septic system, I inadvertently left out the grant’s original advocate, Pio Lombardo of Lombardo Associates.

At a school board meeting I attended about two years ago now, and at many presentations to the town board and the public, Mr. Lombardo, working as a consultant to the town on water quality improvement, has been an invaluable resource for science-based, practical solutions to the unfortunate fact that we are in fact about to drown in our own sewage.

That meeting also had Kevin McAllister, formerly the Peconic Baykeeper, now the founder of Defend H2O, advocating for a grant proposal to ameliorate the pollution generated by the many years-long insufficient capacity, and ultimately failing septic system that has existed at the Springs School to the great detriment of Pussy’s Pond and Accabonac Harbor.

While the forensic science that would more exactly pinpoint the sources of the organic pollution our Springs water bodies suffer is yet to be completed, the Accabonac Protection Committee, newly incorporated as a not-for-profit entity, stands ready to fund-raise and contribute to help to underwrite the costs to the town to bring clarity to the issue.

Thank you,

IRA BAROCAS

One-Hundred Percent 

East Hampton

July 23, 2018

Dear David,

Congratulations East Hampton! The town board’s approval of the “memorializing resolution” granting cable access to a town beach landing and other utility easements brings the town’s 100 percent renewable energy goal home! Speakers at Thursday’s town board meeting who saw no urgency in making any decision at this time, who continue to embrace a “stall” or “study” strategy, do not understand that without offshore wind power, the town’s 100 percent goal is not reachable. 

Solar panels on every suitable East Hampton home would not produce enough power to meet the community’s annual electricity consumption. Many speakers were also not aware of the town’s ongoing initiatives in striving to meet this 100 percent goal. Many speakers were not aware of the town-appointed energy sustainability committee’s portfolio of renewable resources, Energizeeh.org/energy-portfolio, providing ad­ditional municipal and residential opportunities in reaching this 100 percent goal of shedding fossil-fuel energy resources in our community.

The energy sustainability committee began its ongoing collaboration with the town’s Department of Natural Resources in writing a climate action plan, which the town board adopted in 2015. In 2016 the town board approved two new building codes for home construction: the Home Energy Rating System and energy efficient pool pumps. In 2017 the town board approved a New York Power Authority contract to install solar arrays on five municipal buildings. In 2017 the town board approved the Long Island Green Homes program: free home energy assessments, and assistance with energy upgrades. In 2017, the town board approved the AES Corporation utility scale solar project on the Accabonac brush dump. In 2017, the town board welcomed and began supporting the Applied Energy Group’s “South Fork Peak Savers” programs. In 2018, the energy sustainability committee publicly announced the “Energize East Hampton” initiative by launching the Energizeeh.org website to help residents and businesses save energy and money in a one-stop-shopping (including program rebates) while achieving the town’s 100 percent community-wide renewable energy goals. In 2018, “Solarize East Hampton” initiative, awarded by the New York State Energy Resource and Development Authority, now a community traveling “table” reaching out to residents at various local public events.

As a work in progress, in October, 2017, the energy sustainability committee estimated a potential achievable renewable energy mix: Energy Efficiency: 2 to 4 percent; Solar: 6 to 14 percent; Offshore Wind Power +/- 90 percent. Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy resources requires full and immediate participation from this coastal community. Our future generations deserve nothing less.

LINDA JAMES

Chair

Energy Sustainability Committee

Voting

East Hampton

July 23, 2018

Dear David,

Our LongHouse benefit last Saturday night was a smashing success, and we are pleased to have had Durell Godfrey and Iris Smyles from The East Hampton Star among our enthusiastic crowd. Especially exciting and welcome at our celebration — smaller than we’d like because our grounds are fragile and our parking impossible — were three outstanding Democrats: Peter Van Scoyoc and Perry Gershon with their lovely wives and Bridget Fleming in a snazzy silver dress.

I learned that among Peter’s many and various abilities in leading our town, our esteemed supervisor is a very cool dancer. Perry Gershon was unable to show us his party talents because he was bombarded with questions. Queries about guns, about immigrants, about the earth and its under-assault climate, campaign finance, schools, and even about such impossible topics as war came at him from the right and the left.

We know that Perry Gershon is on the right (meaning the left) side of all these issues. He is on the civilized, humanitarian side that believes in families of all kinds, nationalities, and genders living in a peaceable way in a just, democratic nation. The important thing now is to get him elected and get rid of the evil Lee Zeldin. 

