Photo credit – Matt Meduri
With the tumultuous 2024 cycle in the rearview, local parties and elected officials are gearing up for the 2025 off-year cycle, which will entail the elections of all eighteen County Legislators and various Town roles across Suffolk.
Smithtown particularly has the privilege of re-electing a town supervisor for another four-year term, as well as two seats on the Town Council, Superintendent of Highways, and Town Clerk, all of which serve in four-year capacities.
The Smithtown Republican Committee held its nominating convention at the Elks Lodge in Smithtown last Thursday evening.
“This is going to be a very exciting year,” said Smithtown Republican Committee Chairman Bill Ellis. “We’re re-nominating top positions for our incumbents, led by our great Supervisor, Ed Wehrheim (R-Kings Park).”
Nominators of Wehrheim spoke of his “realist” attitudes and that he understands the need to “continually reinvent ourselves” to “maintain economic stability,” allowing the town’s features to be updated while ushering in new businesses to the downtown areas. Wehrheim, a U.S. Navy Veteran of the Vietnam War (pictured above), started his career in the Town in the Parks Department as a laborer, working his way up to Director in 1989. Wehrheim was also lauded for the condition of the parks under his supervision, saying they were “known as some of the finest facilities in the State of New York.”
Wehrheim was appointed to the Town Council in 2003, winning his first term in 2004 before successfully primarying then-Supervisor Pat Vecchio (R) in 2017. Wehrheim is now running for a third four-year term.
Wehrheim was also heralded for his ability to work across party lines with County officials for much-needed funds for sewers, streetscape improvements, and downtown revitalizations, namely in St. James under the tenure of former County Executive Steve Bellone (D-West Babylon). Wehrheim’s leadership is also credited with the Town having received a $10 million grant from the State for the Kings Park DRI project.
“Since 2018, we’ve brought back $83 million in grants. That is your tax dollars coming back here from State and federal governments,” Wehrheim told the committee after securing his re-nomination. “We are revitalizing our business districts; we spent $1.5 million on a comprehensive master plan that protects Smithtown from ever becoming anything but Smithtown. Height and yield are limited.”
Wehrheim spoke to fears of the “Queens-ification” of Smithtown, as many in the community have posited, saying, “Myself and the board with whom I serve will never let that happen,” adding that the prior Smithtown was “neglected for way too long.”
Wehrheim added that the Town has renovated 80% of the parks under his tenure, many of which now have turf fields. He also shared that Restoration Hardware is moving from Riverhead to Smithtown and that the PGA Superstore that moved into Commack last year is doing “immensely well.”
“Those businesses and corporations do not come to a municipality where they know they’re going to fail,” said Wehrheim. “We will continue to invest in this town and we will continue to make Smithtown the greatest town anywhere in New York State to live, work, and raise a family.”
Wehrheim’s leadership and vision for the Town were heralded by Assemblyman Mike Fitzpatrick (R-St. James) and Senator Mario Mattera (R-St. James), with Fitzpatrick saying, “Under Supervisor Wehrheim’s leadership, Smithtown will not be a second-rate town.”
Superintendent of Highways Bob Murphy (R-St. James) (pictured above) was re-nominated for another four-year term after winning his first term in 2017. Murphy was praised for not only spearheading “major work” done over the last several years, but that Murphy himself is often onsite with the members of his team.
Murphy touted “road management,” a concept that has not been paralleled by the nine other Suffolk towns. Murphy said that the database not only allows for the collection of needs and information from the public, but the software allows him and his team to look at individual tiers, grades, and valuations of the 475 miles of road within the Town.
“My job would have been half as much if I didn’t have your eyes, your ears,” said Murphy to Wehrheim and the Council, thanking them for the communication streams that keep his department aware of public needs.
Town Clerk Tom McCarthy (R-Smithtown) (pictured above) was re-nominated for a full term as the “cover of the book” on Town government, as McCarthy himself analogized the job to The Messenger in his 2023 candidate spotlight.
“It’s easy to be a volunteer. It’s easy to throw stuff at a wall and see what happens,” said McCarthy of his team at Town Hall. “But it takes incredible courage, integrity, and intelligence to lead and to find solutions and to understand the risks.”
