Overwhelming Victories for Supervisor Wehrheim and Republican Incumbents
In political circles, the Town of Smithtown has for many election cycles been called Long Island’s “last bastion of the Republican Party” – a phrase near and dear to the heart of long-time Smithtown Republican Chairman Bill Ellis.
The results of last Tuesday’s elections did nothing to diminish the stronghold status that the township has earned for the GOP, as Supervisor Edward Wehrheim, Town Council members Thomas McCarthy and Lynne Nowick, Town Clerk Vincent Puleo, Highway Superintendent Robert Murphy, as well as County Legislators Robert Trotta and Leslie Kennedy – incumbent all – won resounding victories.
The electoral strength of the team could be measured even before votes were cast; Clerk Puleo (actually an enrolled Conservative and a leader in the alliance with the GOP) and Highway Superintendent Murphy ran without opponents.
And in almost every race, the numbers were overwhelming – Wehrheim, for example, garnered over 75% of the vote against his opponent.
Town Supervisor
Easily winning re-election, Supervisor Wehrheim garnered over 20,000 votes on the Republican and Conservative lines to Democrat Maria Scheuring’s total of some 6,800.
“On behalf of the team; Tom McCarthy, Lynne Nowick, Vinny Puleo, Robert Murphy and our fellow town officials in our administration,” wrote Wehrheim on his campaign’s social media page, “I’d like to say how deeply grateful we are for the outpouring of support and one of the biggest voter turnouts on Long Island! We look forward to rolling our sleeves up and serving you for another four years.”
The team ran a campaign highlighting resumes packed with decades of community and civil service expertise, especially focused on their work over the last four years, after succeeding Smithtown Supervisor Patrick Vecchio’s own decades in office.
“You all heard and read about what we’ve done as a team in four years in Smithtown,” said Wehrheim at the GOP victory at Napper Tandy’s on Main Street, just doors away from the team’s storefront campaign headquarters.
“I will submit to you tonight that the real winners here tonight are taxpaying residents that live in Smithtown,” he told the crowd of family members, party volunteers, and well-wishers.
Wehrheim, as he had during the campaign, cited numerous accomplishments from his first term, from new athletic fields, playgrounds, and bike trails, to new municipal parking, to initiatives of environmental significance, including sewer infrastructure – “a reality in the near future”– emphasizing its importance for clean drinking water and protecting the Nissequogue River and the Long Island Sound.
From a fiscal standpoint, the Wehrheim team worked together during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, making difficult cuts to overtime and discretionary spending to preserve jobs and mitigate the financial burden on taxpayers.
Town Council
Running at large for the two seats at stake Councilman Tom McCarthy (who also serves as Deputy Supervisor) and Councilwoman Lynne Nowick easily distanced their opponents, Dylan Rice and Marc Etts.
McCarthy and Nowick polled roughly 19,800 votes compared to 6,900 for Rice and 6,400 for Etts.
As liaison to the Planning, and Building departments as well as the department of Environment and Waterways, McCarthy said he was proud of his success in identifying opportunities for redeveloping once boarded up, vacant properties. Sixth Avenue Electronics, Smithtown Concrete, and the Nassau Suffolk Lumber and Supply Corp are a few examples of commercial properties which were vacant for over a decade, generating the minimal tax ratables and bringing down the property values of the surrounding businesses and homes.
McCarthy has been at the forefront of spearheading the updated Comprehensive Master Plan, which was last updated in 1957 and is slated to be adopted in early spring of 2022.
Nowick has a long history serving the community. The life-long resident of St. James was a Suffolk County Legislator for 12 years and was the Town of Smithtown Tax Receiver for six years prior to that. When she is not at the office, Nowick is serving in her philanthropic capacity as a Trustee with the Gardiner Foundation. In her last four years serving as Town Councilwoman, Lynne Nowick has put her community roots to good work, spearheading the return of the Senior Expo, restoring the Anti-Bias Task Force to full duty, and coordinating a number of addiction recovery initiatives like free Narcan training, substance use awareness workshops and expired prescription drop-offs.
Superintendent of Highways
Superintendent of Highways Robert Murphy, while running uncontested, won the support of the community and his road crews. His working philosophy was that of the Supervisor.
“We work as a team,” said Murphy in thanking supporters on Election Night.
He tallied over 22,000 votes for 100% of the vote on the Republican and Conservative lines.
An experienced member of the Department, Murphy has stated that he originally ran for his office looking to restore pride and community stature to the Highway Department. A number of projects, such as major infrastructure projects including the Lake Avenue Revitalization in Saint James and the new entryway to the LI Innovation Park at Hauppauge under his belt, Murphy succeeded with residents. Timely and professional response to natural disasters like Tropical Storm Isaias, and the freak wind shear storm in July of 2019, earned his leadership the respect of the community.
Town Clerk
Despite running an uncontested race, Clerk Vinny Puleo was determined not to waver in his commitment to serve the people of Smithtown. Like Murphy, Puleo tallied over 22,000 votes for 100% of the vote.
Puleo’s As far as well rounded resumes go, Vinny Puleo definitely gets top grades, as a volunteer Firefighter and Commissioner, a community leader in the Nesconset Chamber of Commerce, an active member of the Rotary Club, and as Town Clerk. Puleo noted that he has saved the taxpayer millions digitizing the town’s records using State grant funding. He spearheaded an intergovernmental sharing initiative with surrounding government agencies which has been mirrored as the ideal model by other municipalities, cities and counties throughout New York State. Puleo also founded the Town’s Veterans Resource Committee, which meets regularly to help local service members, veterans and organizations with various issues from benefits and health services, to job opportunities, and home loans.
Suffolk County Legislature
In the Twelfth Legislative District, Leslie Kennedy tallied some 12,600 votes on the Republican and Conservative lines to just 4,300 for Michael Siderakis on the Democratic line.
Kennedy has worked in government for more than a decade, as a Legislative Aide to Suffolk County Legislator Donald Blydenburgh and later as an Aide to Suffolk County Legislator John Kennedy before becoming a County Legislator herself in 2015. She focused on her career in public service, continuing to be a constant presence throughout the Towns of Smithtown and Brookhaven. She is intensely proud, she said of “working to protect the quality of life of all my constituents.”In the Thirteenth Legislative District, Rob Trotta faced intense opposition from Suffolk PBA official Mike Simonelli on the Conservative line, as well as Kevin Mulholland – who did not actively campaign – on the Democratic line.
Trotta tallied nearly 10,900 votes to 4,900 for Simonelli and almost 4,700 for Mulholland.
