Smithtown Messenger Archive Mar. 14, 2024

‘Stop the Bleeding!’ Romaine, Mattera, and Legislators Call for Bail Reform Changes

By Matt Meduri

While New York’s 2019 “Bail Reform” laws have been a topic of constant discussion, the debate has reached new heights in the wake of the Babylon dismemberment case.

Last week, human remains were found scattered in public parks across Babylon Town and in Bethpage State Park. The first remains were found by high schoolers walking to school near Southards Pond Park. Police arrested four suspects, one of whom is said to be homeless, in connection with the dismemberment and concealment of two adult corpses.

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Meduri

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Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine (center) with Suffolk County Legislators and law enforcement officials.

Assemblyman Jarett Gandolfo (podium) headlines a press conference unveiling his legislation (Credit - NYS Assembly)

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Romaine, Mattera, and Legislators Call for Bail Reform Changes

The four were subsequently released without bail as New York’s bail laws prohibit prosecutors from doing so for these charges. All were issued GPS monitoring devices, an order that has remained in effect according to Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney (R), were ordered to surrender their passports, and report to probation weekly.

The female corpse has been identified as Donna R. Conneely, 59, whose last known address was in Yonkers. The male corpse has not yet been identified, pending review of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner.

The four suspects have not been linked to the presumptive murders.

Local elected officials convened at the Suffolk County Legislature building on Thursday, March 7, to collectively call for significant changes to the bail reform laws that allowed these suspects to be freed hours after release. County Executive Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches) headlined the press conference.

“When I became County Executive, I made a commitment to bolster the public safety of this county to make it safer,” said Romaine. Romaine mentioned that since his term began January 1, the County has promoted sixty-eight members within the Suffolk County Police Department and has allocated funds for additional officers to be patrolling the streets, among other accomplishments.

“But we also have to deal with the fact that you can carve up someone and walk out of the court and not have to post bail or not be held. You have to think that perhaps we’ve gone a little bit too far with the bail reform, that perhaps we’ve favored too much the perpetrators of crime and that we do not do enough for the victims of crime. I want to send a clear message that as long as I’m County Executive, I am always going to weigh in on the side of the family and justice. The lack of bail for the suspects and the lack of the ability to hold them, speaks about a weakness in our criminal justice system based on our state laws that were changed.”

Presiding Officer of the Suffolk County Legislature Kevin McCaffrey (R-Lindenhurst) said that the recent case exposes “potholes” in New York’s criminal justice system.

“The criminal justice system is now tilted in favor of the criminal and not the victims or law-abiding citizens, who have to live with this anguish and fear of not knowing what will happen next in their communities,” said McCaffrey. “We are standing together to say it is time that the scales of justice should be now weighted back towards the victims. We can hire more police officers, detectives, and supervisors, but unless there’s changes in that criminal justice system, that will be for naught.”

McCaffrey also drew light on some of the other charges that are not bail eligible, such as: possessing illegal quantities of fentanyl, material support for terrorism, bribing a witness or juror, aggravated cruelty to animals, and dog fighting.

Deputy Presiding Officer and Chair of the Public Safety Committee Steve Flotteron (R-Brightwaters) echoed the sentiments of his colleagues and added that people simply don’t feel safe anymore.

“The victims and their families are the ones who are suffering,” said Flotteron. “Lock your houses, be safe; we’re going to change this.”

Senator Mario Mattera (R-St. James), of the Second District, largely leads the fight against bail reform in Albany.

“Governor [Hochul (D)], stop the bleeding, you need to put this in the budget: repeal bail reform,” said Mattera. “She could put this in her budget to repeal these laws. Governor, look what just happened: body parts. We had a little girl walk into school and she had to find a body part. What do you think that little girl is going to be going through the rest of her life seeing this?”

Mattera also mentioned the recent assault on NYPD officers at the hands of illegal immigrants, who were later released and fled the city, a problem that he says is the fault of New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D).

“There’s a reason why I voted against a lot of the budgets, because of the cashless bail provisions,” Mattera continued. “All we did was take the tools away from our police officers. Our constituents care about public safety, and they’re frightened. There’s a reason why we tell our kids to not open the door when somebody knocks; it wasn’t like that when I was growing up.”

President of the Suffolk Police Benevolent Association (PBA) Lou Civello called for the restoration of judicial discretion. Under the bail reform laws, judges have largely had their abilities to demand criminals remain detained compromised.

“We have to have some faith in our judges,” said Civello. “A judge needs to have the ability to assess dangerousness. Just like Senator Mattera said, we had a group of illegal immigrants who viciously beat police officers. Don’t you think a judge might want to be able to look at something like that?”

During the round of questions, one reporter mentioned Governor Hochul downplaying the situation. Hochul said that “maybe the DA [Tierney] should have done a more thorough

investigation and brought murder charges, conspiracy to commit murder, or even assault charges, because all of them are bail eligible. I encourage the DA’s office to go back and build your case.”

“We have one of the best DAs in the state,” said Executive Romaine. “And Democrats and Republicans will tell you that. When you’re a DA, you can’t charge people unless you have the evidence. We have enough evidence to arrest them, not to charge them with murder, but to charge them with dismemberment. I would hope the Governor would have known that. I’m sorry that the Governor, who served on a town council, County Clerk in Erie County, the United States House, Lieutenant Governor and now as Governor, would have known that a District Attorney has to use discretion. If she wants to ask about a District Attorney, she’d ask about a District Attorney from New York County [Bragg] who allowed people who beat up police officers in Times Square to walk free and leave the state. Maybe she should focus on that.”

When asked if this year’s budget negotiations will be delayed more than a month as they were last year, mainly due to intraparty fighting between Hochul and Albany Democrats on bail reform rollbacks, he said that the Governor “created” the situation with NYC Mayor Eric Adams (D), and that she’s “trying to find monies all over the place to pay for this disaster.”

Mattera also mentioned that the National Guard patrolling NYC subways is also a product of the bail reforms.

The Messenger pressed Suffolk County Legislator Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) for answers regarding his votes to enact the bail reform laws in 2019 during his time in the New York State Assembly.

“This is an issue that should be a standalone bill,” said Englebright, referring to how New York State budgets are effectively omnibus packages full of policy in addition to typical annual budgetary measures.

“It shouldn’t be mixed in with state aid for school and environmental programs in the way that it was; it deserves to be debated on the floor,” continued Englebright. “By putting bail reform into the budget with everything else, it lost the ability to really be debated in the manner that it deserved, and as a result, we are handcuffing our police instead of the criminals.”

Englebright also mentioned that after he voted to pass the budget that enacted bail reform, he “called for judicial discretion.”

The Messenger caught up with several legislators for their thoughts on the matter.

Legislator Chad Lennon (R-Rocky Point), a U.S. Marine, said that the “best thing that ever happened to bail reform was COVID because bail reform went out of the news.”

“They were amending this from day one and it still hasn’t been properly done,” said Lennon. “This is what happens when you put legislation through and then think about it later. Ray Tierney has been doing his job, it’s time that Albany does their job to help keep us safe.”

Legislator Dominick Thorne (R-Patchogue), a former EMS professional, said that “our most basic job in government is to protect people.”

“Once again, another hideous crime has happened with the criminals being favored and walking out of our jails,” said Thorne. “We are not protecting our people, not because we don’t have great officers or great emergency services, but because we have a state that favors criminals over good, hard working Americans here in Suffolk County, and we will not stand for it.”

Legislator Rob Trotta (R-Fort Salonga), a former SCPD Detective said that the bail reform laws are a “social experiment gone wrong.”

“Left-wing Democrats thought this was a good thing, and maybe in some cases it is, but you can’t take jurisdiction away from a judge; it’s absurd,” said Trotta. “It’s evident by the fact that we have the National Guard patrolling our subways, almost like a third-world country.”

The Messenger also discussed the matter further with Suffolk PBA President Lou Civello.

“This law is obviously not a rational law,” said Civello. “When you can take a human head and drop it in a park for kids to find and be released hours later, something is broken in the system. This law was not passed in the interest of public safety. This law was passed to please a fringe group and it’s playing out now in all these tragedies we’re seeing.”

Also in attendance were Suffolk County Legislators Anthony Piccirillo (R-Holtsville), Leslie Kennedy (R-Nesconset), Tom Donnelly (D-Deer Park), and Stephanie Bontempi (R-Centerport), as well as Suffolk County Comptroller John Kennedy (R-Nesconset), and the new President of the Suffolk Deputy Sheriff’s Police Benevolent Association Tom Bivona.

MacArthur Airport Unveils New Website to Benefit Local Customers and Inbound Visitors

Long Island MacArthur Airport (ISP) customers will now have an easy mobile-friendly resource to provide them with information and maps on the routes its air carriers serve, along with on-time and flight arrival and departure information, airport dining options, news, and more.

“This new Website – www.flymacarthur.com – both showcases and promotes our airport to local residents and amplifies the many attributes of our area so we can attract more visitors to Long Island,” said Town of Islip Supervisor Angie Carpenter (R-West Islip). “Using the latest technology, we are able to target helpful messages to our customers based on their location when they go to our new airport website,” she added.

“We continue to work hard to enhance the customer experience at Long Island MacArthur Airport,” said Airport Commissioner Shelley LaRose-Arken. “This new website is aesthetically pleasing and puts important airport resources right at customers’ fingertips. Since the site is optimized for mobile devices, customers can access it from home on their desktops and tablets, or on the fly from their mobile phones,” she added.

FlyMacArthur.com provides excellent usability features for Long Island’s most convenient airport, with user-friendly content that will promote increased levels of engagement with its customers. The website combines with the airport’s active communication on social media platforms – Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X, and LinkedIn – to elevate awareness of MacArthur Airport.

“In addition to reaching both Long Island residents and inbound visitors, the website demonstrates to our airlines – Breeze Airways, Frontier Airlines, and Southwest Airlines – that we are here to actively market Long Island MacArthur Airport in a creative way to help increase awareness and use of ISP flights year-round,” LaRose-Arken added.

“ISP is committed to pulling together the Long Island community for the benefit of our businesses and residents. Our new website communicates the pride that our area feels, and also highlights a sense of place for visitors coming to Long Island on flights from our thirteen destinations,” Carpenter said.

“Our community is working together more than ever, recognizing the importance of a vibrant economy for all on Long Island,” said Long Island Association President and CEO Matt Cohen. “Long Island MacArthur Airport

significantly contributes to that as an economic generator in our community,” he added.

“We plan to continue enhancing the site with additional helpful information for our customers, with news updates, and by working with the many enthusiastic local businesses on ways they can be included,” LaRose-Arken said.

In 2024, MacArthur Airport will be reaching out more to the Long Island community with its work on STEM & Aviation Education with the Cradle of Aviation Museum, a Fly Local marketing effort for local businesses, and more. Additionally, air service development and marketing will remain top priorities, including a joint effort with the Town of Islip Economic Development Corporation to reach customers living in the airport’s nonstop cities, encouraging visitors to bring their economic resources to Long Island through its hometown airport.

About Long Island MacArthur Airport

MacArthur Airport is on Long Island approximately fifty miles from New York City. It is the closest airport to nearly three million Long Island residents, and to world-renowned attractions including the famous Hamptons, Wine Country, Cradle of Aviation Museum, lighthouses, Fire Island, excellent theatre, awardwinning restaurants, and Gatsby-era mansions including Westbury Gardens. The Town of Islip owns and operates the airport, served by Breeze Airways, Frontier Airlines, and Southwest Airlines. Access to the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) makes getting around Nassau and Suffolk counties convenient. Train service from the Ronkonkoma/MacArthur Airport LIRR to New York City provides frequent transport. Long Island MacArthur Airport employs 6,000 people directly and indirectly, with a $16 million annual operating budget and an economic impact of $600 million to the region and local economy.

