DAN'S PAPERS, November 13, 2009 Page 19 www.danshamptons.com
Local Politics: The Right People Lost? By Dan Rattiner Last Tuesday in Southampton, Anna ThroneHolst (I) defeated incumbent Linda Kabot (R) in the race for Town Supervisor. On the same day, Bill Wilkinson (R) defeated Ben Zwirn (D) to become Supervisor in East Hampton. In some ways, in both these races, the candidate with the best experience to do the job lost. But the voters dug deeper than that and looked at other things. In the end, they made the choice that I had personally believed was best. It’s complicated. The job at hand, of course, is dealing with two overgrown town governments more in keeping with better financial times. Both towns, particularly East Hampton, will have to do layoffs and cutbacks, raise taxes and deal with large income shortfalls. In Southampton, the shortfall in 2008 was about $10 million, almost entirely due to less money coming in. In East Hampton, which is half the size of Southampton, the shortfall under the present outgoing Democratic regime is in the area of a whopping $20 to $30 million, something that has accumulated during the six years of the outgoing McGintee regime. For the job at hand in Southampton, Linda Kabot, a fierce, smart and meticulous Supervisor has already shown she has the guts to make these slashes in making public her 2010 budget just before her defeat at the polls. Had she won, she would, I believe, have done these things very well whether anybody liked it or not. Her opponent, Throne-Holst, who beat her, has not had to yet show whether she is made of this
kind of iron. Her experience is as a Town Board member for two years where she has shown intelligence, thoughtfulness and an ability to compromise and reach consensus with others. She would be an unknown in taking the reins where slash and burn is necessary. And yet the public voted her in by a thumping three to two margin. The reason for this, I think, is that Linda Kabot during her two years has shown she has very sharp edges and an unfortunate ability to alienate others. She’s my way or the highway, and although I believe she was the better bet to get it all done right, she might not have done so well in the Getting Along With Others Department. And it is with others, especially in a small town, that you need to rely upon after you decide how you are going to get things done. Even with her shortcomings, she might have won the election if she had not been arrested for DWI by the Police Department of the Village of Westhampton Beach three weeks before the vote. She might have apologized—she was coming home from a family party and admitted to having several drinks—pay the fine and move on. She chose instead to fight the arrest and accuse just about everybody involved with this— the police department, her opponent, the prosecutor among others – as just out to get her. The point is that even if she had won (the election and even the DWI charge) she would be on very bad terms with just about everybody in the town government from the police department on down for quite sometime. Heads would roll.
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That she could not prove this conspiracy against her in court before the election—the trial she asked for was moved out of the district and postponed till after the election—probably did her in. Now, of course, she will go to court as a private citizen. Her argument that the police violated their oaths and ticketed her on instructions from Throne-Holst will look very different now. The police say she flunked two on the spot inebriation tests and refused to take a breathalyzer test. What do you say to this? In East Hampton, the Democrats, who engineered the six year debacle with the finances of that town, turning an $8 million surplus into a $20 - $30 million plus deficit, nominated someone very capable of cleaning up the mess they created. Before I get to that, I should like to note that 10 years ago, the East Hampton annual budget was just over half the size of the Southampton annual budget, which is in keeping with the fact that Southampton is twice the size of East Hampton. Now, 10 years later, the East Hampton annual budget is LARGER than that in Southampton though the towns remain at the same proportion to one another as they were before. Amazing the amount of bloat the East Hampton Democrats managed to put in during their six years. (In addition, when presenting the new 2010 budget two weeks ago as required by law, the discredited McGintee administration, in contrast to Southampton, has expenses going UP.) Zwirn was elected years ago by the Town of (continued on page 24)
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