Biden's hires, political charades, Cook jumps back in

May 26, 2021

Daily Point

Biden regional hires? Any month now

Five months into a new White House administration, political insiders are wondering when vacancies for plum jobs in key federal agencies will be filled. Democratic Party movers and shakers, with allies who’d like the appointments, tell The Point that they’ve heard surprisingly little.

Typical comments: "Nothing yet." "Very, very slow." "Things are taking time." "They’re not sharing anything." "They’re not down to this level yet."

Informal explanations vary depending on the source. Past administrations took the greater part of the year to appoint certain jobs, they say. President Joe Biden is known to keep a tight circle of advisers who keep the clamps on such information. COVID-19 operations are first priority.

But the clock is ticking and everyone knows it, especially because regional heads would help direct and manage an unusually large flood of federal money flowing to states and localities. Resumes are quietly passed around the offices of elected officials for recommendation.

One share of the appointment suspense comes from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, where Region II covers New York and New Jersey.

When now-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo was HUD secretary in the Clinton administration, now-NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio served as his regional director. For three-and-a-half years, President Donald Trump’s former private "event planner" Lynne Patton held the job.

Other agencies to be watched, according to Long Island insiders, include the Environmental Protection Agency, where a spokesman was mum even on the possible timing; the departments of Commerce and Labor, and the Department of Transportation, which already has a familiar local presence with Polly Trottenberg, the former city DOT commissioner, serving as deputy secretary under Pete Buttigieg.

For the Small Business Administration, with its visible local role, the acting regional director remains Bernard Paprocki, a career agency official out of Syracuse, following the departure of Trump administration appointee Steve Bulger.

For now it’s fair to say area bureaucrats are holding down the federal forts, awaiting word on new bosses.

— Dan Janison @Danjanison

Talking Point

Curiouser and curiouser!

Earlier this month, former Suffolk County Legislature Presiding Officer DuWayne Gregory, a Democrat, announced his endorsement of the Republican candidate for district attorney, Ray Tierney. The Suffolk County Conservative Party has done the same.

In the politics of most counties, these could be confusing moves. But in the murky waters of Suffolk electioneering and alliances, every play is either wholly pure or entirely transactional, depending on whom you ask.

Tierney is facing Democratic District Attorney Tim Sini, a former federal prosecutor and Suffolk police commissioner seeking his second term.

Gregory, now a Babylon Town Board member who also works for McBride Consulting, was hard-hitting in his explanation, telling The Point, "I didn’t see an improvement from Sini, compared to Spota or Catterson."

It’s quite a statement, considering that Sini predecessor Thomas Spota stands convicted of federal corruption charges. Spota defeated three-termer James Catterson in 2001, after Suffolk County Democratic Party Chair Rich Schaffer launched an all-out assault on Catterson, whom he accused of targeting Babylon Democrats in unfair prosecutions.

Schaffer was the Babylon Town Supervisor when those indictments came down, just as he is now, and remained close to Spota throughout the former DA’s 16-year reign.

Gregory’s enmity, he says, stems largely from the attempted promotion of a Suffolk County cop, Sal Gigante, whose uncle is recently retired Suffolk chief of detectives Gerald Gigante, to a leadership role in the DA Office detective squad. Gregory, who is black, felt more qualified candidates, including minorities, were being overlooked for the role Sal Gigante sought and detractors said he was unqualified for, and for which the legislature refused to grant him a nepotism waiver to take.

And Gregory says he has repeatedly been told by employees in the DA's office that he has a target on his back and Sini is out to get him.

Sini denies those accusations.

Gregory is very close to Schaffer. Schaffer’s support of then-Babylon Town Board member Jackie Gordon for the Democratic nomination for the 2nd congressional district opened up the seat Gregory now sits in when he was about to be term-limited out of the Suffolk Legislature. Schaffer supported Gregory in two failed congressional runs at Pete King, and in his bid to lead the legislature.

But Gregory swears the Tierney endorsement is his own preference. And Schaffer says he is supporting Sini in the race, though it seems clear the two men despise each other and Schaffer has said Sini’s office is pursuing investigations related to Babylon he sees as political.

