
Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst said on Tuesday afternoon that she will not seek reelection this fall—and instead will mount a challenge for U.S. Representative Lee Zeldin’s 1st District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2016 election.
Earlier this spring, Ms. Throne-Holst had said she was committed to continuing in her town role and was not looking forward to next year’s congressional race—even though she was seen as an immediate favorite for the challenger’s corner when Mr. Zeldin defeated six-term Democrat Tim Bishop. On Tuesday, she acknowledged that she had been approached about being a candidate for the federal post frequently in the past but had turned her sights to that prospect only very recently.
“I love my job as supervisor, and I so appreciate the people I work with and it’s a day-to-day relationship that I treasure,” she said on Tuesday afternoon. “On the other hand, I think my brand of ‘people not politics’ is sorely needed in Washington. I have a seven-and-a-half-year track record of minding the house and keeping a lid on taxes and cleaning up where cleaning up is needed. I think that’s the kind of legislating that is needed in Washington.”
Ms. Throne-Holst said the encouragement to challenge Rep. Zeldin has come from many corners of the Democratic Party, regionally and locally. She has not said when she will make an official announcement, though one is expected this week.
The three-term supervisor also said that once she came to the decision to seek the congressional seat, she decided it was not fair to Southampton Town residents to run for reelection to her town office in the interim. If she had won reelection to the supervisor’s office and had then won the congressional race, she would have had to leave town office with a year remaining on the term, leaving the town to hold a special election to fill its top post.
“I don’t want to mislead anyone—I’m not into smoke-and-mirrors, and I just didn’t think that was the right thing to do,” she said. “There’s a certain disingenuousness in that, and I wasn’t going to mislead my constituents and supporters.
“Instead, I will now focus all my attention for the next half a year on the business here—there’s a lot of work left to be done,” she said.
Ms. Throne-Holst is eligible to serve just one more two-year term as supervisor under town term limits law.
She was first elected to the Town Board in 2007, as a councilwoman, and then took over the supervisor’s office in 2009, defeating incumbent Republican Supervisor Linda Kabot. She won easy reelection to the post in 2011, when she was unchallenged, and again in 2013, in a rematch with Ms. Kabot.
During her tenure as supervisor, Ms. Throne-Holst oversaw steep cuts to town staffing levels, a broad reorganization of many of its government departments, and a rebuilding of financial accounts from deep deficits to robust reserves on the backs of stringent budget constraints. She has taken some lumps from groups of residents for her support of development projects like an apartment complex on Sandy Hollow Road and recently approved townhouses on the Shinnecock Canal.
Ms. Throne-Holst is expected to officially change her voter registration to Democrat before the election campaign gets rolling, as she would not be able to participate in a party primary otherwise.
She is currently registered with the Independence Party, which she helped establish as a political force in Southampton Town, but has been the Democratic Party’s candidate of choice in all four of her elections. When she first ran for office, she carried no political affiliation.
The supervisor is not the only person expected to seek to be East End Democrats’ choice to fight Mr. Zeldin next year. David Colone, a private equity manager and chairman of the Suffolk County Planning Commission, has already announced he plans to seek the Democratic nomination as well.
Mr. Zeldin’s press officer, Jennifer DiSiena, issued a statement Tuesday on behalf of the congressman in response to news of Ms. Throne-Holst’s expected candidacy.
“Congressman Zeldin has been working tirelessly in Congress since January, all day, every day, on important issues facing his constituents,” the statement read in part. “Congressman Zeldin will not be outworked, outclassed or out-gunned in pursuing victories for his district.”
Don't dismiss Schneiderman -- he's a ten-time winner and the last time out beat the popular GOP pick Chris Nuzzi like a hanging carpet.
And "G," are you serious? There's a very strong Democratic party in Southampton Town, and has been for sometime. Part of it is the growing change in registrations, and part of it is the lack of organization by the young Turks of the GOP and the divisiveness of the presence of Pat Heaney Jr.
Practically everyone at town Hall (Hiring Hall) is Republican. I wouldn't put down the Republican Party at all since they know how to deliver to their constituents! They are the organizational superiors in every way of the Southampton Democratic Party, who have ...more forgotten a lot more than the Southmp. Dem Exec Committee has ever known about political operations.
In the end, it is all about jobs you can provide isn't it and the Republicans you mock are masters at it. That's the bottom line! The Reps make the Dem Exec Comm. look like pathetic losers who don't even know anymore how to field Democrats for office to the disgust of Dem Comm members, much less provide jobs for their people.
