Election and hurricane season
A Long Island Power Authority truck is seen in this undated photo. Credit: AP
Good afternoon and welcome to The Point!
Talking Point
Good luck still needed for rest of hurricane season
David Daly didn’t get this wish.
Daly completes his time at the helm of PSEG Long Island at midnight Sunday, and there never was a real “test” of the fortified electric grid he says is now much better than when he arrived on the job more than four years ago.
Daly and PSEG arrived after the 2012 disaster from superstorm Sandy that wiped out power — and subsequently upended the managerial structure of the Long Island Power Authority and National Grid, the utility then under contract to run the electrical system.
Daly oversaw spending of $730 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to harden LIPA infrastructure, which includes raised substations to mitigate flood damage, stronger poles to resist powerful winds, and extensive tree trimming. About 41 percent, or 417 out of 1,000 distribution circuits, are battle ready, with the remainder to be upgraded by the first quarter of 2019.
Actually, anything could be better than the mess after Sandy, but it might just be best that Daly or LIPA never got a real test.
Now it’s it up to Daniel Eichhorn, Daly’s successor as president, to weather a challenge that may still come this year.
The season for hurricanes such as Harvey, Irma and Maria, that originate off the western coast of Africa, is over. But the season is just now beginning for autumn storms like Sandy that find their power in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. And right now, some of the warmest waters in the world are being recorded in the western Caribbean.
Let’s hope Daly doesn’t take his good luck charm with him to his new post in New Jersey.
Rita Ciolli
Pointing Out
Crossword conquerors
Congrats to Andy Skibins and to Ed and Ruthann Drewitz, who submitted complete and correct answers to The Point’s inaugural crossword puzzle.
The puzzle was titled “Here Today . . . ” and its theme was the revolving door for White House staffers.
We’re still recovering, however, from Andy’s evaluation of the puzzle: “Not too tough,” he wrote in his submission.
But we have good news for Ed and Ruthann. “Looking forward to another one,” they wrote.
The next one is coming around Election Day, which, of course, will be the theme.
Michael Dobie
Daily Point
No greener pastures for Green Party in Suffolk
The Green Party primary for Huntington Town supervisor might have had low visibility, but it was one of the most intriguing of this month’s primaries — because of the light it shed on the down-and-dirty way politics is practiced in Suffolk.
The Green Party did not endorse a candidate for Huntington supervisor, or any other candidate in Suffolk. But the name of party member Jeremy Grossman appeared on the ballot, thanks to a Republican-fueled effort.
Why would the GOP go to the trouble? Because Green Party voters, in the absence of a candidate of their own, tend to vote Democratic, and the Huntington Town supervisor’s race is a fierce contest this year as Democrat Tracey Edwards and Republican Chad Lupinacci vie for the seat being left open by the retirement of Frank Petrone. A vote for Grossman more than likely would be a vote Edwards would not get.
In response to a Freedom of Information Law inquiry filed by The Point, Board of Elections documents reveal that at least six of the nine notaries public who gathered petitions for Grossman are registered Republicans. Not to be outdone, Democrats then filed petitions to force a write-in primary against Grossman.
“When Republicans realized Democrats were trying to take the line, both started sending mailers to registered Greens in Huntington, but neither identified themselves as Republican or Democrat,” Green Party county chairwoman Pauline Salotti told The Point. Salotti said both sets of mailers were made to seem like they were coming from the Green Party, and neither identified who was paying for them, as required by state law.
In the end, the Democrats prevailed, with Edwards’ 28 write-in votes topping Grossman’s 17.
Noting the greater philosophical alignment between Democrats and Greens, Salotti said, “Giving Green Party members an option to write in a Democratic candidate I can see, but I would have appreciated them telling us that. It would be more ethical to see it done that way.”
Ethics in Suffolk politics?
Michael Dobie
