A Bright Spot

There were strong Democratic victories nationally in last week’s election, led by Mikie Sherrill winning the governorship of New Jersey, and Abigail Spanberger winning the governorship of Virginia, and other Democratic wins seen as involving clear anti-President Donald Trump viewpoints.

In Suffolk County, we were in the viewing area in which a torrent of TV commercials were broadcast in the race between Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciattarelli, who in most of them stressed his staunch support for Trump.

Although the race was predicted to be tight, Sherrill won by a large margin.

This and other successful Democratic contests are being viewed as previewing the trouble for the GOP in next year’s midterm election that could include a retaking of Congress by Democratic majorities.

Just before Election Day, a poll was released finding that the approval rate for Trump had sunk to 37 percent of respondents, the lowest in his second term, and an unfavorable rating rising to 63 percent.

“Democrats Celebrate Big Night in Local Elections” was the headline, with variations, in The Express News Group newspapers in Suffolk County. The article covered how in “the most stunning results of the night, all five Democratic candidates for the Southampton Town Trustees cruised to easy victories over the five Republican candidates, unseating veteran incumbents …” It told of how Democrat Tom Neely won a seat on the Southampton Town Board and both East End Democratic candidates for the Suffolk County Legislature won.

Southampton Democratic Chair Gordon Herr said it was a bright spot in the “darkness” for Democrats of the past 10 months since Trump returned to the White House, along with GOP majorities in Congress.

This winning pattern for Democrats appeared as well in much of central and western Suffolk County, but how much Trump was — or wasn’t — a factor was not as clear as in the Sherrill and Spanberger wins and other Democratic victories nationally.

The big upset here was the defeat of Suffolk County Legislator Catherine Stark of Riverhead and, as a result, the GOP no longer having a 12-vote supermajority on the 18-member County Legislature and the additional governmental power that provides.

However, this was complicated. Republican Stark has deep roots in government in Suffolk County. Her father was Jim Stark, a former Riverhead Town supervisor.

She began working for the clerk of the Suffolk County Legislature in 1996, then at the county’s Department of Real Property Tax Services and then for Suffolk County Executive Bob Gaffney, a Republican.

Then she joined the staff of County Legislator Al Krupski, a Democrat, who is now Southold Town supervisor. Last week, Stark lost to four-year Southold Town Board member, Gregory Doroski, a Democrat from Mattituck.

Editorials in The Suffolk Times and Riverhead News-Review endorsing Doroski said Stark “cultivated relationships across county departments that get things done. But Greg Doroski brings something the 1st District needs more: deep, current understanding of the challenges facing Southold Town and East End communities right now.”

“Tellingly … Mr. Krupski who served as a county legislator for nearly a decade and employed Ms. Stark as his chief of staff … has endorsed Mr. Doroski,” said the newspapers. “Mr. Krupski knows both candidates well and understands what the job requires. His choice speaks volumes about which candidate is better positioned to serve the district effectively,”

Doroski, a co-founder of beer brewing companies, “understands fiscal realities,” they went on. And he “also brings visions for regional coordination, proposing an advisory council to bring East End towns together on climate change, water quality and solid waste planning as Brookhaven’s landfill nears closure.”

Another knotty Election Day feature: On the ballot was a Suffolk County proposition that The East Hampton Star blasted as “a mess. It asks voters to approve a new Suffolk County law, the so-called Term Limit Preservation Act. Preserving term limits sounds good, right? Well, there’s a much more convoluted story here,” said its editorial.

“Untangling the fine print, the new law would actually double the term length of county legislators from two to four years,” it continued. “Why, you ask? It’s fallout from a recent New York State law that shifted [local] elections to ‘even’ years, a change that means there will be three Suffolk elections over the next four years.

“That is indeed inconvenient and costly, and to avoid that, proponents of the Term Limit Preservation Act want Suffolk County to move legislators from six two-year terms to three four-year terms while keeping the total cumulative ceiling at 12 years (12 years being the thing being ‘preserved’).”

Said the editorial: “We believe in maintaining the two-year term for county legislators, regardless. Shorter terms keep county legislators on a right feedback loop with voters, forcing regular check-ins on performance …”

Whether the proposition, which passed, becomes a reality remains to be seen. There have been legal challenges to the state law and a possible challenge to the proposition. Suffolk Democratic Chairman Rich Schaffer says Democrats seek to invalidate it as being “unconstitutional.”

Last week’s election results in Suffolk reflected huge pluralities for certain legislators of both major parties. Democrat Jason Richberg of West Babylon, for example, received 73 percent of the vote; Democrat Ann Welker of Southampton got 70 percent; Democrat Thomas Donnelly of Deer Park, 69 percent; Democrat Steven Englebright of Setauket, 63 percent; Democrat Samuel Gonzalez of Brentwood, 63 percent; Republican Anthony Piccirillo of Holbrook, 62 percent; Republican James Mazzarella of Mastic, 61 percent; and Republican Leslie Kennedy of Nesconset, 61 percent.

The 12-year term limit for Suffolk County legislators came about after a countywide referendum in 1993. With such positive votes for some legislators, was this a wise move, even if, as was argued back then, term limits bring “new blood” to government?

Among the reelected county legislators with huge pluralities were two prominent environmentalists, Welker and Englebright. Welker, in 2017, became the first woman elected to the Southampton Town Board of Trustees since its founding in 1686. It has jurisdiction over the town’s marine environment. Her father, Dr. John Ralvan “Ral” Welker, founded the Marine Science Program at Southampton College now part of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences.

Englebright, for 30 years, was a member of the State Assembly and has long been considered a leading environmentalist in the state and Suffolk County.