Additional Airport & Town of Islip resources:

FlyMacArthur.com

MacArthur Airport Facebook

Twitter @LIMacArthur

Instagram @FlyMacArthur

Jann Oberg

Licensed Real Estate Salesperson joberg@SignaturePremier.com

NEW MEMBERS NEEDED AMERICAN LEGION VETERANS STILL SERVING AMERICA

The William Merritt Hallock American Legion Post No. 155 115 Church Street Lake Ronkonkoma, NY Is

looking for New Members

We meet at the Post twice a month1st Tuesday of the month at 1:00 pm and the 3rd Tuesday of the month at 7:00 pm.

We have a social hour with snack one hour prior to the meeting. Our meetings generally run about one hour. We take part in our local community parades and street fairs. We usually have three social functions with family and friends each year. We participate in a number of patriotic ceremonies. If interested in joining our Post and meeting some fellow veterans, stop by on a meeting day with a copy of your DD214.

You can visit our website at: AmericanLegionWilliamHallockPost155.org

Hochul’s Comments on Tierney are Abhorrent, Englebright Must Be Held Accountable

The latest Babylon dismemberment case is one that has rocked Long Island and the nation for the obvious reasons of how gruesome and appalling the offenses are. The fact that human remains of two corpses were scattered in public places across Babylon and Bethpage State Park, with the investigation started by the discovery of the remains by high schoolers walking to school near Southards Pond Park.

However, the case continues to shock the nation as New York, once again, becomes our nation’s laughing stock. The four suspects were released hours after their arrests, were fitted with GPS monitoring devices and were forced to surrender their passports and attend weekly probation. The fact that four individuals who were charged with dismembering and concealing a corpse, as well as tampering with evidence and interfering with an investigation, were allowed to return to the streets almost immediately upon arrest is nothing short of ridiculous in the eyes of the other forty-nine states.

Enter New York’s backwards cashless bail laws, wherein many serious offenses, including, but not limited to, some forms of assault, animal cruelty, and bribing a witness or juror, are not eligible for cash bail.

Unfortunately, the charges the four suspects in the dismemberment case received also fall under that same pathologically altruistic, progressively myopic umbrella of policy.

However, adding an entire shaker of salt to the still-fresh wound is the words of Governor Kathy Hochul (D), in which she actually criticized Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney’s (R) and local law enforcement’s handling of the case. Hochul says that they are responsible for the suspects’ releases, not the state’s backwards bail laws that have been universally panned since their passage in 2019.

“Maybe the DA [Tierney] should have done a more thorough investigation and brought murder charges, or conspiracy to commit murder, or even assault charges because all of them are bail eligible. Maybe they brought it a little early,” said Governor Hochul. “I encourage the DA’s office to go back and build your case. Because if you bring all of those charges, which I think would be appropriate, that’s absolutely bail eligible. These people would not be out on the street.”

Hochul must not understand that she is talking down to the man responsible for prosecuting and potentially solving a large chunk of the infamous Gilgo Beach Murders, ominously close in proximity to the Babylon dismemberment case.

“Governor Hochul is either completely clueless or being deceitful about how the criminal justice system works,” said Tierney in his response. “Prosecutors have a duty to bring only charges that are supported by evidence. Anything else would be unethical. The Suffolk County Police Homicide Detectives are the best in the country, and they are working 24-7 on this case. For the Governor to criticize the efforts of these detectives without knowing any of the facts in defense of a broken bail system is both baffling and indefensible. When law enforcement had enough evidence to arrest these defendants for serious felonies, they did the right thing and made those arrests. Did the Governor want the police to leave them out despite having evidence that they cut up and disposed of two bodies? The Governor’s platform on public

safety is laughably inadequate and she should know enough not to comment on ongoing investigations. It would be helpful if the Governor confined her comments to subjects that she knows something about.”

Governor Hochul’s comments against Tierney and Suffolk law enforcement are abhorrent and she deserves every bit of criticism she receives. To Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine’s (R-Center Moriches) point at last Thursday’s press conference on the matter, Hochul has served on the Town Board of her hometown Hamburg, outside Buffalo. She also served as Erie County Clerk, a member of the U.S. House, and finally, Lieutenant Governor, before she ascended to the throne in 2021. Clearly, Hochul has the resume to prove she understands how these types of prosecutions work, but it seems there is a significant lapse in her judgment on these comments, similar to her more than several lapses of judgment since she’s been Governor.

Look no further than the 750 National Guard troops deployed to patrol the New York City subways. Instead of dealing with criminals, we’re subjecting our law-abiding citizens to mandatory bag checks in order to pass through the turnstiles. New York City has effectively become a third-world country in that regard, and yet Hochul and Albany Democrats continue to bury their heads in the sand.

But the buck doesn’t stop with Hochul. Also in attendance at last Thursday’s press conference was none other than Suffolk County Legislator Steve Englebright (D-Setauket), also the only person in the room responsible for passing the omnibus budget that included bail reforms. Englebright’s weak defense of his vote was that he wanted other measures in the budget. It’s not entirely his fault that New York is also backwards in how we pass budgets, in that policy is mixed in with finance and proposed by the Governor. But there’s little to no mercy to show for this one: Englebright still voted to enact bail reform.

Englebright could have spared himself the eternal chagrin and probably held his Assembly seat in 2022 had he voted against the budget. His caucus likely would have voted to pass the budget anyway, as Democrats held both chambers with supermajorities in 2019. Englebright could have gotten what he wanted in other measures and not had to attach his name to such a toxic law.

Englebright now serves in the Suffolk County Legislature, a body that, frustratingly, cannot do anything about the state’s law. Englebright should have used his thirty years of experience and influence to better hash out the policy and lead his caucus to sensible reforms.

Finally, The Messenger was shocked to learn that we were the only outlet at the press conference interested in pressing Englebright for questions during his time in Albany. None of the other reporters and outlets seemed intent on calling the only person in the room responsible for the laws to the podium. It wasn’t until after The Messenger held Englebright accountable did they swarm him with cameras and microphones.

Tough questions must be asked and the music must be faced at some point. We know we will continue to ask the tough questions and we certainly hope Albany faces a symphony in the near future.

SCOTUS Ruling in Favor of Trump is a Win for ‘Democracy’

First of all, the United States is more a constitutional republic than it is a democracy.

Second, if the left truly cared about ‘protecting democracy,’ then they should hail this as a win, since voters are now able to choose their desired candidate.

The Babylon Bee said it best: “In Major Blow To Democracy, Supreme Court Rules Voters Can Vote For Favorite Candidate.”

We’d say it’s more accurate than it is satirical. Trying to keep Trump off the ballot by any means necessary shows the left’s desperation in preventing him from trying to run for another term, rather than running on platform and defeating him at the ballot box.

The Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling came in the form of Trump’s appeal to keep his name on the Colorado ballot. A similar action by the Secretary of State of Maine rescinded her lawsuit after the Supreme Court’s ruling.

The Court ruled that the responsibility of determining a candidate’s national ballot eligibility lies solely with Congress.

At this point, most states have seen lawsuits to remove Trump from their primary and/or general election ballots. Most have been dismissed, while the suits in Colorado and Maine made it the farthest.

The Court’s ruling is now likely to set a major precedent, all but sure to keep Trump’s name on the ballot, at least as far as cases of this caliber are concerned.

“Protecting democracy” does not mean extinguishing all options on the table to prevent a political opponent from running for office. If that were the case, then this would be the norm every four years. Why bother campaigning and running on merit when you can just sue your opponent out of the race?

Democrats have been vocal about their intentions of completing this task by any means necessary. After Colorado and Maine filed their suits, California’s Secretary of State said she was exploring all options to remove Trump’s name from the ballot.

Trump delivered landslide primary wins in these three states on Super Tuesday and currently leads the polling average in Maine by more than five points, an unprecedented margin in a state that has not backed a Republican since 1988.

Biden also only leads the Colorado average by a mere single-digit margin, and the one of the latest polls from California has Biden up just twelve points over Trump with Kennedy factored into the race. The California average puts Biden ahead by about twenty points, a far cry from the thirtypoint victory he won in 2020.

Correlation doesn’t always equal causation, but Democrats might learn the hard way that trying to keep a candidate off the ballot might only make people consider the option even more.

New

Yorkers

By Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay

Are Not Happy, and It’s Not Surprising

It’s no surprise New Yorkers expressed dissatisfaction with the state’s direction in this week’s Siena College poll. We are almost two full months into 2024, and Governor Kathy Hochul (D) and her legislative counterparts have done little to address the root causes of New York’s major economic challenges and spiraling cost-of-living issues. Budget talks have danced around big-ticket policy problems like a looming multi-billion-dollar deficit, one of the worst tax climates in the U.S., and the staggering expense of accommodating the thousands of migrants arriving here, which continues to grow, but there has been little talk about overhauling what is a clearly misguided agenda.

According to the poll, 56% of New Yorkers reported the quality of life in the state is worsening while only 14% indicated they believe it is improving. That is an overwhelming margin and clearly shows the existing policies are not working. What makes this data even more frustrating is the fact that none of these issues are particularly new to New York. For years, the Assembly Minority Conference has been calling for a friendlier business and taxpayer environment only to watch the out-of-touch Majority Conference double down on failing tax-and-spend policies that exacerbate our struggling economy.

As elected officials, it is imperative we listen to the concerns of those we represent. Polling matters. The voice of the constituency matters. And you don’t have to simply rely on the survey data to see the problems here. New Yorkers continue to leave the state in record numbers, and the overwhelming outmigration numbers tell you all you need to know about what is wrong with New York state. I’m not really sure what else the governor and her allies need to see; the people have expressed extreme dissatisfaction with the work

being done here, and many of them have simply left.

Earlier this year, I spoke on the Assembly Floor about how we can make wholesale improvements to New York’s quality of life. Stop treating criminals better than law-abiding citizens, expand the availability and visibility of vocational job training in our schools to fill much-needed labor gaps, deliver increased resources and improve services for our state’s rural communities, bring ethics oversight, transparency and accountability to government operations so we stop wasting money on programs that do nothing to make residents’ lives better, and enhance and create programs to make child care more affordable and accessible.

Next week, the Legislature will reconvene, and budget negotiations will begin to heat up. I sincerely hope that the voices of our constituents rise to the Second Floor of the Capitol and provide the push needed to give the people what they want—and need. The people aren’t happy, and we must do something about it now.

If you have any questions or comments on this or any other state issue, or if you would like to be added to my mailing list or receive my newsletter, please contact my office. My office can be reached by mail at 19 Canalview Mall, Fulton, NY 13069 and by email at barclayw@nyassembly.gov. You may also find me, Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay, on Facebook or Twitter at @WillABarclay.

New York’s Tax Base Dips with Population

By NYS State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and Heather Briccetti Mulligan

For several years leading up to the COVID pandemic, New York State was experiencing population loss. This loss has accelerated since 2020, and has important implications for the economy, the tax base and the state’s finances. Today, policymakers are at a crossroads with the challenge of keeping New York an attractive and affordable place to live and do business.

Between July 2020 and July 2023, New York’s population declined by more than 533,000 people, about as many people as in the city of Sacramento, California. Much of this decline happened between 2020 and 2021, as New York was impacted severely in the early days of the COVID pandemic. However, population losses have continued, with New York’s population shrinking by more than 101,000 between 2022 and 2023, the largest decline in the nation.

This population loss directly affects the tax base. A report by the Office of the State Comptroller shows at its peak, New York State lost 1 out of every 100 Personal Income Tax (PIT) filers during 2020, four times the pre-pandemic average. While net-outmigration dropped in 2021, it remained one-third higher than pre-pandemic levels, and remained significantly higher for highincome earners.

Married filers, who have had the highest outmigration rates for several years, left the state at even higher rates in 2021 than they did in 2020. While the overall number of filers is at pre-pandemic levels, a greater share are non-residents, paying state taxes only on income earned in New York State on average only 20% of income.

These findings are concerning for the long-term prospects of state revenue. PIT is the largest state tax revenue, accounting for more than $60 billion in 2021, and a small set of filers have an outsized impact on revenues. Those with incomes above $1 million were just 1.6% of all filers but comprised 44.5% of the total liability in 2021. These individuals also realize a larger share of earnings from capital gains and from bonuses, particularly in the financial sector.

