Letters

My mom is Cyndi McNamara, and she’s running for reelection to the Town Board.

Many of you have likely received another round of attack mailers about my mom this year. I was struck by the vague “citations” included, and figured I’d do the work myself.

To support claim one: “Her MAGA meltdowns on the board have led to massive lawsuits by developers, miners and disabled veterans that cost taxpayers millions.” East End Beacon, 10/10/24: “Liberty Gardens Developer Sues Southampton Town Over Denial of Zone Change.”

States: “Councilwoman Cyndi McNamara, the liaison to the town’s Veterans Affairs committee, said, ‘This is not an appropriate location for this project,’ adding that local veterans she’s spoken to felt they weren’t included in the conversation. ‘I’m not saying no to veterans. I’m saying no to a project that doesn’t fit in the proposed location.’”

If this response is a “MAGA meltdown,” I suppose board members Maria Moore, Bill Pell and Michael Iasilli, who mirrored my mom’s concerns, may be labeled the same.

Claim two: “A leader in the effort to construct Southampton’s largest development in history on the fringe of the Pine Barrens aquifer protection area.” 27East, 2/26/20: “Pine Barrens Commission Hosts Supporters And Opponents At Lewis Road Public Hearing.”

States: “Cyndi McNamara, chairwoman of the East Quogue CAC, lives on Lewis Road and said her group is unanimously in favor of the project. Public sentiment has been manipulated by activists ‘who claim to care about the community I live in,’ she said. Citing a laundry list of issues in the community that the project opponents have not sought solutions for or spoken out about, she said, ‘They don’t care about our community.’”

I wonder why they didn’t mention that their own candidate, Tom Neely, was a deciding Planning Board vote that approved this development.

Final claim: “Supported spending thousands of dollars on consultants to try to ‘neutralize’ public opposition to an unpopular development project.” Suffolk Times, 9/27/22: “Consulting agency frequently hired by Southold Town faces criticism following NIMBY clause in recent Southampton Town contract.”

States: “Southampton Town officials apologized and struck the clause from the contract, denying any plan to discredit opposition. Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said he only scanned the scope of the proposal and did not see the clause.”

I’ve given you citations so you don’t have to take my word for it.

And I encourage you to question why the state committee is invested in a local race in the first place, and so focused on asking you to “reject” my mom instead of “elect” their own candidate.

Please vote McNamara this November — I promise my mom does her homework even better than I do.

Jocelyn McNamara

East Quogue