Gordon Herr with all his obnoxious, obsequious kowtowing to Anna hasn't even gotten a town job from Anna for seven years, so he can come back from that Suffolk County political Siberia job. So you tell me who the political masters are.
Imagine a Congress that gets things done
Fantasizing on an efficient Congress.
If term limits work for the county, why not the Congress?
If Jay winds up on the town board, you can thank term limits.
Democratic Committee members, put your foot down and refuse to get petitions and signatures for these Indie interlopers. Don't listen to the old ...more coots. It means something to be a Democrat.
Of course, if you were there in the room as a member, you could also hear those who disagree with you -- quite a few, I think -- and you might not like that.
Check out Frank Wheeler's post up above. He lives in the real world, and he's got it right.
Instead of banging ...more on from the sidelines about how the Dems should play the game, get on the team yourself and join the fray. This is the second time I'm saying this, and I'll keep saying it as long as you presume to dictate from a safe perch.
What does a party stand for if it constantly endorses other-party candidates whose ideology is its polar opposite (Conservative Republican Anna Throne-Holst), or who are doctrinal cyphers (Brad Bender, Jay Schneiderman?)
I presume that the pragmatic reasons for this decision are that the local party wants ...more to "appear" robust (by endorsing "winners") and to have an oar in the water in the handing out of public jobs.
Not being a "connected" Democrat, I can't tell you how well this strategy is working but I CAN tell you that, as a member of the general public, I find it contemptible.
Here are alternative, "unrealistic" stratagems that the Democratic committee might consider:
(a) If there is no one willing to run as a Democrat, or no one you will accept as a candidate - - - SIT OUT THE ELECTION.
(b) If there ARE such candidates, but you don't think that they can win, run a PRINCIPLED campaign anyway - - - AND LOSE.
Make the Southampton Town Democratic Party something other than a synonym for "sellout".
A political bordello you opine, yes, indeed.
Let us take as examples, Anna, Fred and Jay. Each was, if memory serves me well, at some point in their respective illustrious registered voter, party enrollee history at one point or another a Democrat. For a variety of reasons, ...more mostly, electability two became Republicans.
However, and again, strictly my opinion, you may agree or disagree, each while becoming members of the Independence Party did so after discussing with the Democratic leadership in the County and presumably the Town whether they would receive the endorsement of the Democratic Committee when running for office.
The membership in the Independence Party was sought and agreed to because, again simply my personal opinion and observation, because they believed that they could not prevail electorally without the Independence Party ballot line.
If they became members of the Independence Party they would not need a Wilson Pakula (the document provided by Political Party's that authorizes non-party members to run on that ballot line). Now in order to obtain a Wilson-Pakula Authorization from the Independence Party in Suffolk County that means obtaining a majority vote of that Party's Executive Committee and its Chairperson. Since one never knows what the Indy Party Chair and Executive Committee might do, by becoming a member of the Indy Party no kneeling, ring kissing or other commitments would have to be given to the Indy Party powers that be.
So in this political scenario the Democratic Party leadership blessed them (although I must confess that any one who believes it necessary to have the Indy ballot line to win an election on the Democratic ballot line insults our collective intelligence).
The three then claim that their status as Indy Party members is a testament to their "i"ndependence, afterall it is a common belief that the Indy Party has no ideology in and of itself, and hardly an omen that its elected official members are above dreaded politics
To me their very membership in a political party belies such a notion. Joining a political party to insure having its line, barring a loss in a party primary, is hardly a gesture of independence, it is as I have told Frank Mackay simply a common form, again simply my opinion, of crass political prostitution.
That Democratic Party leadership would condone such a practice while not confessing publicly why it continues to support these candidates even though the candidates may not share all the values espoused by the Democratic Committee, places that leadership in some other role in the political version of what has been called the world's oldest profession.
What role that might be, I leave to you the reader.
George, am I incorrect in my assessment of why Anna, Fred and Jay are members of the Indy Party and not the Democratic Party?
As a life long Democrat, former Southampton Town Democratic Chairperson, former Democratic Elections Commitssioner and former Chairperson of the Suffolk County Democratic Law Committee and Executive Committee, I have always been proud of being a Democrat.
I can not bring myself to cast a vote for anyone on the Democratic Party ballot line who feels they cannot win if they are enrolled as members of the Democratic Party.
So bring on the hypocritical Independence Party member led Democratic Ballot Line, but don't pretend you are doing anything but advancing your own political electoral interests by conning the public.
"But he had maintained his permanent residence, and voter registration, at his property in Montauk—until he switched his registration early this month to the address of the house he is currently renting in Hampton Bays while his Southampton ...more house is built."