The Business Council of New York State partnered with the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), and the New York Bankers Association (NYBA) to produce a report that showed outmigration has also impacted the financial sector.

New York State’s finance and insurance sector makes up 5% of the state’s employment, yet the sector is the state’s largest contributor to gross domestic product (GDP), with $327 billion or 16% of the 2022 total. The

average earnings for these jobs are three times higher than the statewide average for all sectors and produce a strong multiplier effect: for every finance job, another 2.66 jobs are created elsewhere in the economy.

Job growth across finance and insurance subsectors has been stronger nationally than in New York. The securities industry is a large subset of the financial services sector, and the greatest number of these high-paying jobs remain in New York State; however, the number has never reached the peak achieved in 2000, and the share of national industry jobs has declined steadily for decades.

In State Fiscal Year 2023, the securities industry contributed $28.8 billion, or 27.4%, of state tax revenues. To the extent firms are relocating from New York or expanding in other states rather than our own, the state is missing out on billions in potential economic activity and revenue.

The Business Council report emphasizes the factors the business community uses to make location decisions, including infrastructure, workforce, and business climate. The analysis indicates New York does not rank well on some measures of business climate. The report also finds that affordability is increasingly a priority for companies and is an area where relatively high individual income taxes and high housing cost burdens may put the state at a disadvantage.

The good news is lawmakers have an opportunity to make New York State more attractive to its people and its employers. Exercising spending restraint will be crucial for taxpayers who continue to see high inflation impacting their everyday family decisions.

Lessening the burden on those who supply the jobs to our friends and families will be beneficial when decisions need to be made about expansion, pay raises, or relocation. Improving the quality of life for our loved ones will have a ripple effect across the state.

Building on our shared commitment to the success of New York and fostering an environment where our residents want to live, work, and grow their families is critical to the state’s economy. People leave this state for elsewhere every day for many reasons; let’s not make their decisions easier.

Tom DiNapoli (D-Great Neck Plaza) has served as New York State Comptroller since 2007.

Heather Briccetti Mulligan is the President and CEO of the Business Council of New York State

U.S. SBA to Offer Assistance to Residents and Business Impacted by January Storm

ApplicationstobeAcceptedThroughMay10,2024

Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches) announced that the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) will offer federal assistance to Suffolk County residents and businesses that were impacted by severe storms and flooding on January 9-10, 2024. Any resident or business located in a declared disaster area is eligible to apply for low-interest loans to aid in their recovery.

“We thank our partners in both the federal and state governments for advocating for Suffolk County’s home and business owners in the wake of these incredibly destructive storms,” said Romaine. “These storms caused more damage than Superstorm Sandy in some cases. People need help moving forward, and the SBA has provided that assistance.”

The application deadline for Physical Damage is May 10, 2024, and the application deadline for Economic Injury is December 11.

The storm included 3.5 inches of flooding rainfall, strong to damaging winds with gusts up to 60 mph, moderate to locally major coastal flooding, and major shoreline impacts. Widespread flooding, with some areas seeing up to three feet, occurred in the most vulnerable locations near the waterfront and shoreline. Roads, parking lots, parks, and homes/businesses with basements near the waterfront also experienced flooding. Isolated inundation of the barrier island occurred where dune structures had already been severely compromised from previous storms.

Prior to the storm, County Executive Romaine declared a State of Emergency, fully staffing the Suffolk County Emergency Operations Center to stay in constant communication with town, county, and state partners to monitor weather impacts.

There are three types of Disaster Loans available:

Business Physical Disaster Loans

Loans to businesses to repair or replace disaster-damaged property owned by the business, including real estate, inventories, supplies, machinery, and equipment. Businesses of any size are eligible. Private, non-profit organizations such as charities, churches, private universities, etc., are also eligible.

Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL)

Working capital loans to help small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives,

small businesses engaged in aquaculture, and most private, non-profit organizations of all sizes meet their ordinary and necessary financial obligations that cannot be met as a direct result of the disaster. These loans are intended to assist through the disaster recovery period.

Home Disaster Loans

Loans to homeowners or renters to repair to replace disaster-damaged real estate and personal property, including automobiles. Applicants must have a credit history acceptable to the SBA and must show the ability to repay all loans.

Disaster Loan Outreach Centers

The SBA is establishing Disaster Loan Outreach Centers to help New Yorkers apply in-person for assistance. Both centers will open on Friday, March 15 at 11:00a.m. See below for both centers’ hours of operations after March 15.

Babylon Town Hall, 200 Sunrise Hwy, Lindenhurst, NY 11757

• Opens Friday, March 15 at 11:00a.m.

• Hours of Operation (after March 15):

• Monday-Friday: 8:30a.m. – 4:30p.m.

• Closed Saturday and Sunday.

Mastic Recreation Center, 15 Herkimer Street, Mastic, NY 11950

• Opens Friday, March 15 at 11:00a.m.

• Hours of Operation (after March 15):

• Monday-Friday: 9:00a.m. – 6:00p.m.

• Saturday: 10:00a.m. – 2:00p.m.

• Closed Sunday.

Applications for disaster loans may also be submitted online using the MySBA Loan Portal at https://lending.sba.gov. For additional information you can contact the SBA’s Customer Center by email at disastercustomerservice@ sba.gov or by phone at 1-800-659-2955.

Comptroller Kennedy’s Audit Recovers $533,000

In Overpaid Medical Expenses

Suffolk County Comptroller, John M. Kennedy, Jr., (R-Nesconset) has settled an audit of Anthem BlueCross BlueShield (formerly Empire BlueCross BlueShield) resulting in the recoupment of $533,909 in misspent medical expenses.

Anthem has been the third-party administrator of the hospital and medical portion of the County’s self-funded employee medical plan since 2006. The plan covers over 45,000 active employees, spouses, dependents, and retirees from both the County government and Suffolk County Community College, thus making is one of the largest medical plans in Suffolk County. The Comptroller’s Office, in conjunction with the Plan’s Labor Management Committee, engaged the Segal Group to perform the audit of medical claims processed and paid by Anthem on behalf of the County for the period January 1 through December 31, 2020. Anthem processed 699,935 claims in 2020 that cost the County approximately $222 million.

Some of the errors found by the audit were that Anthem: did not collect member copayments for certain medical services causing the County to pay a higher rate; paid more than the Plan’s benefit limit for physical therapy and chiropractic services; paid claims as billed by medical providers rather than applying contracted rates; applied incorrect pricing; paid duplicate claims; and did not obtain pre-certifications for certain procedures/surgeries resulting in penalties.

Comptroller Kennedy commented, “I have made auditing the County’s self-insured medical plan a priority of my administration which has resulted in the recoupment of over $8 million in misspent funds for the taxpayers of Suffolk County. Medical costs are sharply on the rise, and it is the responsibility of my office to ensure that taxpayer funds are properly spent and that employee benefits are preserved and affordable.”

This Week Today

National, State and Local Temperature Checks

By Matt Meduri

National

After the March 5 Super Tuesday primaries, former South Carolina Governor and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley (R-SC) and Congressman Dean Phillips (D, MN-03) each suspended their presidential campaigns, leaving former President Donald Trump (R-FL) and President Joe Biden (DDE) with virtually no opposition for the rest of the contests.

Neither faced significant challenges from their primary opponents. Haley was only able to clinch a narrow primary win in Vermont and a decisive win in the District of Columbia, while Biden was narrowly defeated by little-known candidate Jason Palmer (DMD) in the American Samoa Caucuses last week.

The first presidential rematch since 1956 seems more likely as both frontrunners captured the necessary amount of delegates to earn their respective parties’ nominations with a round of primaries on Tuesday, March 12.

Trump handily won the Georgia Republican Primary with 85% of the vote and captured all fifty-six delegates. Although Haley dropped out after most of the early voting window had passed, she still only took 5% of the Election Day ballots and just 13% of the vote overall. Trump’s thinnest margins were in Atlanta’s Fulton County, where he beat Haley 59%-38%, and DeKalb County, 56%-40%. Trump swept all other 156 counties with no less than 75% of the vote in each. Results from Quitman County have not been posted, but Trump is expected to carry the county handily.

In Mississippi, Trump won the primary with 92.5% of the vote and won all forty delegates. Haley received just 5.4% of the vote here. Only five counties have not reported results as of press time, but Trump won all seventy-seven reporting counties with no less than 70% of the vote in each.

Trump also won the Washington Primary with 74% of the vote with 76% of precincts reporting and won all thirtyfive delegates. Haley received 22%. Three counties have not yet reported results but Trump won all thirty-six reporting counties with no less than 72% of the vote in each, except for Seattle’s King County, where he won with 61%.

Trump also won the American Samoa Caucuses, capturing all 110 votes that were cast and all nine delegates available.

With the results in, Trump has officially obtained enough delegates to become the presumptive GOP nominee. As of press time, he had 1,228 delegates, more than the 1,215 required. His third straight nomination is one of the quickest and most unanimous in American political history. Trump has won twenty-eight contests to Haley’s two. Haley has only received ninety-four delegates. On the Democratic side, Biden also clinched his nomination with 2,015 delegates, more than the 1,968 required.

Tuesday night saw him win the Georgia Primary with 95% of the vote and capture all 108 delegates. He swept all 159 counties and surpassed 80% of the vote in each.

Biden also won the Washington Primary with 86.7% of the vote, with the “Uncommitted” ballot option taking second place with 7.5%. He swept all thirty-eight reported counties and eclipsed 80% in each.

The “Uncommitted” option is part of a Democratic rebuke of Biden’s policies regarding the war in Israel, with the cause started by a group called “Listen to Michigan” ahead of Michigan’s primary. The cause hoped to garner at least 10,000 votes in Michigan; it captured 100,000. The ballot option has also been successful in Minnesota. The two Upper Midwestern states represent some of the largest Arab-American populations in the country.

The cause hopes to send enough delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this summer to possibly curtail Biden’s renomination. The cause calls for an

immediate ceasefire in the Middle East and accuses Israel of waging genocide against Palestine.

Biden also won last Wednesday’s Hawaii Caucuses with 66% of the vote, capturing fifteen delegates. The “Uncommitted” option took 29.1% and won seven delegates.

Results from the Northern Mariana Islands Democratic Caucuses handed Biden a 94% win over Jason Palmer, allowing him to capture all six available delegates. Palmer’s Super Tuesday win in American Samoa made Biden the first incumbent president to lose a primary or caucus event since Jimmy Carter in 1980.

Finally, in Mississippi, Biden is the winner by default as he was the only candidate on the ballot. He received all thirty-five delegates.

The contest now continues to the Northern Mariana Islands on March 15 and Guam on March 16, both for the GOP. March 19 will see both parties hold primaries in Arizona, Illinois, Kansas, and Ohio. Democrats canceled the Florida Primary and delegates are expected to go to Biden at the convention. Republicans will still vote in Florida next Tuesday.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, efforts to mitigate the effects of the border crisis continue as the parties clash on ideological fault lines.

Congressman August Pfluger (R, TX-11) has filed a bill to prevent noncitizens from serving as election administrators, mostly in response to Hong Kong immigrant Kelly Wong, a noncitizen, who was appointed to serve on the San Francisco Elections Commission.

“Foreign agents have no place overseeing our sacred democratic process,” Pfluger told FOX News Digital. “My legislation aims to ensure that only American citizens have the honor and responsibility of serving as election administrators. No foreign influence should taint the integrity of our voting system.”

San Francisco Election Commission President Robin Stone told FOX that she supports Wong’s appointment.

“I support the Board of Supervisors’ authority and decision to appoint Kelly Wong to the Elections Commission,” said Stone. “What’s more, as public officers of the City, we respect the law and will of San Francisco voters, who removed the citizenship requirement for commissioners in 2020.”

Earlier this month, Senate Republicans attempted a measure to stop noncitizens, including illegal immigrants, from being counted on the Census for the purpose of Congressional District reapportionment, a process that affects Electoral College math. The move was not supported by any Democrats.