Gregory’s play, coming from a Democrat, is surprising. But the Republican getting the Conservative line ought to be business as usual, right? Well … in 2017 Sini got the Conservative line because then-Suffolk Republican Chair John J. LaValle was feuding with county Conservatives and his party was trying to move away from cross-endorsing major-party candidates.

Schaffer told The Point there is absolutely no sense in him opposing Sini, a standard-bearer for the Democrats who, along with Democratic Sheriff Errol Toulon, are expected to win. Schaffer says he talks Sini up to voters, has donated to his campaigns and has signatures collected for Sini’s races by party workers.

According to the narrative from Sini supporters, Schaffer is making life hard for Sini by:

Convincing Gregory to endorse Tierney
Giving Tierney a job at the Suffolk OTB as chief counsel for compliance and enforcement, so he has an easy living coming in while he runs
Pushing Suffolk Conservative Party Chairman Michael Torres to give his line to Tierney

But Schaffer says the Tierney OTB job is one Republicans traditionally get, and one he is qualified for. Schaffer and Gregory both say Gregory endorsed Tierney on his own, and Schaffer backs Sini. And Schaffer and Torres both told The Point that Schaffer, who has at times had a lot of sway with the county Conservative Party, was not involved in getting Tierney the line this time.

Schaffer also says he and Sini agreed, in a meeting on Christmas Eve 2017, that they would have limited contact because of the nature of Schaffer’s dual roles, and that Sini said at that time that his right-hand man, Justin Meyers, would deal with the minor parties for Sini.

And Torres and Schaffer say that the Conservative Party, via a screening committee of 13 lawyers, decided to go with Tierney because Sini doesn’t talk to the party leaders or come to political events, an assessment with which Sini proudly agrees.

Monday, Sini told The Point, "We are fiercely independent and singularly focused on keeping Suffolk safe. We will not be distracted by lame political charades."

— Lane Filler @lanefiller

Pencil Point

New normal?

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Final Point

Cook jumps back in the frying pan

Through the runup to this year’s election for Huntington Town supervisor, town council member Eugene Cook has been a magnet for attention and a thorn in the side of town Republicans. Cook joined the GOP late last year after the Independence Party he previously belonged to lost its automatic ballot access in November. At the time it was considered a play toward primarying current GOP supervisor Chad Lupinacci.

Lupinacci was considered vulnerable because he is embroiled in a civil suit with a former aide, Brian Finnegan, in which Finnegan accuses Lupinacci of sexually assaulting him in an Albany hotel room three years ago. Cook said for months that he’d primary Lupinacci because he thought the Democrats would successfully use the case to win the supervisor seat, but that he would step away from the race if the GOP picked another candidate.

So when Lupinacci dropped out under heavy duress from Republicans, and town board member Ed Smyth got the nod instead, Cook said he was out.

Now he says he’s back in.

Wednesday, Cook told The Point that a massive grassroots effort of town residents led to his name being submitted to the Suffolk County Board of Elections for Cook to run for supervisor on the "STOP LIPA" line in November. He said about 1,400 signatures, double what is needed, were submitted after several hundred suspect ones were culled out.

Cook said, "When I saw all this work that had been done to circulate petitions on my behalf, I was just overwhelmed at the faith they had in me and I knew I had to agree to run," Cook said. "To me it says people appreciate my track record of fighting for the people of Huntington, for affordability and low taxes, and for standing up to LIPA."

In the town’s battle with LIPA over property taxes on the Northport Power Plant, Cook has been the ultimate hard-liner, launching lawsuits and pushing a wide variety of potential strategies to keep the power company paying $84 million a year in taxes on the plant. He has continued the fight even though LIPA and the town settled the case with a deal that reduces the taxes paid by about 50% over seven years.

Cook said he disagreed with Smyth’s vote to accept the LIPA deal, and worries that huge tax increases are coming that residents won’t be able to handle. And he does not accept that his entrance in the race will mostly hurt Smyth, rather than Democratic candidate Rebecca Sanin.

So for now, Cook is in.