U.S. trade official hears LI execs' concerns

Long Island business executives have been complaining for years about complicated federal tax laws, the difficulty of competing against foreign companies, and job creation.

On Friday, a man from the White House was on hand to listen, at Brookhaven Town hall.

About 50 business executives gathered at the town hall in Farmingville to talk about federal issues at a meeting called by Rep. Tim Bishop (D-Southampton) and town Supervisor Mark Lesko.

The guest star, dispatched by the White House, was Bryan Erwin, who last year was named by the Obama administration as director of the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration's advocacy center. Erwin's job is to level the playing field for U.S. companies trying to compete for business overseas.

Turns out Erwin was the right person to send. Before going to Washington, he spent eight years as a vice president of Goldman Sachs & Co., in the Manhattan firm's investment management division. And he's from Mattituck -- a seventh-generation East Ender at that.

The 50 business executives met for over an hour with Bishop, Lesko and Erwin behind closed doors, as reporters hovered outside the meeting room on the town hall's second floor. Town officials said the parties felt freer to talk without the media around.

After the meeting, Lesko, Bishop and Erwin emerged for a brief news conference.

"We just finished a very lively discussion," said Bishop. "This was more of a listening session. We heard a lot of good ideas." There were calls to reform the complicated federal tax code for businesses, make it easier for U.S. companies to compete overseas and add jobs.

Leah Dunaief, editor and publisher of the weekly Village Times Herald in Setauket, was present as a reporter and a small-business owner. She asked Erwin about the decline in competition among health insurance companies and what could be done about it. He basically said President Barack Obama's health care plan would deal with that.

Another reporter asked Erwin whether the whole session was a political show for the Democrats.

"This is not political at all," Erwin said. "The ideas don't come from Washington. They come from you all."

Tony Favale, president of Medford-based Advanced Energy Systems, emerged from the meeting breathing fire about the issue of foreign competition. He said he had raised the issue with Erwin. "He said he would call me next week," Favale said.

Would Erwin communicate the issues directly to Obama? "I will address them to the West Wing," he said.