Further complicating House politics is the sudden resignation of Congressman Ken Buck (R, CO-04). Buck has represented Colorado’s Fourth District in 2015 and has been one of the staunchest fiscal conservatives in the House. He had already announced his intentions to not seek re-election in 2024, but has announced his quick exit for next week, citing that the “dysfunction” in Congress

is the “worst” he’s seen in his near-ten years in the House.

Buck will depart the House next week, giving Republicans a bare-minimum majority of 218 seats. Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D) announced a special election for June 25 to fill the seat.

Finally, in Huntington Beach, California, 58% of voters approved a measure that would ban nongovernmental flags from being flown from outside city buildings. The measure bans flags and banners like the pride flag, the breast cancer awareness flag, and religious flags from being displayed on city property.

“It sets a tone,” said Huntington Beach City Council Member Rhonda Bolton. “If people think it’s OK or it becomes normalized to display bigotry towards a particular group, then folks are going to crawl out of their rock and do bad stuff.”

Conservatives took the majority on the City Council in 2022. Conservative Gracey Van Der Mark, the first Latina to serve as Mayor of Huntington Beach, became mayor in December 2023.

A unanimous vote by the City Council will now be required to fly nongovernmental flags from city buildings.

State

Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (R, NY-24) and Congressman Nick Langworthy (R, NY-23) penned a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul (D) expressing concerns over the Migrant Relocation Assistance Program (MRAP). The letter requests Hochul to explain how MRAP ensures safety of residents while transferring immigrants from New York City to counties throughout the state. They also requested that Hochul explain whether immigrants participating in the program undergo criminal background checks and if their asylum claims are properly vetted.

Tenney and Langworthy say that the “overwhelming majority” of asylum claims are invalid.

Local

Congressman Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) has announced over $150 million in funding for Suffolk County pursuant to his vote to keep the federal government funded.

The direct federal funding is earmarked for projects and programs in Suffolk.

“I am proud to have secured millions to support the people of Suffolk County and serious policy wins to support our nation’s security,” said LaLota.

“Brookhaven National Lab, the Long Island Sound Program, National Estuary Program, Sea Grant Program, Sag Harbor, Shelter Island, and Huntington are just a few programs and places I fought to ensure were funded to benefit our communities.”

LaLota has also sponsored H.R. 7372, the Bipartisan Defending Borders, Defending Democracies Act, which would require the president to secure the Southern border, rather than just giving “more authority to do so.” It would also provide defense-only appropriations “in support of the fight against Putin and Hamas, while bolstering Taiwan’s defense against a Chinese Communist Party invasion.”

Credit Official White House

Photo by Shealah Craighead

Credit Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz

Town of Smithtown and H2M to Host Public Hearing on the Comprehensive Master Plan on March 21

The Town Board will hold a public hearing to obtain public comments on the updated Comprehensive Master Plan on Thursday, March 21, 2024. The hearing will take place at 6:00p.m. at the Eugene A. Cannataro Senior Citizens Center, which is located at 420 Middle Country Road in Smithtown. All members of the public, including residents and business/property stakeholders are welcome to attend to hear a presentation by the Town’s consultant, H2M, and to provide comments to the Town Board.

“This is an exciting culmination of labor, research, rigorous community scoping, public awareness productions, polling, and environmental analysis… all to shape the future of our quaint Town,” said Supervisor Ed Wehrheim (R-Kings Park). “I absolutely need to acknowledge and thank the incredible people who have dedicated years to overseeing this intricate and tireless process, which includes the talented team at H2M together with our experts; Planning Director Peter Hans, Principal Planner Allyson Murray, Environmental Protection Director David Barnes, Senior Planner Matt Calado, Assistant Environmental Protection Director Howard Barton III, and our liaison to the project and land use departments Councilman Tom McCarthy. They have managed this incredibly exhaustive process while working on their daily assignments which is no easy feat and speaks volumes to their character and commitment to the people of Smithtown.”

The Master Plan, which was constructed based on a massive public input effort over the course of the project focuses on preserving residential neighborhoods, preserving open space and historical sites, as well as providing a roadmap to downtown revitalization. After conducting a thorough environmental review process, including Draft and

Final Generic Environmental Impact Statements, the Town Board adopted a SEQRA Findings Statement for the Plan in February 2024. Following the close of the public hearing, the Town Board could vote on adopting the Final Plan as early as April 2024. The final Plan is available for download at the Town of Smithtown website.

“When we first set out to update our Town’s master plan, we promised that no stone would be left unturned where the future of our Township is concerned…and that is exactly what we did,” said Councilman Tom McCarthy (R-Nissequogue), Liaison to the Planning Department. “This comprehensive plan is the culmination of years of hard work, public meetings and visioning studies, environmental testing and research…all to serve as a guide for our children and grandchildren.”

In 2019, the Town of Smithtown, in collaboration with consultants H2M Engineers, began the process of updating its Comprehensive Plan, a document that guides future land use decisions, development projects, and infrastructure investment throughout the Town. During the initial phase, the Town conducted public workshops in each of the Town’s six hamlets to gather community input regarding existing conditions and the public’s vision for the future. Additionally, the town collected public input through an online questionnaire to which more than 1,100 community members responded.

On December 15, 2020, the Town released the Draft Comprehensive Plan and initiated the State Environmental Quality Review process. In January and February 2021, the Town conducted six community outreach meetings to review the draft plan. The outreach meetings were well attended, with a total of about 180 in-person participants, who signed in upon entry. Many community members

commented on the draft plan during the community outreach meetings or in writing. In consideration of these comments, the Town Board amended the draft Plan at its June 8, 2021, meeting and held a subsequent public hearing on August 3, 2021, to gather additional comments. The amendments are described in the Planning Director’s June 2, 2021, Planning Advisory Report, which is available to view online and by scanning the QR code here.

On May 3, 2023, the Town Board accepted the SEQRA Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement for the Comprehensive Plan for public review and comment. The Final GEIS, addressing the comments received on the DGEIS, was accepted by the Town Board on December 12, 2023, and the Town Board issued a SEQRA Findings Statement in February 2024. The GEIS and other SEQRA documents related to the Comprehensive Plan can be accessed via the Town of Smithtown website at https://smithtownny. gov/646/2020-ComprehensivePlan-Environmental-Im by scanning the QR code here.

The draft Comprehensive Plan, SEQRA documents, and links to prior public workshops and outreach meetings can be found on the Town’s Comprehensive Plan webpage at www.smithtownny. gov/648/Draft-ComprehensivePlan and by scanning this QR Code.

He’s Back: Ex-Congressman Santos Announces Primary Run in NY-01

By Matt Meduri

Perhaps one of the most shocking and unprecedented developments in modern politics was that of former Congressman George Santos (R-Queens) and his cavalcade of deceit and misrepresentation. Elected in the 2022 red wave in New York, Santos flipped the open seat in NY-03, a boon to the Long Island GOP as it proved instrumental in flipping control of the U.S. House to the Republicans amid a disappointing midterm year nationally.

The success in NY-03 was shortly celebrated as a month before his swearingin, Santos’ abhorrent serial dishonesty was exposed, showing the Congressman-elect lied about his education, his family history, among a myriad of other aspects of his profile. This led to a near-year of rebuke by his colleagues in the House and near desertion by his caucus.

Santos survived a November expulsion vote as some members of both parties agreed it was premature to expel Santos without criminal convictions. However, a damning report by the Ethics Committee, on which Congressman Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport) served, led to his December expulsion in a 311-114 vote, in which Congressman Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) of NY-01 and Congressman Anthony D’Esposito (R-Island Park) of NY04 voted in favor of Santos’ expulsion.

The February special election to replace Santos saw former Congressman Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) win over Nassau County Legislator Mazi Melesa Pilip (R-Great Neck) by about eight points, stunting the red trend of NY-03 and chipping away at an already-thin GOP House majority.

Santos is the first Republican in history to be expelled from the House, the sixth House member overall, and the only one to be expelled without having been convicted of a crime or for having supported the Confederacy.

With a criminal investigation into his campaign finances pending, it seemed as if the odd chapter in New York’s Congressional history was mostly over.

However, during the State of the Union Address on March 7, Santos announced his decision to challenge Congressman LaLota in the Republican Primary for New York’s First Congressional district. NY-01, unlike the Nassau-Queens-based NY-03, contains portions of Suffolk County, with all of Smithtown and the five eastern Towns, as well as most of Huntington, and northern and eastern Brookhaven.

“New York hasn’t had a real conservative represent them since I left office arbitrarily, thanks to RINO, empty suits like @nicklalota,” wrote Santos on Twitter. “He is willing to risk the future of our majority and the future of this country for his own political gain. After a lot of prayer and conversation with my friends and family, I have made a very important

decision that will shake things up. Tonight, I want to announce that I will be returning to the arena of politics and challenging Nick for the battle over #NY1. I look forward to debating him on the issues and on his weak record as a Republican.”

The Messenger caught up with Congressman LaLota in the wake of Santos’ expulsion for an inside look at what sharing a chamber with the disgraced Congressman was like. LaLota, one of the chief engineers of the expulsion effort, first discussed the “precedent” set by expelling a member of Congress without a criminal conviction, as echoed by some within the Republican caucus.

“Those within the GOP who stand for election integrity should be comfortable with the precedent that we set by expelling Santos,” said LaLota. “When a member of Congress lies about his past, it’s effectively stealing that election, and that member should be expelled. Santos lied about his past, and we subsequently expelled him.”

LaLota likens the issue to near partywide calls for election integrity in the wake of the 2020 elections.

“There’s been a lot of talk on election integrity,” said LaLota. “If Republicans like me want the high ground on that issue, this is a step we needed to take. It’s a matter of perspective and I’m comfortable with that perspective.”

LaLota said that Santos, despite being a member of a razor-thin GOP majority, was not a crucial vote on any key pieces of legislation. Santos was briefly assigned to the Small Business Committee, along with LaLota, and the Space, Science, and Technology Committee, but withdrew from them on January 31, 2023.

“He wasn’t assigned to any committees, he got nothing in his community funded, and his vote was never the deciding one on Capitol Hill,” said LaLota. “His expulsion helps our caucus because the public expected us to expel him.”

Santos sponsored forty-three bills during his brief tenure in Congress, only one of which, H.R.3757, the Defund the CCP on Campus Act of 2023, received just one cosponsor, Congressman Paul Gosar (R, AZ-09). The act would have prohibited federal funding for a highereducation institute that provides funds to a Confucius Institute or is affiliated with such institutes. A Confucius Institute, according to the bill’s page on congress.gov, is a “public educational and cultural promotion program that is funded and arranged by a governmentorganized group under China’s Ministry of Education.”

Essentially, the bill would have worked to limit the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) influence on American educational institutions. The bill, like

the other forty-two of Santos’ proposed bills, never made it out of their respective committees.

However, most interestingly, LaLota says that Santos’ character on Capitol Hill was one of apparent disregard for his actions, a move that further complicated his efforts to form alliances in the House.

“He obviously lacked humility, at least for any other person who would be in his position,” said LaLota. “He did what he did; with that in mind, he likely would have been humble, quiet, and remorseful. Instead, he showed none of those characteristics, which further alienated him from the other members.”

In light of Santos’ recent primary challenge in NY-01, Congressman LaLota is not concerned.

“To raise the standard in Congress, and to hold a pathological liar who stole an election accountable, I led the charge to expel George Santos,” LaLota wrote on Twitter. “If finishing the job requires beating him in a primary, count me in.”

Santos also traded barbs with Suffolk GOP Chairman Jesse Garcia, in which the Chairman said it would be a “terrible error” to entertain a “complete fraud who lied to voters and supporters.” Garcia also said that the residents of NY-01 have “had enough of this clown show.”

Santos fired back at Garcia, accusing him of a “desperate attempt at silencing me.”

“Since the Chairman wants to make it about personal politics, I suggest that he look in the mirror,” Santos wrote on Twitter.

Santos has pleaded not guilty to twenty-three fraud-related charges. He faces a trial set for September, after the June Congressional primary.

Holocaust Education in the Smithtown Central School District

Smithtown High School West students received wise advice during a visit from Dr. Bernie Furshpan, the son of two Holocaust survivors, on March 4.

