Can the Forks reset the table for Suffolk Democrats?

Daily Point

Democratic 'machine' faces attacks from East Hampton, Southold

The two challenges to the Democratic Party status quo in Suffolk County are about bucking the entrenched party machinery.

East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen is primarying East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez for the Democratic line. And in Southold, Democratic Party chair Kathryn Casey Quigley is taking on longtime Suffolk Democratic boss Rich Schaffer for the party leadership role.

Casey Quigley's uprising is intent on ending backroom deals she says shortchange Democratic Party values. Larsen, too, seeks to upend the party structure, calling it the "Democratic machine" of East Hampton. He screened for the party nomination but was passed over, not a surprise since Burke-Gonzalez is the incumbent.

Casey Quigley said county Democrats are tired of deals for judgeships or jobs for cronies. "Democrats can deliver for regular people and win elections; we just need candidates and leaders who will tune out the special interests and political insiders and instead focus relentlessly on serving their communities ..." she said in a statement to The Point.

Larsen's campaign has drawn the ire of county and local Democrats. He got slapped with a cease and desist letter for creating a committee name — East Hampton Town Democrats for a New Town — and said he changed the name to East Hampton Residents for a New Town to avoid wasting campaign dollars on litigation.

He has been accused of raiding the local party by encouraging independents and Republicans to register as Democrats for the primary — ostensibly to vote for him — with detractors comparing the move to the Working Families Party debacle in Huntington last year where enough Republicans switched their voter registration to get an unknown on the ballot and bleed votes from the Democratic Party candidate for town supervisor.

"There's 10,000 registered Democrats and switching over 140 people is nowhere near party raiding," Larsen said.

In another wrinkle against the establishment, Larsen's supporters are reportedly making runs for town party committee seats. Larsen was mum. "I'm not gonna comment on that right now," Larsen told The Point. "That process starts Feb. 24, so we'll see what happens at that point."

But East Hampton Democratic Committee chair Anna Skrenta told The Point Larsen's supporters are, in fact, challenging current committee members. "He told us when he screened before us that we should expect that," Skrenta said.

Is Larsen roiling the base and encouraging voters to register as Democrats out of spite for not being nominated? Is Casey Quigley making a run for county party chair to gain control of the levers of power? Or do they favor a robust democratic process that encourages primaries to share ideas? Democratic voters soon enough will decide to keep the status quo or burn it all down.

— Mark Nolan mark.nolan@newsday.com

Pencil Point

After the storm

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Final Point

A Nassau County attorney talks Hunter Biden

After all these years, Hunter Biden remains a subject of discussion among lawyers and journalists still devoted to the messaging that President Donald Trump was a victim of persecution and political "lawfare."

The resolution of the extended Hunter Biden scandal is that the son of President Joe Biden was convicted in June 2024 on three felony gun charges in Delaware for lying about his drug use to purchase a firearm in 2018. Months later, he pleaded guilty to federal tax charges in California. Biden issued a blanket pardon for him before leaving office.

Last week, New York Post columnist Miranda Devine, who in October 2020 wrote about the laptop left for repair and unclaimed by Biden in a Delaware computer shop, posted a podcast with a man she thanked as her original source for the story. That's attorney Bob Costello, who acted as lawyer for ex-Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and recounted how the narrative developed.

These days, as is widely known, Costello is on the Nassau County attorney’s payroll as previously reported for $180,250 per year.

County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who grew county spending on lawyers since taking office in 2022, hired Costello in 2024, weeks after Costello testified as a defense witness for Trump in the felony trial that led to Trump's state conviction on 34 fraud counts. During that trial, Justice Juan Merchan chided Costello, allegedly for eye-rolling and muttering, but Costello told Devine he inoffensively watched as the judge in rapid succession sustained objections from the prosecution.

The interview clearly had nothing to do with Costello's county duties, as officials confirmed. Costello in the video got to throw shade on a few Trump critics, including former FBI Director Jim Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan. He told Devine that when Jeanine Pirro, the Washington federal prosecutor, handles it, "you can be sure it will go to its conclusion and justice will be served."

Unfortunately, there was a glaring error in the publicity for Devine's podcast, called Pod Force One. A Post ad featured Costello's photo but incorrectly identified him as the chief information officer at the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). That job belongs to another Robert Costello — who earlier served in the Department of Homeland Security and worked for World Wide Technology, a federal contractor.

— Dan Janison dan.janison@newsday.com

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