So, the most important thing we all can do is to get everyone we know to vote. Voting is going to save us. Voting is going to bring at least one House of Congress to its senses. So keep signing petitions, go out and canvass, give money if you can, align yourself with our local Democrats, Swing Left, Indivisible, or do whatever seems right to you.

But let’s make this happen. These are the good guys.

DIANNE BENSON

Betrayed the Oath

Springs

July 23, 2018

Dear David:

Our representatives in Washington are required to take an oath to uphold the United States Constitution and the laws of the land.

The Affordable Care Act is one of those laws, and an important one in that it provides affordable health care to millions of Americans, including tens of thousands in Suffolk County. In complete abdication of his oath, Mr. Trump has instructed the Department of Justice not to defend a lawsuit challenging the A.C.A. filed by a number of G.O.P.-led states. The lawsuit challenges the requirement that most Americans carry health insurance and implicates consumer protections implemented under the A.C.A. Mr. Trump’s decision is his latest gambit to sabotage the health care now available to millions.

What is worse is that the attorney general advised Congress of this decision. And what did the G.O.P.-led Congress do? Nothing! They, too, took an oath to uphold the laws of this nation and, too, have put crass ideology above that oath.

Did our congressman, Lee Zeldin, recall his oath and speak out in support of those he represents? Of course not; let’s all remember that he was one of the staunchest proponents of the House health-care bill that would have ended health care for millions, increased premium costs for most of us, and subjected those of us with pre-existing conditions to skyrocketing premiums. And he was at the White House that day to cheer this dubious accomplishment. That Mr. Zeldin chose to play politics with the health care of his constituents betrayed the oath he took when he promised to protect our interests. 

Perry Gershon has promised to fight for affordable health care for all of his constituents. This is the type of leadership we have the right to expect from our representative. We have the opportunity to let Mr. Zeldin know what we think about his betrayal by electing Mr. Gershon.

Sincerely,

CAROL O’ROURKE

Can Do More

Springs

July 23, 2018

To the Editor: 

Last week, following the Trump-Putin meeting in Helsinki, Representative Lee Zeldin released this statement: “It is important that President Trump met with Putin, America’s adversary, but opportunities like today much be better seized [sic] to tell the Russians to stay thousands of miles away from American elections. No exceptions.” Is this the best that our representative in Congress can do? 

Representative Zeldin evidently understands that Russia’s denials of election interference are not to be trusted; but I would prefer that he come out forcefully in support of both American democracy and the Western alliance that the president is undermining. 

Furthermore, I would like to know what actions Representative Zeldin is taking in Congress to protect the United States from Russian interference and to discourage the president from enabling Mr. Putin’s anti-Western activities.

The staunchly conservative Weekly Standard has urged Congress to pass a resolution of censure for the president’s words and actions. (See Charles J. Sykes, “Republicans, Find Your Spine,” New York Times, Sunday, July 22, 2018.) Congress can do more, including threatening Russia with new sanctions and passing legislation to protect the Mueller investigation and affirm the importance of its mission to uncover threats to the integrity of our democratic electoral system.

Lee Zeldin: Bland words are easy but your job requires more. Where is your spine?

ANN DAVISON

Nitwits

East Hampton 

July 22, 2018

Dear Editor,

Democratic Socialism. Democratic Socialism! Democratic Socialism? What is this shiny new phrase being thrown around by the American left? Why are the likes of Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Perry Gershon going on and on about this wondrous new thing? This must be some new marvel, a harbinger of the future!

It’s crap. It is the same leftist crap the Democrats have been trying to shove down America’s throat for decades; it is nothing new, just a polished, rebranded version of a failed and bankrupt ideology. It has been tried in one form or another for over a century, and it has failed spectacularly every time. The only lasting monuments to the “success” of socialism are the tens of millions of gravestones that litter every country it was allowed to rear its head.

Like a hydra of myth it has reared many heads, in many places, with different names but they all lead back to the same monster. That monster is nothing more than a destroyer, leaving ruin in its wake. You do not have to look back very far in history to see the devastation left by one form of socialism or another, National Socialism, Soviet Socialism, Maoism, etc. It has destroyed countries, cultures, and sent over 100 million to their graves; it is an inarguable fact.