“You can make a difference for the next generation,” he said.

Dr. Furshpan, who is an educator at the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center in Glen Cove, spoke to students and took questions about his parents’ experience during the Holocaust.

“There’s always hatred but let’s stop this nonsense,” Dr. Furshpan told the students. “Let’s grow as a society.”

This program was brought together by Director of Social Studies, Dr. Benevenuto, and social studies teacher, Jen Keller, as part of all 10th grade social studies curriculum.

Dr. Furshpan is also scheduled to visit students at High School East.

“There’s always hatred but let’s stop this nonsense. Let’s grow as a society.”

Dr. Bernie Furshpan

Bretton Woods Elementary Ranks Seventh in U.S. News and World Report

U.S. News & World Report completed a ranking of elementary schools across the state and nation, using data from the U.S. Department of Education. Of the nearly 4,000 New York schools evaluated, a list of the top 10 schools for Suffolk County was created with Bretton Woods Elementary in the Hauppauge School District being ranked number seven.

According to the article, “The methodology for the rankings focused on state assessments of students who were proficient or better in mathematics and reading/language arts. The study also accounted for student backgrounds, achievement in core subjects, and how well individual schools educate their students.” The article also stated, “Bretton Woods has a favorable 10:1 student-teacher ratio. The report indicated that 93% of the school’s 53 full-time teachers have three or more years of experience.”

“Our teachers and staff always strive to provide the highest quality educational experience to our students in a supportive and caring environment,” said Bretton Woods Principal George Gagliardi. “To be recognized by U.S. News and World Report among this esteemed group of Suffolk County elementary schools is truly an honor.”

Hauppauge’s Superintendent of Schools Dr. Donald Murphy added, “I am so unbelievably proud of the entire team over at Bretton Woods Elementary School. This ranking reflects the hard work and efforts of all faculty and staff members, along with the support of parents, our board of education and districtwide administrators. Mr. Gagliardi has served as Principal of Bretton Woods for over a decade and leads with care and compassion, while setting high expectations for the students in his care. Congratulations to Mr. Gagliardi and the entire school community!”

Smithtown High School East Students Study and Excel in Biomimicry Engineering

Students in Mr. Savage’s PLTW Principles of Engineering class were tasked to design, build, and program a robot that mimics an animal’s behavior or characteristics. The designs included an owl tracking its prey, coyote’s jaws and neck movement but only at “night” and a hawk’s ability to keep its head straight while its body moves.

Biomimicry engineering is the practice of creating designs based on

structures and sequences from the earth’s natural world, including its plants, animals and geographies. Many industries benefit from the principles of biomimicry engineering, including architecture, automotive, healthcare, and conservation.

Sachem North Flag Football in the Spotlight

The Sachem High School North varsity flag football team was invited to participate in the first High School Media Day hosted by the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium on February 22.

Students Taylor Califano and Jacalyn Zampieron, along with coach Eric Maurer, participated in a press conference hosted by SNY reporter and anchor Jeané Coakley, as well as have pictures and video taken. They had the opportunity to listen to the captain of the Italy National Women’s Flag Football team, Nausicaa Dell’Orto, who spoke about her own journey in the sport and provided tips to the student-athletes on how to be successful.

America the Beautiful: How History Shapes our Electorate

Hawaii - The Aloha State

By Matt Meduri

As the only former kingdom and the only island state in our country, Hawaii provides some of the most unique history in our nation’s development and some of its recent electoral history has been overlooked in light of the more prominent battlegrounds.

Early History - The Kingdom of Hawaii

Hawaii was first explored by Europeans when Captain James Cook discovered the islands on his third voyage in 1778. Cook would use the Hawaiian Islands to resupply during his search for the fabled Northwest Passage, but would ultimately be killed in a dispute with the natives in 1779. Hawaii was originally developed around a caste system, in which people were born into and remained in certain classes for their entire lives. The monarchy was also subsisted by a system of feudalism, in which land was granted in exchange for services to the government. Specific trades took root on each island, with Maui responsible for canoe construction and Oahu specialized in cloth manufacturing. This separation among the islands allowed for four chiefdoms to be established: Hawaii, Kauai, Maui, and Oahu.

King Kamehameha I fulfilled native prophecy by unifying these islands in 1810 until his death in 1819. Kamehameha III surrendered the throne to allow for the creation of a constitution in 1840, allowing the islands to be governed by three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. He retained control of the government, but instead of a monarchy, Hawaii functioned more like a republic. Kamehameha III also sent delegates to the United States and Europe to gain recognition as an independent nation and prevent foreign incursions.

Protestant missionaries would set foot in Hawaii by the 1820s, which allowed for the first population and economic booms in the islands. As churches established a community, white whalers and farmers began to see Hawaii as a cash cow. Agriculture became the top staple, with coffee, fruit, and sugar becoming the cash crops of the islands, especially sugar. As plantation owners claimed their stakes, immigration to the islands soared. Plantation owners brought in farmhands from China, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines. In just seventy years, the native Hawaiian population saw itself drop from near-100% to just 16% by 1923.

The Reciprocity Treaty of 1875 is the first event that led to eventual ownership of Hawaii by the United States. The treaty gave the Kingdom of Hawaii free access to U.S. markets for products grown in the islands, most notably sugar, around which a massive economic empire was growing. In return, the U.S. stipulated that Hawaii not cede or lease any of its land to other foreign parties. An extension of the treaty gave the U.S. exclusive use of the lands around the area called Pu’u Loa, which is where the U.S. would build the Pearl Harbor Naval Base.

U.S. use of Pearl Harbor resulted in the Rebellion of 1887, which was launched in anger against the debt and scandal of the Kingdom. King Kalākaua was forced to sign the so-called “Bayonet Constitution,” which dissolved most of the monarchical powers and transferred them to a coalition of Americans, Europeans, and native Hawaiians. Kalākaua was also known for seeking Japanese protection of Hawaii, a move which was rejected by Japan under fear of poor relations with the United States. He was succeeded by Queen Lili’uokalani, who presided over a difficult economic period for Hawaii, mainly due to the U.S. rescinding duties on sugar imports.

Lili’uokalani found grassroots support for her new constitution, which would have disenfranchised many Americans and Europeans. However, her cabinet did not support her plans because of the ramifications of such a drastic change when tensions were already boiling. On January 17, 1893, Lili’uokalani and the Hawaiian Kingdom were overthrown by a coalition of sugar and pineapple businessmen supported by the U.S. government. The coup’s leader, Stanford Ballard Dole (R), was installed as the new president. He was a member of the family who

started the Hawaiian Pineapple Company, now known as Dole Foods.

Hawaii was formally annexed as a U.S. Territory in 1898 under expansionist President William McKinley (ROH), mostly at the behest of the sugar industry, but also with military interests in mind as the U.S. fought the Pacific theatre of the Spanish-American War in Guam and the Philippines.

Twentieth Century PoliticsA Long Road to Statehood

Sugarcane plantations exploded during the territorial period, so much so that a group called “The Big Five” [sugarcane corporations] effectively ran Hawaii’s economy and politics.

Hawaii would find outsized influence in World War II as Japan attacked the naval base in Pearl Harbor, destroying six U.S. ships and killing almost 2,500 people. Hawaii’s presence as a military state put it at the forefront of the Pacific theatre and saw the economic landscape of the islands change drastically. In 1940, Hawaii was home to just 28,000 U.S. military personnel. By 1944, there were almost 400,000.

After the war, most of the military presence left the islands, which stunted economic growth until tourism became Hawaii’s bread and butter. Transportation between Asia and North America allowed Hawaii to become the only stopover for a long period of time.

Due to the influence of the “Big Five” sugar companies and the sugar and military industries in general, Hawaii was expected to be a Republican-leaning state. Contrarily, Alaska, the only other non-contiguous state, was expected to be a Democratic-leaning state. Southern Democrats resisted Hawaii’s statehood, as they opposed racial integration and viewed Hawaii’s admission as a boon to the Civil Rights movement. Since Alaska was expected to lean blue, the compromise saw both territories become states. Alaska was admitted in January 1959, and on August 21, 1959, Hawaii was admitted as the fiftieth state and - so far - final state.

The initial expectation of Hawaii’s Republican tendencies held true during the territorial and early statehood periods. Hawaii’s first governor, William Quinn (R), was elected in 1959. He was defeated for re-election in 1962 and Hawaii would not elect another Republican governor until Linda Lingle (R) in 2002. Likewise, Hiram Fong (R) was elected as one of the first two Senators from the state. He served until his retirement in 1977. Republicans have never held a Senate seat in Hawaii since.

The territorial legislature was mostly held by Republicans from 1898 until 1954. Republicans held the State Senate from 1959 until 1962 and have not held political power in Honolulu since.

In Hawaii’s first presidential election in 1960, John F. Kennedy (D-MA) outperformed expectations and carried Hawaii over Richard Nixon (R-CA) by just 115 out of nearly 180,000 cast. Kennedy won the island of Oahu, home to the population center and capital city of Honolulu. This remains the closest election in Hawaii’s history.

What sugarcane magnates did not expect is that their importation of Asian immigrants, mostly from Japan, Korea, and the Philippines, would build a massive coalition of minority voters who would end up being a solid fit for the Democratic Party. This quickly became

This is the fifty-fifth of a series column that will look at the history of all 50 States, all 5 territories, and the Capital and the influence history has on our current political environments. The aim of this column is to capture that our country is not just red or blue, but rather many shades in between. Each Lower 48 state’s current political landscape can be traced back to its early settlement and geography and its particular involvement in the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution, and the Civil Rights Era.

apparent.

Lyndon Johnson (D-TX) carried Hawaii with a stunning 78% of the vote, the largest percentage of the vote for any presidential candidate in the Aloha State. Even native son Barack Obama (DIL) did not eclipse these margins. His 2008 and 2012 elections, along with Johnson’s 1964 election, mark the only three times in history Hawaii has been won with more than 70% of the vote.

Nixon would become the first Republican to win Hawaii in his forty-nine-state landslide in 1972, the first of just two instances in which Hawaii backed the Republican nominee. It’s also the last time Hawaii voted more Republican than the nation overall, and the first of only two times a Republican has received more than 60% of the vote - the other being Governor Lingle’s 2006 reelection.

Jimmy Carter (D-GA) would win Hawaii by just three points in 1976 and by just two in 1980. Ronald Reagan (R-CA) would sweep all five of Hawaii’s counties in 1984, marking the last time a Republican has won Hawaii and any county in the state overall. Democrats regularly struggled to find more than 60% of the vote in Hawaii thereafter, with George W. Bush (R-TX) coming within just ten points of the state in 2004 against John Kerry (DMA). However, Obama’s native-son status would push the state solidly into the Democratic column. Trump’s meager 34% in 2020 is the best showing for a Republican since Bush’s 45% in 2004.

Geography - The Aloha State

Hawaii’s geography can be summed up by its five counties.

1. Hawaii County - The Big Island, the largest in the U.S., home to Hilo. Solidly Democratic.

2. Honolulu County - All of the island of Oahu, home to the state’s population center, tourism center, and capital. Also home to some of the few Republican-leaning districts at the state level. Solidly Democratic on the presidential level.

3. Kalawao County - On the island of Molokai; at just 5.2 square miles, the smallest county in the country, and the second-smallest by population. Donald Trump received just one vote here in 2020, to Biden’s 23. The county has no elected government and is a judicial district of Maui County.

4. Kauai County - The westernmost islands of Kauai, Lehua, and Ni’ihau; home to the town of Lihue; solidly Democratic.

[The islands of Kaho’olawe, Lanai, Maui, Molokai, and Molokini. Home to Wailuku and Haleakala National Park; solidly Democratic.

5. Maui County - The islands of Kaho’olawe, Lanai, Maui, Molokai, and Molokini. Home to Wailuku and Haleakala National Park; solidly Democratic.

Current Political Leanings

Hawaii has one of the most lopsided state legislatures in the country, as Democrats enjoy a 23-2 majority in the Senate and a 45-6 majority in the House. From 2017 to 2019, Democrats had all 25 Senate seats in the legislature.

