Bellone kicks off county exec ad campaign

Suffolk Democrats have launched a cable TV ad blitz for county executive candidate Steve Bellone, which party chairman Richard Schaffer said would run through Election Day.

The 30-second spot, which began airing Tuesday, will be shown on 20 cable channels, including News 12 Long Island, ESPN, Fox, Lifetime and TNT.

The spot shows Bellone, the Babylon town supervisor, driving a pickup truck and touting his administration's accomplishments, saying, "Sometimes more is less."

He says the town has cut its debt, raised its bond rating from one of the worst in the county to A-plus, and cut taxes by $4.3 million. He also says the town has put government services online, installed GPS devices in town vehicles "to make sure town employees are doing their job," and cut pothole repair time from five weeks to 48 hours.

"We can do more with less with county government, too," Bellone says at the end of the ad.

The pickup is a rental, with a seal on its side mocked up to look like the official town seal, Schaffer said. "We were very careful and cautious not to use any town facilities," he said.

John Jay LaValle, Suffolk Republican chairman, called Bellone's ad "extremely misleading," saying the supervisor has repeatedly increased town property taxes. "There is no Babylon miracle, it's a disaster . . . he had a terrible record and is spending $2 million to hide it," said LaValle, referring to Bellone's campaign war chest.

Rick Belyea, spokesman for the GOP nominee for county executive, Angie Carpenter, said Carpenter has been airing ads on local radio stations since last month and is preparing TV spots, though he declined to say when they would begin running.

The Suffolk GOP is also running ads on its website and making automated calls.