Editorial: Bellone gets his man at the IDA
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (April 20, 2012) Credit: Photo by Randee Daddona
In politics, you have to be careful what you wish for. Now that Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone has gotten his handpicked, poorly qualified, hometown choice to run the county's industrial development agency, Bellone pretty much owns economic development. If it fizzles, that will be on his head.
But Bellone is not alone in coming out of this situation looking less than sterling. The IDA board seemed underwhelmed with the economic development qualifications of his nominee for the job of executive director, Anthony Manetta, a Babylon political consultant. So the board did seek other candidates. But the board ended up interviewing none of them and meekly accepting Manetta on Tuesday.
It's fine for Bellone to desire close coordination with the IDA, and the county legislature was correct to appoint Joanne Minieri, his economic development director, to a seat on the board. But state law imposes on board members a serious mandate to use independent judgment. In this case, they showed zero independence.
The other actor in this little morality play was Frank MacKay, the chairman of the Independence Party, who supported Manetta's candidacy. Though the party appears to have no real ideology, other than a job here and there for its friends, having the Independence Party line on the ballot has helped candidates. It provided 10,704 votes for Bellone last year -- not decisive, but a healthy portion of his 32,024-vote margin.
As for legislators, three of the 18 won last year by margins smaller than what they got on the Independence line. Only two of the 18 winners did not have that line.
So, when MacKay speaks, politicians listen. Whether he spoke too forcefully -- or at all -- to legislators (who, after all, do appoint the IDA board) may never be known. But his public role in this process gives the distinct appearance of the tail wagging the dog.
Ultimately, Bellone will be judged on whether he fixes a huge deficit, and economic growth is vital to that. If Manetta grows into the job and Bellone succeeds, this whole episode may well be forgotten. If he fails, look for L'Affaire Manetta as an item in the postmortems.
