Sunday Sept. 24 – Monday Sept. 25
Thursday, September 21, 2023 ~ Volume 68 ~ Issue Number 48 ~ $1.00
caloneforsuffolk.com
A Look Inside Calone’s Campaign Expenditures By Matt Meduri After Labor Day’s unofficial kickoff of the campaigns, September now sees the action fully commence as doorknockings, fundraisers, and campaign appearances will consume local and social media from now until Election Day. The Messenger intends to keep up with the candidates on the campaign trail as best as we can. We have also introduced a forecast for this year’s elections for Suffolk County Legislature, Town Supervisors, and Town Council races where applicable. As of our current forecast, the GOP is poised to pick up two Legislative seats and Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches) appears to be in the driver’s seat in the County Executive race.
The race for the open County Executive seat continues to head the top of the ticket this year. The result of this race could have down ballot effects on all other races across the county. Both major candidates, Supervisor Romaine and Dave Calone (D-Setauket) have recently aired their first campaign advertisements on television and social media. While Ed Romaine is well-known across Suffolk County from his two stints representing the North Fork in the Legislature, to serving as County Clerk, and most recently as Brookhaven Town Supervisor since 2012, his opponent, Dave Calone, is less known within the lines of Suffolk. The Messenger examined Calone donations and expenditures. The July campaign finance reports show Calone with $2.3 million cash on hand and Romaine with $1.5 million.
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EMS Volunteers Eligible For Home-Buying Grant
By Matt Meduri
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FULL STORIES ON:
Tom Murray vs. John Lorenzo Pages 12 & 13
Hauppauge High School Page 15
Jesse Garcia Re-Elected Suffolk GOP Chair Page 21
Courtesy of Matt Meduri
A massive question each Long Islander faces - and one facing elected officials going into this election - is that of affordability. While working-class families who make six figures can still struggle to get by in some cases, young people and seniors are in a mass exodus from Long Island and New York State overall. One problem, in addition to Suffolk County being the tenth-most expensive county of the country’s 3,143 counties according to a 2022 U.S. News report, is the lack of affordable housing and the overdevelopment of luxury housing. While normal family homes are paid for in cash well above asking price, many of whom are New York City residents, native Long Islanders find it increasingly difficult to remain in Suffolk County and take pride in ownership. Developers continue to build apartment complexes on swaths of that land that not only hurt open-space preservation but are simply too expensive to rent.