Letters

Jesse Warren for supervisor? Really?

That’s what the psychotically ambitious former mayor of Southampton Village recently proposed to the local Republican leadership. The inverted symmetry of it is striking.

Current Town Supervisor Maria Moore, with a successful term behind her, had been the acclaimed mayor of Westhampton Beach Village before, credited with a major downtown restoration and the installation of a transformative sewer system.

Jesse Warren, currently out of office, was the mayor of Southampton Village, remembered for little except the constant acrimony with the village trustees that finally drove him from office.

A race between Moore and Warren could fairly be called triumph versus disaster.

Not surprisingly, the Republicans said “no thank you” to this proposal, conveyed to them only after Warren had failed to win the Democratic nomination for Town Council.

That’s right, the Democratic nomination. A Democratic Committee member, Jesse Warren entered that party’s contest to be a candidate for Town Council in November. Among several people screened, he wasn’t the one picked — and he promptly, perfidiously, turned to the Republicans.

Maybe this wouldn’t be so appalling if Jesse Warren weren’t constantly berating Southampton Democratic Chair Gordon Herr for secret “deal-making” done without consulting the committee. The hypocrisy of this is blinding, given Democrat Warren’s attempted pact with the Republicans.

What Warren ignores is that our committee has 84 members, far too unwieldy a number to manage the daily flow of matters. So we have a smaller body, an Executive Committee, to act where legally permitted, but the full committee is consulted whenever the law requires.

Given Jesse Warren’s boundless ego, I’m sure it’s a keen frustration that he isn’t on this Executive Committee, but he isn’t, and that’s a good thing in the opinion of all but himself.

I wouldn’t trouble to write this except that Gordon Herr has long been my good friend and respected colleague, always following the rules. I won’t tolerate his being libeled by the phony charges that Jesse Warren and his friends have made against him, alleging secrecy and autocratic “deals.”

I called Jesse Warren psychotically ambitious before, and that’s what all this is really about. He craves some office, some distinction, and he’ll take anything. If it can’t be Town Council (and it can’t), he’ll take supervisor. If it can’t be supervisor (and it can’t), he’ll take Democratic Committee chairman.

Sure, that’s why all committee members received a saccharine letter from Jesse, thanking us so much for gathering signatures and saying “please don’t hesitate to reach out” if he can help.

That’s it. Jesse Warren wants Gordon Herr’s job, pure and simple. He’ll take anything.

Pathetic.

George Lynch

Quiogue

Lynch is the communications chair for the Southampton Democratic Committee — Ed.