The president and the physicist
President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Griffiss International Airport, in Rome, N.Y., Monday. Credit: AP / Carolyn Kaster
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Pencil Point
Power of the pen
Talking Point
Like father, like son
His father is not the only one looking to reap election-year dollars from wealthy Long Islanders. President Donald Trump’s $3 million net when he visits Southhampton on Friday will be followed a few days later by his namesake son dropping by Nissequogue, The Point has confirmed.
Donald Trump Jr. will be at the home of Steve Louro on Tuesday to raise money for 2018 GOP House races nationwide. In April, Louro and his wife, Carolyn, hosted an event at their waterfront mansion overlooking Smithtown Bay that included Trump Jr. That event was specifically to benefit Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Louros’ representative in the 1st Congressional District. Friends of the Louros must get a lot of invitations. Trump held a fundraiser there in 2016 for his presidential bid.
Mark Chiusano and Rita Ciolli
Final Point
Schaffer’s escape route
New York’s Byzantine election laws make for weird and wild ballot-line dances. Observe the scramble to remove indicted upstate Rep. Chris Collins and get a Republican replacement for him in time to counter an expected blue wave in November. Or the tiff that occurred in June when Bronxite Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused her vanquished Democratic opponent, Queens Rep. Joe Crowley, of staying on the Working Families Party line into the general election for New York’s 14th Congressional District. Crowley argued, convincingly, that he wasn’t campaigning and also, it’s pretty difficult to get off the ballot.
However, the chessboard is becoming clear on Long Island, where Suffolk County Legislature Presiding Officer DuWayne Gregory lost the 2nd District Democratic primary to Liuba Grechen Shirley, who will go on to face Rep. Peter King in November.
However, Gregory remains on the ballot lines of the Independence, Women’s Equality and Working Families parties.
Rather than be forced to defend a spoiler, Suffolk Democratic leader Rich Schaffer tells The Point he “thought ahead to this” and planned an escape route for Gregory involving a nomination for Suffolk County clerk, a Supreme Court judgeship ballot line for legislature counsel George Nolan, and a non-campaign by Gregory against established Republican Suffolk County Clerk Judith Pascale.
What those minor parties will do with their vacated lines is up to them. Of interest is the WFP’s plan to give Grechen Shirley its line, after the progressive party snubbed the self-styled hard-charging progressive in favor of Gregory before the primary. WFP endorsed Grechen Shirley after her win, and it also plans to give her the line.
“It is our hope and our goal” to have Grechen Shirley on the WFP line, says Lisa Tyson, a WFP leader for Long Island.
Mark Chiusano
Daily Point
Mr. Trump comes to town
When President Donald Trump gets off Air Force One at Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach Friday, he’ll be greeted by a diverse mix of locals, according to Rep. Lee Zeldin, who will travel with Trump from Washington.
The greeters Zeldin was sure of Thursday were:
- John Raguso, the father of Air Force Master Sgt. Christopher Raguso, a 39-year-old Commack native who was one of four members of the Long Island-based 106th Air Rescue Wing of the New York Air National Guard killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq in March. Christopher Raguso also was a lieutenant in the New York City Fire Department.
- Westhampton Beach Village Mayor Maria Moore, who was elected on the Progress for Westhampton Beach Party line.
- Quentin Palifka, the president of Rocky Point High School’s fall ninth-grade class. His plans for adulthood include winning Zeldin’s job and then Trump’s.
- Doon Gibbs, the director of the Brookhaven National Laboratory, which employs 2,700 people and is the subject of tough funding fights in which Trump has much sway on an annual basis. In particular, the lab is fighting for the construction of an estimated $750 million electron-ion collider project that also is coveted by the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News, Virginia.
The inclusion of Gibbs is particularly savvy in terms of what’s best for the district, because Trump has a well-reported tendency to focus in on people he meets in person and be open to their needs.
Of course, Trump also will be greeted by protesters from Zeldin’s nemesis group, Let’s Visit Lee Zeldin. That group’s Facebook page is advising members to show up by 10:30 a.m. at Gabreski Airport, before the road is closed for Trump’s arrival just before noon.
Lane Filler