He switched AGAIN, just to run here...thats rediculous, time for a new line of work Jay
Let's not forget that the hit-and-run death of Sister Jackie Walsh on July 9, 2012 was never solved, and that the details of the investigation were never released, ostensibly because it was an "active investigation."
Well, with the suspected driver long gone (after the SHT PD waited 11 days to release his ID and photo), and the Town Board about to be mostly new faces, perhaps someone could get to the ...more bottom of this case, which the Press called in an editorial -- years ago -- a gross miscarriage of justice.
How easily we forget . . .
Will she run as an Independen[ce]? If so, one hopes that the Suffolk County Democratic Committee will have the integrity (unlike its Southampton Town counterpart) to deny her the Democratic line. There is no reason for it to anoint this marzipan princess when there are so many REAL Democrats available.
David Calone (Suffolk County Planning Commission Chair - and winner of the Weakest Link. Also works under Mark Lesko at "Accelerate Long Island")
Mark Lesko (Former Brookhaven Town Supervisor before he abruptly resigned in the midst of difficult budget discussions to pursue "Accelerate Long Island" which he LITERALLY made up while he was Supervisor.
Kara Hahn (Suffolk ...more County Legislator - I don't have any fun facts about her).
So, ya know, you have LOTS Of great choices...
Her move to suddenly get Democratic Party enrollment religion certainly ...more brought to rapid fruition my earlier post in this string regarding political prostitution.
Moreover it becomes quite likely that come January 1, 2016 ATH will rely upon her real estate salespersons license for income. If that is to be the case the right thing to do going forward is to recuse herself from any comments or votes on matters before the town board pertaining to real estate and development. Any votes or comments from the lame duck supervisor would have to be looked at as a conflict of interest. Would her vote reflect the need of the Town or what would be good for an individual selling and/or leasing real estate.
One can also imagine that former Congressperson Bishop spoke highly of ATH to the DCCC and we can imagine Tim's contributors jumping to lavish cash upon ATH in the expectation that things for them would return to the Bishop years status quo.
Then, of course, there is the question of who the Democratic and Republican candidates for Supervisor will be given that it is suddenly an open seat. Does Christine risk running against Jay and losing or does she stay on the path of wait 2 more years and hope that the smoke and mirror economic miracle in Southampton collapses without the Anna and Len team working their voodoo economic magic. Then Christine blames Jay.
Does Jay now a bona fide Southampton Town resident run for Supervisor or Town Board. Well, is the Town Board salary sufficient for Jay without outside income and a couple of kids to care for or does that Supervisor's salary seem a better place to land. And can Jay defeat Christine?
The next week to ten days should prove very interesting.
What if Bridget decides she would rather be Town Supervisor than County Legislator?
What if Gordon had a sudden onset of political testicle growth and told Jay, well you know you have to move from the Indy Party to the Dem Party if you want our line.
How much bearing on all these machinations are a result of the not so hidden animosity between the County Democratic Leader and the County Democratic County Executive?
Welcome to our local version of political Peyton Place.
The first indications of who is where will be in the finance campaign committee filings at both the State and Federal levels.
No one should discount the political clout of Brookhaven's Kara Hahn or the federal prosecutorial history of Mark Lesko. Persons who were proud to enroll as Democrats and have yet to visit or reside in any political bordello's.
Time will tell whether ATH will soon look back only to discover she has been tossed under the bus to advance the careers of others closer to the Democratic leadership than she.
May you live in interesting times may have started out as a change in dynasties curse in the Middle Kingdom, but it sure is making for interesting times here on the South Fork.
So here's a toast to the lame duck Supervisor, may you live in interesting times, Anna, in its fullest Chinese connotation
A recent article indicates that ATH is becoming a dem, announced she is not running for supervisor (because she doesn't think that it would be fair to run for something she doesn't plan on serving the whole term of) and Jay will be running for Supervisor.
Don't count on Christine ...more running for Sup - she didn't want to be a councilperson but it was a way easier commute and less "work" than her previous post as an attorney for Brookhaven Town. She's in it for the benefits - why risk them by running for Sup? She doesn't need the money or want the power.
Read Newsday still trying to find an answer to any of the questions I asked.
Smoke and mirror responses by the Supervisor, canned responses, well rehearsed.
“I don’t want to mislead anyone—I’m not into smoke-and-mirrors, and I just didn’t think that was the right thing to do,” she said. “There’s a certain disingenuousness in that, and I wasn’t going to mislead my constituents and supporters"
Sorry but I think it ...more was a bit disingenuous to never once admit and reveal to the public that her enrollment in the Independence Party was a farce aimed solely at enhancing her potential to be elected. Either that or her new found desire to enroll in the Democratic Party is hypocritical.