Republicans have last held a Senate seat here in 1977 and have never held both Senate seats simultaneously, joining Vermont and Kansas as the only other two states where both parties have not held both Senate seats at the same time.

Only two Republicans have served as governor, with only one - Linda Lingle - being re-elected.

Republican Charles Djou scored an upset win in a 2010 House special election for the First Congressional District, a canary in the coal mine for Democrats’ horrible electoral prospects that year. He was defeated in November of that year and no Republican has represented Hawaii in Congress since.

However, Democrats’ stronghold on Hawaii does not come without its problems. The party is more “big tent” here and it has shown as more progressive members of the party clash with establishment leadership. Some have bucked the party in general, most notably in the form of former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D, HI-02), who is now an Independent echoing calls for more conservative governance.

However, it will take more intraparty fighting than that to make Hawaii even remotely competitive in the future. Republicans hope high taxes and turbulent economies can give them some form of political leverage. Hawaii’s highly diverse and educated electorate makes this a tough lift for Republicans as it is, but progressive politics can easily find a home in the nation’s bluest state.

Senator Mattera Recognizes Eagle Scout Troop 41

Senator Mario R. Mattera (R-St. James) attended the Troop 41 Eagle Court of Honor at the East Northport Fire House on Sunday, March 10.

“Celebrating the achievements of Luke Barbier, Sean Frey, Logan Monaco, William Parker, and Carter Roelofs as they were awarded the rank of Eagle Scout was a profound reminder of the strength and future of our community,” said Senator Mattera. “This year is particularly special as we commemorate the Centennial Year of Troop 41—a troop that has significantly contributed to the Northport community since 1924. Witnessing the dedication of these young men, on such a historic occasion, fills me with immense pride.”

“I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to the leaders, parents, and families of Troop 41 for their unwavering support in guiding these young men to excellence,” Mattera continued. “Your commitment to fostering leadership, character, and community service is truly making a difference. Congratulations again to our new Eagle Scouts; your hard work, leadership, and dedication to service embody the best of our community.”

Senator Mattera Attends Girl Scouts Breakfast

Commack Cougarettes Win National Championships

The Commack varsity Cougarettes won a pair of national championships in Orlando, Florida, this past weekend.

On Saturday, the team captured the National Dance Alliance large varsity kick national title. Then, a day later, the Cougarettes won the national title in the medium varsity team performance category.

It marked the third straight year the Cougarettes have returned home from the competition with a national title.

Senator Mario R. Mattera (R-St. James) was honored to have attended the Girl Scouts of Suffolk County Making A Difference Breakfast. This celebration of Women’s History Month brought together many supporters and attendees to honor the voices of women trailblazers at the 2024 Making an Impact Breakfast.

“From the moderator to the panelists, these women exemplify leadership, dedication, and the power of making a positive impact in their respective fields,” said Senator Mattera. “Their journeys and achievements remind us of all of the strength and resilience of women, paving the way for future generations. Let’s carry forward the spirit of this event by supporting and uplifting each other, making every day an opportunity to celebrate and advocate for the incredible contributions of women in our communities and beyond. Here’s to making an impact, together.”

Senator Mario Mattera represents the Second District in the New York State Senate. The Second District includes the entire townships of Huntington and Smithtown.

‘Solar Up Suffolk’: Romaine Announces Initiatives to Boost Suffolk’s Solar Energy Production

By Matt Meduri

The discussion of clean, renewable energy is one that has persisted for decades and continues to make strides in realism with new technology and creative initiatives.

Suffolk County and its elected leaders have long explored the possibilities of green, renewable energy, not only for the purpose of eventually eliminating fossil fuels overall, but also in regards to Long Island’s unique and delicate ecosystem.

That said, Suffolk leaders have routinely stressed that such measures should be affordable and effective.

Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches) announced last Friday at a press conference in the parking lot of the H. Lee Dennison Building in Hauppauge new efforts by the County to “quadruple” the County’s solar energy production by 2027. Perhaps the landmark proposal in the initiative is to convert otherwise “wasted” space into energy-producing hubs. Romaine has targeted a ubiquitous candidate: parking lots.

The initiative looks to install solar panels on the tops of parking lot stalls across Suffolk County, as well as engaging with industries and the general public to encourage the transition to rooftop solar energy.

Romaine has also identified the Hauppauge Industrial Park as another possible destination for solar panels, with twenty million square feet of roofing available for solar.

“When I was supervisor of Brookhaven Town, I made solar a major part of the Town’s energy portfolio,” said Romaine. “There aren’t too many Town lands that don’t have solar on it in Brookhaven Town. The one thing that we did say: we weren’t about to trade trees for green; we weren’t about to tear down trees to make solar. But we have our parking lots and so many rooftops, particularly of an industrial nature, that should have solar on them.”

Romaine said the announcement is timely with March 11, dubbed “Solar Appreciation Day,” and April, which is Earth Month. Romaine also mentioned the “Solar up Suffolk” program, the first of which will include County employees to learn the benefits of solar, and the second of which will be open to the public to learn about the advantages of solar and consult with solar providers. The event will be held in the lobby of the H. Lee Dennison Building on April 22, Earth Day.

“As I did in Brookhaven, I am going to insist that the Industrial Development Agency (IDA) use its powers to convince the industries of this county to put solar on their rooftops,” said Romaine. “I want to see us depend on more renewable energy. Solar is something each of us can do, not only with our homes and our industry, but solar is something that we can do as a government. I am looking at all the vacant lands in Suffolk where we can put solar. We’re going to increase the amount of solar that we possibly can to the maximum extent in this county.”

Romaine was joined by Suffolk County Legislator and Minority Leader Jason Richberg (D-West Babylon).

“We have so many flat roofs here in Suffolk County and we have so many different parking lots that are owned by the County,” said Richberg. “This is a perfect opportunity to use point source power to make sure that we’re coming off of the grid and we’re recharging the grid, but more importantly, to make sure that we are giving back to our planet.”

Scott Baskin of Sun Nation Energy worked with Romaine on solar programs during Romaine’s tenure as Supervisor and is enthusiastic to work with him at the County level.

“When County Executive Romaine was in charge of Brookhaven, we produced the state’s most successful solarized program delivering to Brookhaven

residents,” said Baskin. “I’m excited because we’re going to be able to do the same thing on a larger scale to the residents of Suffolk County. He’s committed to enabling on the residential side and enabling contractors to deliver incredible cost of scale services to Suffolk County residents. The sky’s the limit right now and I appreciate the opportunity to work side by side with you.”

Kelly Murphy, Acting Executive Director for the Suffolk County IDA, joined Romaine and others for the announcement.

“We are honored and thrilled to be here and be part of the County Executive’s Initiative. In the Hauppauge Industrial Park, there are 55,000 businesses and flat roofs abound,” said Murphy. “More than half of our clients are in the Hauppauge Park, and I think we’ve been talking and we’re looking to form a committee and advisory committees to discuss how we can incentivize not only new clients coming to the IDA, but encourage existing clients to also participate in the solar initiative that the County Executive has proposed. So we’re very excited to move forward and be part of this partnership.”

The Suffolk County IDA’s mission, according to their website, is to “promote economic development in the county by helping business expand and grow, increase employment opportunities, and add to the quality of life for the residents of Suffolk County.” The Suffolk IDA operates in six townships, while the Towns of Babylon, Brookhaven, and Riverhead have their own IDA chapters.

Romaine added that he hopes all IDAs in Suffolk, Town or County-run, “have one agenda in terms of solar, that we want solar on any of the rooftops that are practical to put them on.”

“Not every rooftop lends itself, but most do,” said Romaine. “And what I want to do is change the rooftops of this county over the next four years so that when you fly over this county, you see solar panels on as many rooftops as possible.”

Bob Horn of PSE&G Long Island said that the “success of this program will ensure continued growth and diversification of Long Island’s renewable energy portfolio, providing a safe, adequate, and long-term supply of renewable energy for all.”

Augie Ruckdeschel, a Clean Energy Coordination for the Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) for Suffolk County, discussed the Long Island Clean Energy Hub. The Hub consists of the Cornell Public Extension of Nassau County, United Way of Long Island, Renewable Energy Long Island, and the Hofstra University Employee Institute.

“The Hub is funded by the state to be your first point of contact in all things clean energy and energy efficiency,” said Ruckdeschel.” So, we have a multi-county-wide team ready and available to assist homeowners, small businesses, not-for-profits in achieving home energy improvements and that of course includes rooftop solar, ground-mounted solar, whatever it is that they’re interested in. We have a team of individuals ready to assist and enhance the County’s messaging and to actually turn that interest into implementation. So, please reach out to us and we’re ready to assist you.”

The CCE is a non-profit community education agency affiliated with Cornell University as “part of the national land grant university system started in 1862,” according to their website. The CCE is a team of “educators, researchers, specialists, and support personnel who are dedicated to making Suffolk County a desirable place to live and work.”

Melissa Parrott, Deputy Executive Director for Renewable Energy Long Island said that “initiatives like this” are “extremely important” to help meet solar and wind energy goals.

The Solar Up Suffolk Fair will be held on Earth Day, April 22, in the lobby of the H. Lee Dennison Building in Hauppauge. The event will host numerous solar providers and will be open to the public.

(Photo left) The parking lot stalls at the Dennison Building are an example of where the County would like to implement solar panels (Photo credit - Matt Meduri)

New York State Senator Palumbo and Assemblyman Durso Push New Bill in Response to Latest Bail Law Failure

New York State Senator Anthony Palumbo (R,C-New Suffolk) (pictured on left) and Assemblyman Michael Durso (R,CMassapequa Park) (pictured on right have introduced new legislation (S.8751) to make body dismemberment/concealment of a human corpse a bail eligible offense.

The legislation is in response to the horrific case in Babylon, which gained national attention after body parts were discovered in a recreational park and several other locations, including a neighborhood. The suspects in the case were released under New York’s notoriously flawed bail laws after being charged with the concealment of a human corpse by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office as part of their ongoing investigations.

“Nobody with an ounce of sensibility would say it’s a good idea to let someone charged with the sickening act of human dismemberment leave jail and roam the streets. Yet here in New York, that’s exactly the situation that the irresponsible Democrats who ostensibly lead this state have put us in due to their radical, nonsensical policies of putting criminals first,” said Senator Palumbo, Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary and Codes Committees and a former Suffolk County Prosecutor. “Democrats’ bail policies have already been amended three times because they were such an ill-conceived disaster, and here we are again. Every Democratic legislator who

voted for bail reform should hang their head in shame at the notion that we have to scramble to introduce legislation to keep people in jail who are charged with a crime as horrific as body dismemberment. It is a real-life nightmare.”

“To have to explain to members of the Babylon community, my constituents, that those suspected of chopping up a human being can walk free is horrifying,” said Assemblyman Durso. “While I was not in office at

the time, I will fight like hell to undo the so-called bail reform laws so our law enforcement officers can find and hold these monsters.”

Senator Palumbo continued, “How many more outrageous stories are needed, how many more crime victims need to be violated, and how many more innocent people need to be put in harm’s way before Albany Democrats fix the problems they have caused? Prosecutors and judges need their ability restored to keep dangerous individuals off our streets While my legislation focuses on making the crime of body dismemberment/concealment of a human corpse bail eligible, it also highlights the urgent need for a systemic overhaul of the existing bail laws.”

The newly proposed legislation would make the crime of body dismemberment/ concealment of a human corpse a bail eligible class E felony.

Senator Anthony Palumbo represents the First District in the New York State Senate. The First District includes northern Brookhaven and the entire townships of East Hampton, Shelter Island, Southampton, and Southold. Assemblyman Michael Durso represents the Ninth District in the New York State Assembly. The Ninth District includes Babylon village, Bar Harbor, Biltmore Shores, East Massapequa, Gilgo Beach, Harbor Green, Massapequa Park, North Babylon, Oak Island, West Babylon, West Gilgo Beach, and West Islip, and parts of Captree Island, Jones Beach Island, South Farmingdale, and West Bay Shore.

