The First Senate District includes the entire townships of East Hampton, Riverhead, Shelter Island, Southampton, and Southold. Within the Town of Brookhaven, the district includes Belle Terre, East Setauket, East Shoreham, Miller Place, Mount Sinai, Old Field, Poq buott, Port Jefferson, Port Jefferson Station, Rocky Point, Setauket, Shoreham, Sound Beach, Stony Brook, Strongs Neck, and Terryville, and parts of Centereach, Coram, Middle Island, Ridge, Selden, and Wading River.
“First District first,” goes the old saying of this seat’s former Senator, Ken LaValle.
Senator Anthony Palumbo, a Republican of New Suffolk, has carried on that legacy well.
Palumbo sits in the center of the Venn Diagram when it comes to the political landscape of New York and of Suffolk. The North Shore of Brookhaven is staunchly Republican and the Three Village area is now perennially competitive, while the district also includes the solid-blue South Fork and Shelter Island, and the blue-trending North Fork. This requires any officeholder representing these areas to approach his/her job with balance and forethought.
Palumbo has championed his Community Housing Fund, an opt-in program to tax the multi-million dollar estates on the East End to give first-time homebuyers a leg up. Palumbo rightly says the youth on the East End are boxed out of that prospect, and we think, there more than anywhere else in Suffolk.
Palumbo is a much-needed voice in Albany due to his pragmatism and experience as an attorney. He is the Ranking Member on both the Codes and Judiciary committees and was a crucial point in forcing a vote on Hector LaSalle’s nomination to the Court of Appeals in 2023. It seems likely that more high-stakes judicial nominations will unfold within the next gubernatorial term, and we expect Palumbo will be just as tough on transparency and jurisprudence.
BESS facilities are on the top concerns right now, and Palumbo has rightly urged on pausing the nascent technology until firefighting capabilities are met. Suffolk’s landmark thermal runway case occurred in Wainscott, in his district, and the facts are still being found. None have been comforting.
Since his first election to the Senate in 2020, Palumbo has gotten nearly 100 bills passed, despite being in the minority in a state with a Democratic trifecta. His amicable relationship with the Governor has proven that work can still get done, even from the minority. That’s been especially helpful in paving the way for electrification with the closing on the Lawrence Aviation site in Port Jefferson Station and in working across the aisle to preserve the Setauket-Port Jefferson Greenway.
Moreover, Palumbo has been able to fill in the gaps on some quirkier, yet still worthy, initiatives. His bill to ban the slaughter of horses comes to mind. We hope to see his proposal, Carolyn’s Law, earn the Governor’s signature. That bill would effectively serve as a counterweight against legal guardians preventing others from visiting loved ones in hospital/nursing care. It’s a common sense proposal that can go a long way.
Palumbo’s opponent is Chris Murray, an East Setauket Democrat who initially accepted The Messenger’s request for an interview, but promptly cancelled earlier this month. We were looking forward to learning about his candidacy.
The Messenger endorses Palumbo.
