East Hampton Town Republicans Field A Politically Mixed Slate

The East Hampton Town Republican Party will employ a motley mix of Republican, Democratic and politically unaffiliated candidates—with a distinct theme of opposition to the South Fork Wind Farm—for the 2019 campaign, as it seeks to find a new foothold in town government.

At Saturday’s nominating convention, the party’s committee endorsed Richard Myers of Wainscott to be its candidate for supervisor, challenging Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc in his first re-election bid for the town’s top office. Mr. Myers, a registered Republican, is the current chairman of the town’s Architectural Review Board and is a former chairman of the Wainscott Citizens Advisory Committee.

He nodded at doubts about the wind farm project, which plans to bring its power supply ashore through Wainscott. His opponent, Mr. Van Scoyoc, has been a strident supporter of the wind farm plan and the cable landing in Wainscott.

“I offer a balanced perspective and moderate voice representing the reality of life and governance today in the Town of East Hampton,” Mr. Myers said in a statement released by the party following his nomination. He said he has “realistic goals as to the continued growth and change of the Town of East Hampton.

“I fully support modern technology and energy, but will question the impact and benefits to our community,” he continued. “I desire to have controls for a local airport that better serves its neighborhood; I believe strongly in the importance of our public beaches and the rights of all to have access; I support the Trustees as they endeavor to protect our resources; and I am an advocate of lower taxes, information technology, and artificial intelligence supplanting mundane and archaic clerical procedures.”

Mr. Myers will be joined on the Town Board ticket by two non-Republicans: Bonnie Brady of Montauk, a registered Democrat and the director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, and Elizabeth Bambrick, the former longtime head of Code Enforcement for the town, who is not registered with a political party.

“As a 30-year public servant, I have witnessed and experienced firsthand the eroding trust in our elected officials,” Ms. Bambrick said in a statement shared by the Republicans. “Patronage, cronyism and arrogance are the norm. Laws are circumvented, bent and broken—with no accountability. Our town code is selectively enforced—when it is enforced at all. Transparency is sacrificed through executive sessions. I represent a fresh approach while bringing us back to the basics of good government.”

Ms. Brady, the wife of a Montauk commercial fisherman, has been one of the most outspoken opponents of the South Fork Wind Farm proposal and the push for industrial-scale wind farms throughout the Northeast’s coastline in general.

I moved here in 1989 ... and the same issues from then are still here and have not been fixed," Ms. Brady said in an email. "Young people who grow up here are forced to leave. Seniors who spent their working lives here cannot stay. Those that do stay, find themselves often battling the town to survive—whether it's the lack of protection for the town's fishermen from the effects of Deepwater Wind, the [Springs Fire Department] tower issue in Springs, the future of Montauk, or the water issue and all of its sequelae in Wainscott. The list keeps growing.

"As locals, we are all in deep water, frankly, treading as fast as we can," she added. "Our town government has to serve the interests of all the people who live here, not just those who can afford to make political contributions. I would like to be that voice, if the residents of the town are kind enough to vote for me."

Ms. Brady and Ms. Bambrick will face two incumbent Democrats, Councilwoman Sylvia Overby and Councilman David Lys. Ms. Overby is seeking a third term on the board, and Mr. Lys, who was appointed to the board in January 2018 and was elected to a new one-year term in a special election last November, is seeking his first full four-year term.

On the East Hampton Town Trustees slate, the Republicans nominated both of their party's current incumbent Trustees, Susan Vorpahl and James Grimes, to run for new two-year terms. It also nominated three new Republican candidates: David Talmage, who is a former Trustee, Fallon Bloecker Nigro, a political newcomer, and Mike Havens, who ran unsuccessfully for Trustee in 2017.

To round out its slate, the party endorsed Rick Drew and Dell Cullum, both current Democratic Trustees, as well as Stephen Lester, a former trustee and registered Democrat, and Rona Klopman, a registered Democrat who has been at the fore of the deep rift that has split the town's dominant Democratic Party over the last 12 months.

Mr. Cullum was elected to the Trustees in 2017 as part of the Democratic slate but did not screen with the party this year for nomination to another term. Mr. Drew, who has been the Town Trustees’ most vocal critic of the Deepwater Wind project, and Mr. Grimes earned nominations from both the Republican and Democratic committees.

Republican Party Chairman Manny Vilar said that he is excited about the mixed-party slate and acknowledged the vein of skepticism about offshore wind farms that runs through its ideology.

“Our number-one priority was not political party affiliation, it was getting the best people we could, and we’ve put together a solid team,” Mr. Vilar said. “We do believe that Deepwater is wrong for our community. We are environmental conservationists, but the premise behind environmental conservation is sound policy, based on know-how. I was the first candidate two years ago to challenge the whole premise of Deepwater and, yes, we have nominated a lot of candidates that believe Deepwater is going to do more harm to the environment than it will help.”

Town Justice Lisa Rana and Highway Superintendent Steven Lynch both earned endorsements for new terms in their respective offices, as did Tax Assessors Jill Massa, a Republican, and Jeanne Nielsen, a Democrat.

Former Southampton Town Supervisor Linda Kabot won the party’s nomination to run for Suffolk County Legislature against incumbent Legislator Bridget Fleming, a Democrat.

Along with the slate of candidates, the committee also elected Diane McNally, a former Town Trustee, to be its new vice chairwoman.

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