But facts don’t matter to the radical American left. History doesn’t matter to them either. As we speak we are witness in real time to a once rich and flourishing country imploding thanks to the “wonders” of socialism. That country is Venezuela, no need to say more; look it up for yourself. Suffice to say it is just the latest example of just how destructive this ideology is.

Now the arrogance of the American left, of people like Bernie, Perry, and Alexandria is that if you point this out it is dismissed. It is ignored. It is forgotten. You see these vacuous nitwits just think people like Castro, Chavez, Pol Pot, and their ilk just got it wrong. This time it will be different; this time it will be better and they, these arbiters of right and wrong, will get it right!

Wrong. It doesn’t work. Never has. Never will. Anyone who thinks it will is either an idealistic moron or a willfully ignorant buffoon, and such a person is unfit to hold any office. History records what happens. It is up to you to learn the lesson and if you don’t it will be your children who pay the price.

MICHAEL D. BOUKER

Eager to Appease

Montauk

July 22, 2018

To the Editor:

I am not a psychiatrist so I do not know if Trump is delusional, in the throes of a long psychotic breakdown, or simply off his meds. As a fairly rational American citizen, what I do know is that hundreds of thousands of brave American men and women sacrificed their lives fighting to liberate Europe and Asia from militaristic, nationalistic, and murderous regimes during World War II and the Korean War. I know that our allies, with whom we share the values of democracy and civil liberties, are members of NATO. I know that Vladimir Putin is a thug who murders journalists and rival politicians and that he continues to commit aggression in Crimea and Ukraine. He also ordered the Russian military intelligence agency to meddle in our elections — the very heart of our constitutional democracy. 

Unfortunately, our president, the former leader of the free world, views NATO member nations as foes and Vladimir Putin as a friend. It appears that Trump is still not convinced that the Russians launched cyberattacks and misinformation in order to help him get elected. 

We have to ask why Trump is so eager to appease Putin. Money laundering might be an issue. However, I am convinced that it is the existence of a videotape that was taken by Russian intelligence officers at a Moscow hotel during the Miss Universe contest in 2013 that explains Trump’s obsequious behavior. According to a well-respected British intelligence officer, the tape shows Trump and two Russian prostitutes doing weird things in bed. 

If Trump continues to play Neville Chamberlain to Vladimir Putin, he should be tried for treason.

We should lock him up.

Cheers,

BRIAN POPE

Incredible Risk

East Hampton

July 21, 2018 

Editor:

When Bill Clinton was dealing with impeachment in the 1990s there were two charges: obstruction of justice and lying under oath. The issue at hand was the affair between Clinton and an office staff member. It was consensual. All parties were adult. It in no way compromised the government and its operation. It may, in fact, have been a positive factor for the American people, like taking valium, getting high, or seeing a shrink. The prudish hypocrisy of the Republican leadership seemed far more orgasmic then the tepid, somewhat squalid interaction between the two proponents of the affair. 

How easily we forget House Speaker Newt Gingrich, being caught in a motel with his girlfriend, the current Mr. 

Gingrich, while his wife was being treated for cancer in a nearby hospital. The sheer piggery of Gingrich and his Republican cohorts has rarely been matched in our history.

Skip to the Mueller investigation and a slightly different perspective. The president and his team are not being investigated for some inner office nookie or some minimal sexual dalliance that most United States presidents and world leaders seem to feel the need for. They are being investigated for what is essentially treason. Conspiring with a foreign power to undermine the U.S. electoral process — not trading secrets or passing information or betraying an idea or a principle. Not lying about aluminum tubes like George Bush, or the Gulf of Tonkin like Lyndon Johnson, or sneaking behind Congress’s back during Iran-Contra. Something slightly more serious.

What Muller is investigating is an attack on the U.S. political system and the Constitution, with the purpose of radically altering the electoral process and our democratic form of government. Comparable to the U.S. effort to separate from England or the Cold War struggle with Communism. The magnitude of this investigation and the potential charges and eventual consequences (prison or the electric chair) should disqualify any of the potential perpetrators from any governmental activities. Simple logic. Fox in the henhouse. Allowing them to continue in the government with all its extraordinary powers puts the country at an incredible risk. If Trump and company are found guilty of treason, we will have allowed them 18 months to accomplish their plan.