She can't have it both ways.
She was either a democrat hiding in Indy clothing to get that additional ballot line without needing a Wilson Pakula from Frank Mackay.
Or is she now becoming an Independent Party person hiding in Democratic clothing?
Any way you look at it, it's politics as usual certain not public service above politics as usual.
Sound bite responses and slogans don't hide the facts. Ms. Throne-Holst has been disingenuous to the public for many years and nothing now suggests she has reached some epiphany.
She continues to place her self interest above all else and that is pretty standard operating procedure for most politicians and elected officials.
Speculation encourages conversation and debate, and conversation and debate are the hallmarks of a democracy in action. And with 2707 posts I'd hazard a guess your soap box is much larger than the old orange crate I use.
And please compare the donors to Tim Bishop's federal campaigns to those that will start shortly for Ms Throne-Holst. Connect the dots.
Safe Memorial Day Weekend Nature.
And in case you haven't noticed - the east end is a cross-endorsement haven. Why do you act surprised?
This is in no way a defense of her and I hope she gets whooped and gives the ol' real estate thing a shot. My guess is she'll be out of a job within 6 months because high playing clients expect to be pampered - not ...more bullied.
As to whom to blame, I blame the leaders of the two major parties, the Dems and Reps for not banning these third party cross-endorsements. Way back when Baranello and Buzz were the County Leaders of the Dems and Reps such a ban was agreed to. It didn't las that long but ...more it was a think of beauty to behold while it did last.
As for Ms. Throne-Holst's Congressional Candidacy I suspect the opposition researchers from both long time Democrats also interested in that seat and, of course, by Mr. Zeldin's campaign staff will have a field day.
Cross-endorsements by the major parties deprive the public of choice and cross-endorsements of third party enrollees or by third parties of major party candidates are either frauds perpetrated on the public or the result of deals, neither of which serve the public interest.
And I certainly wasn't surprised and am not quite certain why you would have inferred that from anything I have written here.
BTW as a member of the Independence Party she did not need the approval of its leadership, she did need an approval by the Dem County Executive Committee which tends to rubber stamp the Dem County Leader who tends to leave such decisions up to the respective Town Dem leaders. So if you were looking for a specific face to point a finger at it would be Gordon Herr's in this case.
That may or may not be the case regarding the Wilson-Pakula Authorization Jay will now receive. That may trace more directly to the tension between the County Dem Leader and the County Executive.
But certainly Mr. Herr has no objection to running non-Democratic Party enrollee's for policy making decisions. And he should share with those candidates and officials any negatives that come from their appointments, especially in positions such as town attorney and town comptroller.
Rumor has it that Southampton Town's fiscal shape is not as robust as it might appear and by 2017 campaign time those weaknesses may no longer be hidden away.
Always interesting to speculate. Afterall Ms. Throne-Holst has run out things to steal from Ms. Kabot's economic recovery plan.
Having abandoned support for constituents living on the eastern flank of SH Town, by bowing to pressure from SH village, she withdrew her support for airport noise restrictions, together with Flemming and Scalera after having made much ado about supporting such restrictions.
A disgusting reversal and now it is clear why---so wealthy SHites would back her for congress. Constituents far beyond Southampton are also impacted by airport ...more noise and are unlikely to forget her/their treason.
Alex is a straight shooting guy, and earnest, no Brad Bender at all, who didn't slavishly kowtow to Anna like Brad. So he was treated and is still treated today like a persona non grata. Just ...more ask Alex. Like Bridget's treatment, ATH has made his life a living hell, which is why no one outside the Dem Exec committee and a few others could stomach her. Talk to Town Hall employees.
Zeldin is licking his chops waiting for Anna to be his next opponent, in the unlikely event she wins the Suffolk County Democratic Primary where the carpetbagging Anna who is forced to turn Democrat (never a requirement of the South Dem Exec Comm) will face true long time Democrats who have long earned their Democratic stripes. Let's see her bat her pretty eyelashes and flash her Swedish royalty credentials through this campaign.
Meanwhile First Lady Michelle Obama spoke today to graduates of Oberlin College. She encouraged the graduating class to "shape the revolutions of your time.
Is this appropriate behavior for the First Lady of the United States of America ?
I don't believe for one solitary moment you have one iota of an idea what the word means.
Marxism is a philosophy according to it's creators predictions of the evolution of human society. From fuedalism right on ...more up to Gene Roddenberry's fictional 24th century where money no longer exists, it's pretty accurate.
The only evils are the ones which were created by men in it's name, not the theory...