Continued from front cover

Laken’s Law: A Chat with Assemblyman Jarett Gandolfo

Before he murdered Riley, Ibarra was arrested in 2022 in Queens on a charge of acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17, but was released before Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could process him. New York officials said after Riley’s death that they had no record of the arrest.

Ibarra was also cited for misdemeanor shoplifting in Georgia in 2023, along with his brother, Diego.

Ibarra is said to have taken Riley to a remote location while she was out for a run on campus and beaten her to a point where her skull was “significantly disfigured.” A motive has not yet been identified.

Once such solution to New York’s failure to properly detain and process Ibarra is that of the aptly-titled “Laken’s Law,” sponsored in the Assembly by Assemblyman Jarett Gandolfo (R-Sayville) and in the Senate by Senator Andrew Lanza (R-Great Kills).

Assemblyman Gandolfo sat down with The Messenger to discuss his proposed legislation, A.9167, that has garnered twenty-seven cosponsors, including Assembly Minority Will Barclay (R-Pulaski). Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt (R-North Tonawanda) has signed as a cosponsor of the Senate version of the bill, S.8533.

“The legislation proposes that any non-citizen, not just recent migrant, but any non-citizen who is arrested by any law enforcement agency in the state must be reported to ICE and any arrest records, fingerprints, or photos have to be turned over to ICE,” explains Gandolfo. “The bill also proposed that, upon conviction of a crime, ICE would also have to be notified by the court that it went through. We figured that’s a way to make sure ICE knows about non-citizens getting arrested because Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas actually said that the government had no idea that Ibarra was in the country committing crimes.”

Gandolfo’s bill would effectively remove “sanctuary city” status for New York City and “sanctuary state” status for New York State. Such statuses often protect illegal immigrants from deportation and/or prosecution and limit state cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

“When Ibarra was arrested in Queens, they processed him and released him back,” says Gandolfo. “He was charged with endangering the welfare of a child for speeding around on a moped with a child on the back who was not wearing a helmet. If ICE knew that he was arrested and charged with a felony, they could have issued a detainer until they got there to process him and take it from there. Essentially, New York City and State says ‘we do our own thing.’”

Gandolfo says it would “make sense” to have a standard in which a noncitizen is charged with a “relatively serious crime” that immigration services are notified.

“That’s the first leg of the bill: requiring all law enforcement agencies to notify ICE upon the arrest of a non-citizen,” continues Gandolfo. “The second leg of the bill would restore the maximum sentence of Class-A misdemeanors to 365 days, a one-year sentence. What the Democrats did a couple of years ago is they lessened the maximum sentence of Class-A misdemeanors from one year to 364 days, and the reason for that was if a non-citizen is arrested and convicted of a crime with a maximum sentence of a year, that typically triggers deportation. They lessened the maximum sentence by one single day for the sole purpose of protecting illegal immigrants who commit these particular crimes.”

Gandolfo says that class-A misdemeanors are serious crimes that “you wouldn’t necessarily associate off the top of your head with a misdemeanor.” Some Class-A misdemeanors in New York include some levels of assault, some levels of criminal possession of a weapon, petit larceny, and theft of services.

“The third part of the bill would repeal the 2019 ‘Protect Our Courts Act,’” says Gandolfo. “Democrats passed the act, which made it so ICE wasn’t allowed to go to a courthouse where an illegal immigrant was being tried for a crime and make an arrest at the courthouse. So, if they knew there was an illegal immigrant they were looking to deport, they know he’s charged with a crime, he’s going to be at a courthouse, now they can’t go pick him up and get him out.”

Gandolfo says one of their arguments for the act was that if non-citizens were scared of getting deported, then it would likely increase the chances of them missing their court dates, which rack up more penalties.

Gandolfo says that the law would apply not just to New York City, but to New York State overall.

“There’s a very good chance we might have a new president who will actually enforce our country’s immigration laws, so this is a good step to take,” adds Gandolfo.

Gandolfo also says that New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) has also expressed “some desire to move away from the sanctuary policies in the city.”

“We’ll see if he can actually do it; they have a very progressive City Council,” said Gandolfo.

Section One of the bill would require local law to turn over fingerprints, arrest reports, and other pertinent data to ICE upon an arrest of a non-citizen.

Section Two of the bill would require the court in which the defendant is

convicted to immediately notify ICE that the defendant is not a U.S. Citizen.

Section Three would amend the current law to reinstate the maximum sentence of one year for Class-A misdemeanors and unclassified misdemeanors, the latter of which applies to typically minor crimes.

Section Four also applies to misdemeanor charges.

Section Five would repeal the “Protect Our Courts” Act to allow ICE to make civil arrests at courthouses.

Section Six would repeal the other half of the courts equation by disallowing the courts to state that ICE cannot make civil arrests at courthouses in which defendants are convicted.

Section Seven would also repeal court-related laws.

Section Eight would stipulate that the law takes effect immediately upon its passage.

What the Cosponsors Say

The Messenger reached out to members of the Suffolk delegation who have cosponsored the bill in the Assembly and the Senate.

Assemblyman Keith Brown (R-Northport) says that the laws that protect violent criminals such as Ibarra make “no sense whatsoever.”

“It makes no sense that the police are not permitted to report a violent criminal who is in this country illegally to ICE,” says Brown. “They should be deported. If that Ibarra was held, Laken Riley would be alive today. What do you tell her parents?”

Brown says that while the state legislature does not have authority on the nation’s immigration laws, New York has taken steps to further exacerbate the problem.

“For the Democratic majority to propose a law that handcuffs law enforcement’s ability to keep dangerous criminals who are here illegally makes no sense whatsoever, and it’s not getting enough attention,” says Brown. “The other side will say you’re a ‘xenophobe’, or that you’re politicizing this. What are we politicizing?”

“The bill was named after Riley, but how many other thousands of people are victimized by someone who shouldn’t be here and law enforcement can’t even deport the person?” Brown continues. “The fact of the matter is the left cares more about protecting criminal defendants than they do about protecting victims.”

When it comes to Democratic interests in removing “sanctuary” city and state statuses, or in repealing the controversial bail reform laws, Brown says that there is “no indication whatsoever.”

“They created the sanctuary state/city policies and people should know that $2.5 billion of their tax dollars to deal with this problem,” Brown says, adding that Mayor Adams actually asked Albany for an additional $500 million to deal with the city’s migrant crisis.

Senator Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk), Ranking Member on the Senate Codes and Judiciary Committees, says that the failure of Albany to abate the migrant and crime crises in the state have only added fuel to the fire.

“Laken’s law, and my legislation to make body dismemberment and concealment of a human corpse bail eligible offenses, seek to address the inadequacies and problems with New York’s bail law, sanctuary policies, and keep law abiding citizens safe,” says Palumbo. “The inability to hold and detain dangerous criminals proved fatal in the Laken Riley case and has resulted in an increase in crime throughout New York State. Sadly, even with this statistical data and in the wake of these tragic cases, there is no appetite in the Democrat-controlled legislature to make even the most minor changes to these laws. In fact, both onehouse budgets largely reject Governor Hochul’s attempts to combat retail theft. New York must abandon its sanctuary policies and, like forty-nine other states, provide a dangerousness standard through enhanced judicial discretion when determining bail.”

Senator Mario Mattera (R-St. James) says that while he is supportive of Laken’s Law, he believes that the monumental changes will only come in the form of repealing cashless bail and ending “sanctuary” city and state statuses.

“The problem is bail reform has to be repealed,” says Mattera. “We need to bring the right people to the table, law enforcement, DAs, and the PBA, for example, to come up with the right bail reform. We need to bring judicial discretion back.

Mattera says that “we’re going to be piecing this together every time there is an issue,” and that with so many offenses included under cashless bail, “another shoe is going to drop.”

“It’s the only way this will get fixed because we’ll have another press conference on another issue,” says Mattera. “I commend my colleagues, but all this is a bandaid fix. I’m a plumber; what would you say if I came to your house and I said that I can fix your pipes, but I don’t have the tools to fix them. This is what they did to our law enforcement, our judges, and our DAs. Additionally, our police officers are not respected; elected officials did this.”

Mattera echoed his previous calls to Governor Hochul, Mayor Adams, and Albany Democrats: “Stop the bleeding!”

Is Laken Riley’s Life Worth Less Than George Floyd’s?

By Betsy McCaughey | AMAC Contributor

George Floyd’s death during a police chokehold on May 25, 2020, ignited nationwide protests to reform police procedures. Referring to Floyd’s ordeal, former President Donald Trump said, “It doesn’t get any worse than that,” and within three weeks Trump signed an executive order establishing an abuse of force database and calling for improved police practices.

Fast-forward to Feb. 22, 2024, when Georgia nursing student Laken Riley was bludgeoned to death allegedly at the hands of an illegal migrant, Jose Ibarra, a member of the notorious Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Democrats are accusing Republicans of trying to “score cheap political” points by demanding that migrants be vetted before being allowed in the U.S.

Kelly Girtz, Democratic mayor of Athens, Georgia, where Riley was killed, insists the focus should be on the individual perpetrator, not migrants. That’s ridiculous. Was the focus only on Derek Chauvin, the cop with his knee on Floyd’s neck?

Riley’s murder should ignite demand for rigorous vetting of migrants entering the U.S.

Riley is dead because the Biden administration lets anyone in and lies about it.

Ibarra was first arrested for illegally crossing into the U.S. in September 2022. But Customs and Border Protection kept him less than 24 hours before releasing him to go anywhere in the U.S. he chose. Zero vetting.

Internal Department of Homeland Security documents show Ibarra is a gang member. But former Border Patrol officers explain that the Biden administration wants “migrants out of our hands and out of our custody as fast as humanly possible.” No time to check records.

DHS claims that migrants admitted into the U.S. undergo “robust security vetting.”

That lie was exposed on Friday when a federal judge ruled on a lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s airplane parole program, which allows 30,000 migrants per month from Nicaragua, Cuba, Haiti and Venezuela to fly into the U.S. The judge’s ruling set aside the lawsuit because the plaintiffs lacked standing. Even so, Judge Drew Tipton’s ruling is important because he pointed to evidence showing that any migrant who schedules an appointment using the CBP One app, buys a plane ticket, and arrives in the U.S. gets in. A staggering 98% are approved. A migrant would have to punch the Customs and Border Protection agent in the nose to have a problem.

Yet White House spokesperson Angelo Fernandez Hernandez doubled down on the standard lie Friday, again claiming migrants must “pass through a rigorous vetting process.”

The mainstream media shamelessly repeats that fiction. CNN said on Friday that migrants using the CBP One mobile app “are thoroughly vetted.” Laughable.

The lack of vetting, whether at the southern border or in President Joe Biden’s new CBP airport parole program, produces tragic consequences.

In January, Tammy Nobles testified before a House panel about the murder of her 20-year-old daughter Kayla Hamilton, who was allegedly raped and strangled to death with an electric cord by an illegal migrant robbing her of $6.

Nobles explained that all DHS “had to do was make one phone call to El Salvador to know he was an MS-13 gang member on the list.”

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who didn’t attend the House hearing, insisted afterward that American deaths at the hands of illegal migrants “should not be politicized.”

No one said that about Floyd’s death. Is Hamilton’s life also worth less than Floyd’s?

The Washington Post, USA Today, and other

publications cite several studies, from the Cato Institute, Stanford University, and elsewhere, purporting to show immigrants have committed crimes at a lower rate than people born in the U.S. These studies assess data from several years, even decades, ago. Some don’t distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants. Most important, these studies ignore the new reality. Venezuela and El Salvador are emptying their prisons and sending their gang members to the United States, according to FBI sources. Americans need to be protected from these killers.

The issue facing Biden and his party is not whether to call Ibarra “illegal,” “undocumented” or a “newcomer.” The brutal truth is he’s a Tren de Aragua gang member. And he should have been stopped at the border before he killed Riley.

WORD OF THE Week ubiquitous

Origin: late 18th century: from ubiquity + -ous.

