Remarks in Islip about Rizzuto don't fly

The GOP candidate for Islip Town supervisor is under fire for criticizing the credentials of Long Island MacArthur Airport's commissioner.

At the end of a meeting for business executives last Friday, Republican candidate Tom Croci talked about the town-operated airport and the decline in the number of airlines and daily flights during Supervisor Phil Nolan's administration.

Asked what he'd do differently, Croci acknowledged to Newsday that he said the airport needed a manager with a broader understanding of the aviation industry. "I said, perhaps if we had that kind of understanding of the aviation industry, it might be easier to bring more business and airlines to the airport."

The comments raised some eyebrows, in light of commissioner Teresa Rizzuto's aviation and management resume. His highlighting her background as a baggage handler was seen as especially controversial. Katherine Klahn, deputy director of the Islip Town Foreign Trade Zone, condemned the remarks.

"He implied she was unqualified and that it should be run by an 'aviation expert,' " said Klahn, a registered Democrat. "He reiterated she was a baggage handler originally, and it was a put-down. I didn't like that because, as a woman, everyone has to start somewhere." Klahn said she concluded it was "sexist."

Rizzuto began at Kennedy Airport in 1992 as a ground crew member. By 1999, she was United Airlines general manager at Newark Liberty with a $30 million budget. Four years later, the carrier asked her to also manage its hub at Dulles International, outside Washington. Nolan hired her after a nationwide search in 2007, and in 2009 she was named Trailblazer of the Year by the National Association of Women Business Owners.

Croci spoke at a meeting hosted by Long Island Metro Business Action, whose chairman Ernest Fazio, said Croci compared Rizzuto with former airport commissioner Al Werner, who with 50 years in the job was a "professionally-trained" airport manager. "It sounded to me like he might be considering" a replacement, Fazio said.

Fazio, a longtime Republican now a registered Independent, said of Croci's mention that Rizzuto started as a baggage handler: "I took it as a put-down and thought it was unwarranted."

LIMBA president Bill Miller said Croci suggested Werner had stronger credentials, but he did not perceive it as an attack.

Croci said Nolan's administration mischaracterized his comments. He said he referenced Rizzuto's starting job because he knew "she has great knowledge of the mechanics of an airport," but he intended to draw a distinction from someone with broader aviation industry experience.

Rizzuto said she was hurt by the remarks. "I take . . . [the criticism] very personally; I worked very hard to get where I am," she said. "It's unfair of Mr. Croci to make personal attacks without knowing the facts."

Nolan also weighed in, saying: "I am at a loss why he would attack this talented woman . . . Teresa Rizzuto is a respected professional airport manager with an incredible resume who worked her way to the top in a male-dominated field."

Islip GOP chairman Frank Tantone, also at the event, acknowledged that the economic downturn had impacted flights at MacArthur. But, he added: "This is the Nolan administration's political games, and people are tired of it."

The stakes are high in a political season in which Nolan’s party holds a 3-2 grip on the Islip Town Board, with two council positions as well as the supervisor's post in play in November. This is Croci's first run for political office.