In the most recent Republican congressional primary that took place on August 23 for the First and Second Congressional Districts, the victors were the taxpayers of Suffolk County (and a sliver of Nassau).
The purpose of primaries is to select the best candidate to represent a political party going into the general election. With Nick LaLota and Andrew Garbarino, voters considering their options this fall can rest assured that the best was distilled from what the slate of candidates had to offer.
While these Republican primaries definitely stooped to pettiness, the voters rejected sleight of hand tricks and paid actors motivated by greed and beholden to out-of-state, let alone county, interests.
LaLota’s main opponent, Michelle Bond, funneled millions of dollars into the race from digital asset interests, namely cryptocurrency. Her victory would have spelled disaster for the voters, multiplied so if she went on to win the general election. Her “grassroots supporters” on Long Island were commodities, while her major financiers lived out of state. Both these facts negate the notion that Bond would have been accountable to the people of Suffolk County. In unrelated news, The Messenger has received a tip that there is a new apartment on the market in Port Jefferson.
LaLota brings with him an impressive background as a public servant, both in uniformed service as a Naval officer and as a public servant. Now, LaLota’s resume and record, a record worthy of your consideration, will sit beside that of accomplished Legislator Bridget Fleming, the Democratic candidate.
Republican voters in the Second Congressional District likewise rejected Garbarino’s main opponent, Robert Cornicelli, who utilized distortion to promote his agenda and weaponized his opponent’s ability to make deals across the aisle as something to despise.
In today’s polarized society, it is too easy to associate compromise with weakness and negotiation with ideological impurity. If representatives like Garbarino are flatly rejected by voters on account of their ability to successfully navigate the tug-of-war of Congress, then a nation we will cease to be. Representatives who can manage to reach across the aisle in this day and age deserve admiration, not ridicule because they risk the wrath of party bosses for standing up for their constituents.
That does not mean surrendering the ability to critique or protest but accepting reality as a member of the minority party in Congress; it does not come with glamor.
Now, with the general election approaching and tension still easing from the primaries, the voters of Long Island (at least the Republican voters of Suffolk County) can enjoy a brief respite from the constant onslaught of campaign materials beamed into television screens and mailed to houses several times a week.
But stay vigilant; the tide will soon come back in, and with the balance of power in the House of Representatives at stake, it will be an election worth watching.