After NATO and Putin there are several conclusions that one can draw. A) The president is a moron and should be confined to a padded cell and not be allowed to make any decisions until he is replaced. B) The president is entirely owned by Mr. Putin who holds the purse strings on almost all of the Trump company debt and is obligated to sound like an idiot in front of the entire world when in Putin’s presence. C) The president is controlled by Mr. Putin and his agent Mr. Bannon, who are trying to destroy the current world order and significantly destroy the basic institutions that run our country,

Allowing Trump and any of his appointees to continue in office puts the country at enormous risk. Whether or not he has committed treason there is little doubt that given the chance, he will. We are not talking about the chastity of office staffers but the essential fabric of our democracy being destroyed. 

At the end of the Helsinki press conference Putin raised his 5-foot-4-inch frame, assisted by two-inch heels, and rhetorically asked the audience, “Who’s my bitch?” While Trump didn’t reply, the look on his face was enough to put him away for the rest of his life. 

NEIL HAUSIG 

Quixotic

East Hampton

July 13 2018 

Editor:

Calling Santayana! Calling George Santayana! Urgent! Rarely is your renowned advice more pertinent to a transpiring happening. Only 28 years ago a prodigious societal governmental experiment enduring 73 years a continent hundreds of millions, collapsed crashed flunked blunderingly the Soviet Union and satellites, the causes natural to the South China, another continent, 1.4 billion population still wrestling with the same experiment, drifting rerouting from promised thriving flourishing to doubt and complacency. Practically in our backyard Cuba Venezuela repeat performances faltering teetering on verge of collapse causes same natural self-inflicted. 

June 26, 2018, Democratic primary elections. New York Big Apple, within subway range of Wall Street, suddenly unexpectedly surprisingly a young faction section dreamers (not to be confused with the bona fide justifiable attainable ones lingering in uncertainty) landed a winning platform piloted by a Pollyanna loaded with unfeasible quixotic deleterious cargo, advocating flaunting brandishing lists of promises, Medicare for all, universal job guarantee, fully funded public schools and universities, paid family sick leave, housing as a human right, on and on and on. Suspect the kitchen sink included. Yes, George, those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. You are needed. We, they, need your help. Please respond. The prospects are they will heed you. They are such nice kids.

EDWARD A. WAGSCHAL

Protest Too Much

East Hampton

July 20, 2018

Dear David,

Hubris and snark do not become David Gruber. If he thinks I am not objective about my support for David Lys, he doth protest too much, as I have worked for 40 years with the Town of East Hampton on many projects, and would not benefit from an incompetent councilman. David Lys is a councilman, and will continue to be a councilman, as well as my godson.

PRUDENCE CARABINE

Divisiveness

Springs

July 23, 2018

Dear David:

I read Rona Klopman’s latest poisonous letter and felt a response was necessary. Ms. Klopman’s venom has a simple source. Yet again, she has been spurned by voters, this time being rebuffed as chair of the Democratic Committee. With her lawsuits falling flat, she has now taken up with Mr. Gruber as a founder of the East Hampton Reform Democrats.

As one of the mouthpieces of the Reform Democrats, Ms. Klopman has for months unleashed a scurrilous attack on Jeanne Frankl, accusing her of rigging the committee vote for David Lys as the Democratic Committee’s nominee for the town board seat that is up for election this November.

I am one of the four committee members that Ms. Frankl appointed to the committee. As Ms. Klopman well knows, but chooses to ignore, is that I and two other appointees approached Ms. Frankl and Ilissa Meyer before the election last November seeking to join the committee, and before there was any notion of a committee vote concerning Mr. Lys. 

All should be cautioned against being seduced by the so-called Reform Democrats. There is nothing remotely related to “reform” behind the motives of this group. Rather, vindictiveness and spite will be its modus operandi. Mr. Gruber, for his part, has out of pique targeted those members of the committee who did not support his attempt to supplant Mr. Lys as the town board nominee. It doesn’t matter what those of us targeted have done in the past in support of Democratic candidates across the local political spectrum. The tenor of the group’s letters to The Star bears out its message. Divisiveness is the order of the day. It is reminiscent of the nastiness that held sway during the Wilkinson years.

Ms. Klopman also criticizes two of Ms. Frankl’s appointees for not attending the committee’s candidate screening. I was one of those people. But, what Ms. Klopman ignores is that over Memorial Day and just a week after Mr. Lys launched his campaign, my wife and I held a “meet and greet” for almost 100 people at which Mr. Lys and our Congressional candidate, Perry Gershon, were the featured guests. 