Source: Oxford Languages

Synonyms: omnipresent, prevalent, inescapable

Adjective

Pronounced: yoo·bi·kwuh·tuhs

Definition: present, appearing, or found everywhere

Example: “Beaches are a ubiquitous source of recreation on Long Island.”

Antonyms: scarce, rare

Word Ladder 3/14

The aim of the game is to get from the given initial word to the given final word by changing only one letter per line. Note that every line must be a valid word. Sometimes there are several possibilities.

Initial word: HEAT

Final word: COOL

Goal: 6 words

Check our Instagram @MessengerPapers and our Facebook for the answers to this week’s games.

This Week in History

March 16, 1830

March 15, 1783

After hearing of a serious threat of a coup d’etat (a sudden and unlawful form of overtaking the government), George Washington gave an emotional and moving speech to his constituents and fellow officers in Newburgh, New York, advising them not to support the Newburgh Conspiracy, which was planned by the Continental Army arising from frustration of a lack of funding to the military.

The slowest day in trading to date by the New York Stock Exchange where a total of only 31 shares were traded.

March 19, 1831

The City Bank of New York was robbed of $245,000 (equivalent to $8.7 Million today), marking the heist as the first bank robbery in the United States.

INC is the Plaintiff and SUFFOLK COUNTY PUBLIC ADMINSITRATOR, AS ADMINISTRATOR FOR THE ESTATE OF THUSNELDA M, SCHUCH, ET AL. are the Defendant(s).  I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the BROOKHAVEN TOWN HALL, 1 INDEPENDENCE HILL, FARMINGVILLE, NY 11738, on January 18, 2024 at 1:00PM, premises known as 34 PACIFIC STREET, PORT JEFFERSON STATION, NY 11776:

In Loving Memory

In Loving Memory

Saul Stein

1942-2024

Saul Stein, 81, a dedicated and loving husband, father, grandfather, brother and accomplished CPA died on February 18, 2024, after a lengthy battle with Multiple System Atrophy, Parkinson type (MSA-P).

Saul was born November 19, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York, to the late Samuel H. and Lee Stein. He graduated from Kings Park High School in 1960 and then went on to graduate from Southern Illinois University in 1965. His professional journey included many executive financial positions including Chief Financial Officer in the restaurant business and cosmetic companies.

Saul was sought after by many as a confidant for knowledge and advice and could be counted on to support a family member or friend in need.

He very much enjoyed cars, motorcycles, sports, fishing, boating, dogs, golfing, coaching, and was a Kings Park High School soccer star and wrestler, coming in third in New York State for wrestling.

Most of all, he was a family man. He leaves behind a legacy of love and cherished memories. Saul is survived by his beloved wife of 45 years, Denise Stein, and his four children - Michael Stein (NJ), Robert (Dana) Stein (NJ), Laura (Bob) Levin (NC) and Jeffrey Stein (NJ) - and six grandchildren Matthew, Samantha, Jordan, Emerson, Anderson, and Addison. He is also survived by his brothers David (Phyllis) Stein of Hauppauge and Norman (Leslie) Stein (NC), and his loyal protective Golden Doodle, Summer.

Services were held on February 21 at Schoem’s Menorah Chapel in Paramus, New Jersey, with burial in Mahwah, New Jersey. In honor of Saul Stein’s memory, contributions can be made in his honor to the MSA coalition here: https://support.multiplesystematrophy.org/ fundraiser/5284630

Please support Suffolk County Legislator Rob Trotta’s

Pet Food Drive for Baxter’s Pantry at LI Cares/Harry Chapin Food Pantry

Most Needed Pet Items: Dry/canned food for Cats and Dogs

Cat & Dog Treats

Kitty Litter

Rabbit, Bird and Fish Food

Please drop off Items from now until May 1, 2024 at Legislator Trotta’s Office, 59 Landing Avenue, Suite 1, Smithtown

Monday – Friday between 9am-4pm.

For more information, please call his office at 631-854-3900.

Thank you for your donations!

Giants Not Out Yet!

By James Haupt

The biggest news of the 2024 NFL offseason so far belongs to New York’s very own. The Giants lost star running back Saquon Barkley to the Philadelphia Eagles. He inked a threeyear, $37.75 million deal with New York’s division rivals, crushing the hearts of Giants fans.

The G-men also took a major blow after losing one of their best defensive players in safety Xavier McKinney. The former Giants defensive captain signed with the Green Bay Packers on a 4-year, $68 million contract.

Losing Barkley and McKinney is devastating news, but Giants fans shouldn’t lose all hope yet. Giants GM Joe Schoen has put in work since losing their workhorse running back and star safety, forming a dangerous team for the upcoming season.

Former Carolina Panther Brian Burns is the highlight of New York’s offseason so far. The 2x Pro-bowler was traded to the Giants on Monday, March 11, and instantly signed a fiveyear $150 million contract.

Burns has been in the NFL for five years and has tallied 46 total sacks with his highest being 12.5 in 2022. He is coming off a season with one of the highest pass rush win rates in football (21.6%).

He was the best option available this offseason at his premium position, and he is a perfect pairing with current Giants pass rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux who together will form one of the most feared defensive lines in football.

Outside of Burns, the Giants haven’t made any flashy acquisitions, but they have signed several underrated talents that can prove to be crucial in the 2024 season.

New York signed former Texans RB Devin Singletary on a three-year $16.5 million deal. He is coming off a career-high 898 rushing yards in Houston. Head coach Brian Daboll also has a connection with Singletary from their time in Buffalo and will likely utilize him in a running back committee this season to fill the void left by Barkley.

The Giants replaced McKinney as well, after signing former New England Patriots safety Jalen Mills to

a one-year deal. Despite his age, he is still a starting-caliber safety who will compete with Jason Pinnock and Dane Belton for the job.

Schoen also chose to bolster the offensive line this offseason after signing offensive tackle Jermaine Eluemunor and guard Joe Runyan. Eluemunor signed a two-year deal with New York after leaving the Las Vegas Raiders, and the former Packer, Runyan, agreed to a three-year deal,

These are crucial moves as Eluemunor and Runyan are terrific offensive linemen who stay healthy, something the Giants lacked this past season.

The most recent move is signing former Seattle Seahawk quarterback Drew Lock to a one-year deal. Although this won’t stand out to fans, it’s a cheap move that will leave New York with a more established backup quarterback. With Jones’ health always being an issue, and the future of the Giants starting QB up in the air, this was a smart decision by the “Big Blue”.

“I feel great about the offseason so far,” said Jack Wynn, a Giants fan from Commack. “Losing Saquon hurts, a lot, but Brian Burns is going to make up for that. We’ve also brought in needed help on the offensive line. The biggest question left is what we’re going to do in the draft.”

This is a major question for New York who has the sixth pick in the draft. Rumors have swirled that they may take a gamble on a top QB like Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy or LSU’s Jayden Daniels, who just won the Heisman trophy and could potentially fall to the Giants.

A star wide receiver could be a smart option as well, such as Washington’s Rome Odunze or LSU’s Malik Nabers. New York may consider drafting a running back in later rounds like Michigan’s Blake Corum to help fill Barkley’s shoes.

It’s difficult to overlook losing two of their best players, but the Giants have done a terrific job this offseason, and still have the potential to do more. Keep an eye on the rest of this offseason as the New York Giants hope to create a dangerous team that can make a run next year.

Mount Sinai Native Sam

Kessler Rejoins Flock

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The Long Island Ducks recently announced the signing of right-handed pitcher Sam Kessler. He returns for his second season with the Ducks and fourth in professional baseball.

“Sam did a nice job out of the bullpen for us last year,” said Ducks Manager Lew Ford. “We are excited to have him back pitching for his hometown team.”

Kessler joined the Ducks in August of 2023 and pitched in eight games with Long Island. He compiled a 2.70 ERA, conceding just three runs (two earned) in six and two-thirds innings. The Mount Sinai, New York, native gave up just two hits as well, struck out four batters, and allowed a run in just two of his eight games. The righty spent the first two seasons of his career in the Detroit Tigers organization. He split the 2021 campaign with Single-A Lakeland and High-A West Michigan, combining to post a 2.97 ERA and 35 strikeouts over 30.1 innings across 23 appearances.

The 26-year-old began his professional career in 2019. He made 17 appearances with the rookie-level GCL Tigers West, going 1-3 with a 3.48 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 20.2 innings of work. Prior to his pro career, the West Virginia University alum was a fouryear varsity player at Mount Sinai High School on Long Island. He was named to

the 2014 Perfect Game All-Tournament Team after pitching a no-hitter with 10 strikeouts, and he earned Perfect Game Underclass High Honorable Mention in 2015. Kessler was originally selected by the Tigers in the 34th round of the 2019 amateur draft.

The Ducks are entering their 24th season of play in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and play their home games at Fairfield Properties Ballpark in Central Islip, New York. They are the all-time leader in wins and attendance in Atlantic League history, led all MLB Partner Leagues in attendance in 2023, and have sold out a record 706 games all-time. For further information, visit LIDucks.com or call 631-940-DUCK (3825).

About the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB)

Celebrating its third decade, the Atlantic League is Major League Baseball’s first Professional Partner League, a player gateway to the major leagues, and a leader in baseball innovation. Over its 25-year history, the ALPB has sent over 1,400 players to MLB organizations while drawing over 47 million fans to its familyfriendly ballparks. Please visit www. AtlanticLeague.com.

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Catholic Health Opens Second Root & Sprig Restaurant at St. Catherine of Siena Hospital

Catholic Health announced the grand opening of its second Root & Sprig location at St. Catherine of Siena Hospital. Root & Sprig, a fast-casual concept restaurant, brings creative healthy food and beverage options to hospital employees and visitors. Catholic Health opened the first Root & Sprig at St. Francis Hospital & Heart Center® in June 2023 and plans to open in other Catholic Health hospitals this year.

“We are always looking for ways to promote healthy food choices for our patients, employees and visitors,” said St. Catherine of Siena Hospital President Declan Doyle. “Located in the hospital’s lobby, all will have easy access to healthy and delicious food.”

Root & Sprig was developed and founded by Tom Colicchio, host of Bravo’s Top Chef, and Health Hospitality Partners (HHP), a healthcare amenities company. Tom created Root & Sprig to deliver bold flavors and friendly service to patients, visitors, and employees in healthcare facilities nationwide, while calling attention to the crucial role that food plays in health. Menu items reflect healthy dietary selections and feature sandwiches, salads, soups, and breakfast items that include vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options.

Catholic Health is working with HHP to curate and host high-quality food retailers such as Root & Sprig, who provide healthy, fresh, and nutritious food, and who are dedicated to bringing a true sense of hospitality to healthcare. Catholic Health is focused on ensuring that patients have access to healthy food options as poor diets are associated with a higher probability of diabetes, stroke, hypertension, obesity, cancer, asthma, arthritis, and kidney disease. In addition, campaigns have been implemented to address food insecurity in the communities Catholic Health serves and beyond.

About Catholic Health

Catholic Health is an integrated system encompassing some of the region’s finest health and human services agencies. The health system has nearly 16,000 employees, six acute care hospitals, three nursing homes, a home health service, hospice and a network of physician practices. Under the sponsorship of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, Catholic Health serves hundreds of thousands of Long Islanders each year, providing care that extends from the beginning of life to helping people live their final years in comfort, grace and dignity.

About HHP

HHP is a healthcare amenities company that puts employees, patients and visitors first. Whether it’s through locally roasted coffee, a delicious meal, or a thoughtful gift, HHP brings a human touch to healthcare settings. Our mission is to make healthcare more hospitable for all. HHP has been partnering with health systems, hospitals and academic medical centers across the country since 2017.

About Root & Sprig

Root & Sprig was co-founded in 2019 by Tom Colicchio’s team at One Goal Hospitality led by Dan Guaricci (CEO) and Maryrose Galvez (Vice President of Finance). Managed by a team equipped with decades of experience in the hospitality industry, and deep connections to those within the healthcare community, Root & Sprig is bringing bold and inspiring food options to a much needed and well deserving community. Their offerings include breakfast, sandwiches and salads for in-store purchases, delivery, and catering.

Visit www.rootandsprig.com for menus and locations.