Candidate: Highway Superintendent Dan Losquadro
Residence: Shoreham
First Elected: March 2013 special election
Previous Elected Office: Suffolk County Legislature (2004-2011), NYS Assembly (2011-2013)
Party Endorsements: Republican, Conservative
Notable Endorsements: Suffolk PBA
With ten years of the job of Highway Superintendent of Suffolk’s largest town – and the second-largest municipality in New York State – incumbent Dan Losquadro is looking to continue his work in Brookhaven this year.
Candidate: Michael Kaplan
Residence: Coram
Office Sought: Brookhaven Highway Superintendent
Previous Elected Office: None
Party Endorsements: Democratic
Notable Endorsements: VoteVets
Michael Kaplan is looking to take his decades of road experience to Brookhaven and oust ten-year incumbent Dan Losquadro (R-Shoreham).
Superintendent Losquadro and Michael Kaplan sat down with The Messenger for one-on-one interviews.
Q: What is your professional background and how does it equip you for Highway Superintendent?
Superintendent Dan Losquadro: I grew up working on cars in my father’s auto body shop in Centereach. Through college, I worked as a laborer with Laborers Local 66 doing building construction. After I graduated from Stony Brook, I parlayed my automotive and construction experience into a career with State Farm Insurance working general automotive claims and fraud and arson investigations.
I got more politically involved and screened for County Legislature District Six and won in 2003. As a young freshman, I was chosen by my caucus to be the Republican Conference Leader. In 2010, won a contested race for the State Assembly. Being home with my young family was very important to me and it was difficult for my wife when she went back to work. People within the Brookhaven Highway Department started lobbying me to run for Highway Superintendent. What I realized at that point is that I had been training for this job my whole life. I won a special election in March.
I came into a department that had been neglected for a very long time. I related to the employees in such a different way from my predecessors because I had private sector experience, legislative background, as well as my own personal experience doing masonry work at my own home. My first action was to upgrade our fleet of trucks and my second was digitizing and simplifying our graphic user interface to help our workers in the field.
I boldly lobbied the Town for a $150 million commitment – $15 million over ten years – to get the Town on a fifteen-year paving cycle – a 50% increase. I’ve also been very aggressive in grant funding. We stopped letting grant money languish as previous administrations had done. We have received $150 million in grant funding since I’ve been superintendent.
Hospital Road Bridge was functionally obsolete, and we had been trying to get it repaired for a long time. When Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) got elected, he asked me my top priority, which was replacing the bridge, which cost $25 million, more than the $15 million per year budget. My conversation with Zeldin led to the passage of the Safe Bridges Act, which he sponsored and got passed. It allowed, for the first time, federal money to flow directly to a local municipality. It’s now been used across the country.
Michael Kaplan: I have thirty years of highway experience; I started in 1985 as a laborer in the Town of Islip. I worked there for twenty years, working my way up Road Inspector working for the commissioner of Public Works. In 1987, I joined the Army, was deployed in Desert Storm, and lived in Germany for three years. I then worked for the Huntington Highway Superintendent for ten years, in the form of Highway Project Assistant.
In 2008, my son joined the Army and convinced me to re-join the reserves and we ended up serving in Iraq at the same time. I spent eighteen months in Iraq. I came back to the Town of Huntington and left three-and-a-half years ago. I feel that a Superintendent should be someone who knows what it’s like to be a blue-collar, boots-on-the-ground employee, but also has the skills of knowing the administrative side of it.
I already have grant writers in place already because this town is like being negative in your checking account. In addition to paving and potholes, storm water drainage is another problem. I’ve walked over 200 miles and knocked on 7,000 doors. My social media videos have gotten hundreds of thousands of views, and I answer every comment.
The Highway Department is the backbone of storm cleanups. Working with Huntington during Superstorm Nemo, we had thirty-two inches of snow in a twenty-four-hour period. I know how to combat it with the right amount of private contractors and proper training.
My comprehensive plan with Huntington was based on the “Three S’s”: Safety, Safety, Safety.
I will ask for $200 million off the bat. The antiquated drainage systems need to be replaced. Some areas have been neglected, and it makes me angry. I’m not bad mouthing anyone, because I’m not privy to what is happening with the current administration.
Q: What would you say is your best or proudest professional accomplishment?
Superintendent Dan Losquadro: The amount of outside funding I’ve been able to bring into Brookhaven. When we have to plow after a snowstorm, imagine plowing a one-lane road from Brookhaven to Los Angeles, hang a left and go to the Mexico border. That’s our responsibility.
Michael Kaplan: The Teamsters Local 237 in Islip, of which I was a twenty-year cardholder, elected to be chapter chairman overseeing all shop stewards in the blue-collar unit. I also got to be on the board of the Employee Assistance Program. It was my job to help employees with problems ranging from financial, mental, etc.
Q: What do you think is the most important issue facing Brookhaven roads today?
Superintendent Dan Losquadro: Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia said, “there’s no Republican or Democratic way to fill a pothole.” I do, however, believe there are different ways to budget. In Brookhaven, the budget is so large, that, “so goes the highway budget, so goes the town.”
Michael Kaplan: I read an article someone sent me about a year ago that said Brookhaven roads are the second worst in the nation. As a lifelong highwayman, that’s what inspired me to run. What bothers me – I’ve lived it for thirty years – is instead of getting promoted based on merit, it’s based on the check you write to your political party. I’m going to eradicate that. I will not accept one cent from an employee. I believe this happens in the current Brookhaven Highway Department.
Q: What is your top priority if you win this election?
Superintendent Dan Losquadro: Continue moving forward with the plan that I have already had in place. You have to take a long-term view with a department like this. Many aspects of the job cannot be done all at once.
Michael Kaplan: On day one, I am implementing a seventy-two-hour policy. So, if you are a resident and you have an issue with a road, from the moment you contact the highway department, the clock is ticking and someone must get back to that resident within seventy-two hours, no matter what. It will be a phone call, an email, or a knock on the door.
Additionally, since I’ll take office in January, my priority will be to ensure we have enough staff and trucks if there’s a snowstorm.
Q: What’s your favorite quote, motto, or work ethic?
Superintendent Dan Losquadro: My favorite is an Abraham Lincoln quote, but people only like to quote the first half: “I like to see a man proud of a place in which he lives.” I’m more of a fan of the second half: “I like to see a man live so that his place is proud of him.”
Michael Kaplan: “Public service is not a nine-to-five job, it’s a lifelong calling.”
Q: How do you like to connect with and enjoy your community?
Superintendent Dan Losquadro: I have two kids; my wife and I have been married for twenty-two years. We live in Shoreham. My wife and I are big travelers and have been all over the country and various parts of the world.
Michael Kaplan: I love Patchogue village, the Fire Island Pines, and the fact that we have two coastlines. I have one son and three beautiful grandchildren, and they inspire me. I also volunteer at Angels of Long Island.
The Messenger thanks Superintendent Losquadro and Michael Kaplan for taking time to sit down with us for this candidate spotlight.
The Messenger’s forecast for Brookhaven Highway Superintendent: Safe Republican