So, Ms. Klopman is right about one thing: I have been and continue to be, impressed with Mr. Lys’s dedication to our community. As Mr. Cantwell pointed out at one of his last town board meetings, Mr. Lys is a valued asset to our community, something that cannot be said for the East Hampton Reform Democrats.

Sincerely,

BRUCE COLBATH

Disturbing Performance

East Hampton

July 23, 2018

To the Editor:

Several Long Island Republicans did not mince words over the disturbing performance of the president at the Helsinki news conference. Peter King, for example, said Trump’s refusal to accept that Russia interfered in our 2016 election is indefensible. 

In contrast, our congressman, Lee Zeldin, could only muster: It’s important President Trump met with Putin but opportunities must be better seized. Zeldin is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He needed to call the president out. He did not. He is as deferential to Trump as Trump is to Putin. Shameful.

Sincerely,

CAROL DEISTLER

No Off Switch

East Hampton

July 17, 2018

Dear David,

There is no “off switch” on David Gruber. When you want to talk with him, he will not stand and look down on you.  He will sit down and really listen to you. If he writes something down, that means he has come up with a solution.  So while you’re talking, look into his eyes and you will see that the wheels are always turning. No off-switch. The Independence Party is proud to run him.

I have known David Gruber for years. He has been the “go to” guy in the Democratic Party, and I think he has been the backbone and problem solver for years in that party. 

He has a strong ethic and a kind compassion about him. Good sense of humor, but — no off switch.  He’ll work for you.

Sincerely,

PAT MANSIR

Must Work Together

East Hampton

July 23, 2018

Dear David,

Although myself a lifelong Democrat, I am very grateful for the support and nomination of the East Hampton Independence Party for town board, announced last week. In the East Hampton Independence Party press release announcing the nomination, party chair Elaine Jones, said,

“We interviewed both candidates, considered carefully what they had to say, and came away convinced that 

Democrat David Gruber is far better equipped to achieve what our members want — clean, healthy water; job opportunities for young people; affordable housing for seniors; working families, and especially young adults who grew up here and don’t want to be forced to leave; protection of our Montauk fishing industry from losses due to the Deepwater Wind project, and protecting the laws of our community preservation fund properties.”

Those are all very high indeed on the list of reasons I am standing for office. But I can only hope to achieve them with the support, hard work, and leadership of all in our community, such as the Independence Party, who are of like mind. Over the course of the campaign, I will be explaining my vision, very different from that of town board incumbents, of how our government and community can and must work together to succeed at these things.  

The East Hampton Independence Party has historically been pragmatic and non-ideological in seeking the best for its members and the community. I shall do my utmost to justify their faith in me.

Sincerely,

DAVID GRUBER 

Keenly Perceptive

East Hampton

July 23, 2018

Dear David,

I have known David Gruber for more than 20 years. At a meeting at Ed Gorman’s house back in January 1998, Ed and I asked for help with a public interest lawsuit we were then bringing. David alone volunteered. Seven years later, we succeeded, largely through David’s tireless efforts, in reaching a settlement with the Federal Aviation Administration to release East Hampton Airport from F.A.A. control seven years early.

I was also the one who proposed to the East Hampton Democratic Committee in 2001 that David be asked to run as its candidate for supervisor. When he agreed, he threw himself into the task with characteristic commitment and energy. Although he was a first-time candidate for public office, it was a close race and he nearly won, losing only because Bill McGintee, à la Ralph Nader, split the Democratic and independent vote, allowing Jay Schneiderman to gain a second term. 

David is a keenly perceptive individual of exceptional intelligence and extraordinary analytical ability, both of which are focused on problem solving, informed with a sagacity and leavened with a sense of humor gleaned from his life experiences and his professional achievements. He understands the fundamental truth that, whatever our philosophical outlook or political affiliation, we are all in this together. 

The difference between David Gruber and many who cluck their tongues over local problems is that when David undertakes to solve a problem, he works at it tirelessly with real intellect, dedication, and determination, leaving the clucking to others. 

I grew up in Sag Harbor, have lived my entire adult life in East Hampton, am a lifelong Democrat, and I once served on the town board myself. In all that time, I have never met anyone better qualified to serve on our town board. Now that David is running, we Democrats would be wise and smart ourselves to support him with our votes in the Democratic primary on Sept. 13. 