Two incumbent members of the Town Council were also renominated – Thomas McCarthy (R-Nissequogue) (pictured below) and Lynne Nowick (R-St. James).
“The people in this town need to be treated like they’re customers, not like they’re pains,” said McCarthy, first elected in 1997. “It took a long time, but I had somebody at my back, like Supervisor Wehrheim. It’s a team effort and we work very hard every day to get this job done.”
“We don’t always agree, but we all talk things over and we walk in as a team,” said Nowick, first elected to the Town Council in 2014 after serving a full twelve-year stint in the County Legislature and six years as Smithtown Receiver of Taxes. “We have a great bond rating and we didn’t pierce the tax cap [in the latest budget],” adding that residents often remark on the quality of the parks, namely the award-winning redesign of Callahans Beach in Fort Salonga.
Nominations were then accepted for the Twelfth and Thirteenth Districts of the Suffolk County Legislature. Legislator Leslie Kennedy (R-Nesconset) (pictured below) was renominated for a final full term on the horseshoe, while Legislator Rob Trotta (R-Fort Salonga) is term-limited in the Thirteenth.
“There’s no such thing as a nine-to-five,” said Comptroller John Kennedy (R-Nesconset) of the job demands of an elected official, specifically a Legislator. “They’re on the phone until nine, ten o’clock at night, with any kind of issue or disaster, because everybody needs something and some kind of help somewhere, sometime, whether it’s a one hundredth birthday or a fire installation dinner.”
Although at the County level of government, Kennedy says that working together with the Town and State representatives is crucial to making a better Smithtown.
“We almost have enough money to put sewers in Smithtown,” said Kennedy, referencing multiple forms of revenue in the past several years towards the overall project, such as $20 million from Senator John Flanagan (R-East Northport) during his tenure in the State Senate and recent obtainment of $21.5 million. Kennedy also mentioned $6.5 million for the rebuilding of the Stump Pond dam in Blydenburgh Park, 80% of which she hopes will be reimbursed through FEMA.
“Hopefully, we’ll get much more done in that time,” said Kennedy of the final two years of her stint in the Legislature, should she be re-elected in November.
Finally, the committee moved to nominate Sal Formica (R-Commack) (pictured below with Mario Mattera) to fill the open seat of Legislator Trotta. Formica’s background in law enforcement extends to the NYPD where he built a career as a detective in Emergency Services.
“He’s going to be able to help the County Executive and the Legislature achieve what they need to do for all of Suffolk County, but more importantly for us here in Smithtown,” said Formica’s nominator, adding that he does not expect Formica to “throw out rhetoric,” behave like a “bully,” or “throw out falsities.”
Formica touted his thirty-six year residency of Commack, particularly volunteering for Little League, as his reason for preferring the Smithtown methodology.
“Whenever I went to Huntington for money to upgrade fields, the answer was always, ‘There’s no money in the budget,’” said Formica, as opposed to Smithtown, where, he says, “Every step gets done.”
“I wanted to continue giving back to my community and pushing forward the Smithtown vision. There wasn’t much of a vision prior to Supervisor Wehrheim. When they said the ‘Land of No,’ I know firsthand,” said Formica. “All of that has changed. I certainly believe in what this Board is doing and I want to make sure that I help advance whatever their mission is.”
Formica added that while the current Smithtown residency is mostly “on the back nine of the golf course,” the progress the town requires is for “our children and their children.”
Senator Mattera offered his endorsement of Formica after the meeting adjourned.
“He’s a leader, he’s a businessman; he knows the Town of Smithtown,” Mattera told The Messenger. “A leader not just as a police officer or a businessman, but as a husband and a father.”
Mattera said that while public safety will be a “number-one” priority and facet of a Legislator Formica, he’s confident that business acumen will help potential constituents of Formica’s.
“Him being a business owner, he knows what we need here [in Smithtown]. Working with Executive Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches), Sal Formica is going to bring the money back to our district, especially for what we’ve been doing so far, such as sewering and building the proper projects. He knows the demographics of our township and I’m really proud to endorse Sal Formica for the Thirteenth Legislative District.”
With the 2025 Republican slate chosen in Smithtown, all eyes now turn to the campaign trail, with the GOP hoping to retain a full lock on all elected positions in the Town and hold the supermajority in the County Legislature.