Sincerely,

PAT TRUNZO III

Deceptive Swamp

East Hampton

July 23, 2018

Dear David,

What a disappointment this was! The leaders of the Democratic Party could not simply announce a slate of candidates for their Democratic Committee seats in September’s primary without making it a nasty press release for a thousand people to read. 

Rather than take the opportunity to praise its own candidates, the Democratic Committee insiders attacked me personally by name, along with other candidates of the East Hampton Reform Democrats, for exercising Democratic principles by suggesting a free and open election. According to them, running for office without their blessing is “disruptive.”

That is so distorted and unfair to bad-mouth long-term members of the committee because they chose not to support the handpicked candidates made by the hierarchy behind closed doors. I am a long-serving member of the Democratic Committee. But, in contrast to the committee’s leadership, I believe that competitive elections are to be encouraged. They are the essential means by which we can safeguard our democracy and maintain an enlightened, self-governing community.

It is the right of every enrolled 

Democrat to stand for public office or party position by gathering the legally required number of signatures on nominating petitions. I worked hard to do that and am proud to be part of a group of 37 candidates for seats on the 

Democratic Committee endorsed or supported by East Hampton Reform Democrats. 

At the unity party following Perry Gershon’s victory in the Democratic congressional primary, Perry said, “The first thing Zeldin did when the winner of the primary was announced was to come personal on me. That’s not what a confident guy does.” The same can be said of the Democratic Committee insiders’ behavior: Insult the messenger and deny the message. 

Perry added, “Mr. Zeldin will try to take me down to the swamp. I’m not going there. This has been and will remain a campaign about issues that people care about.” 

The East Hampton Reform Demo­crats will not go there either. The old guard of the current Democratic Party (along with their former seat holders), who currently call all of the shots for their people, can have the murky deceptive swamp all to themselves. Our campaign will remain one of transparency as well as a clear focus on the issues that people care about.

Sincerely

JAMES MACMILLAN

Iron Grip

East Hampton

July 23, 2018

Dear David,

Oblivious to the ironies, Democratic Committee insiders sent out a very nasty press release last week to over a thousand people. It attacked various party members, including myself, for daring to run for seats on the town board or the Democratic Committee without their permission. 

The first irony is that they sent it on letterhead with the slogan “Leadership That Unites.” Uniting a party takes skill, finesse, and class, things that seem to be missing from the current leadership of our local Democratic Committee. 

The second irony is that that slogan was first coined by Zach Cohen for his very nearly successful 2011 campaign for supervisor. Yet, when Zach dared to challenge Larry Cantwell by being nominated for supervisor from the floor of the Democratic Party convention two years later, the same people attacked him for holding himself out for office without their permission. Then they did the same thing again when Zach ran a primary campaign for a town board seat last year. “Leadership That Unites?” Only if united under their iron grip.

I am proud to be running with the East Hampton Reform Democrats. We will restore democratic governance to the Democratic Committee so that we do not end up with a town government controlled by a tiny handful of Democratic Party insiders. 

Sincerely,

ILISSA MEYER

Former Co-Chair 

Democratic Committee

Saving What’s Left

Springs

July 23, 2018

Dear David,

At Springs Citizens Advisory Committee meeting, our liaison, Kathee Burke-Gonzalez presented a proposal for a new senior center. Many in the audience had reservations about the 

size and scope of the building. Pamela Bicket, an architect, questioned the erection of a second floor and suggested that going with a floor below instead of above would help minimize the awkwardness of the building, and its size and scope, and save money as well. 

Is a new senior center needed? Of course! The present cluster of buildings are old and rickety. I know people are always talking about our aging population, but with the group of mostly older folks at our meeting, not one person raised their hands when I queried them asking if any frequented the senior center. 

So keep in mind it does not necessarily suit the tastes and lifestyles of many older people who have busy lives that are directed in other areas. But most do not want to see a huge building, the likes of a Home Goods or Damark Deli, which offend the eye and the character of our town, and thwart its struggling attempt to maintain a semi-rural quality.

If I wanted the character of Nassau County, I would move there. Some of our leaders have lost their initial purpose of why we prized their leadership. Instead, money and development have replaced their original principles, which is why I have decided to join the ranks of those who support David Gruber. It’s all about saving what’s left of East Hampton, the town I love.

Sincerely,

PHYLLIS ITALIANO