The Main Event

The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.
Joseph Stalin (1879 - 1953)


In America you can go on the air and kid the politicians, and the politicians can go on the air and kid the people.
Groucho Marx (1890 - 1977)


Predictability in politics is neither a good thing nor is it a rational expectation.
After the Kabot win in the Town Supervisor’s race – edging out Jim Henry by a few votes and putting Skip Heaney away with a few hundred votes – the Town Board will now be the focus of the political noise. Despite the calming effective attempted in the Southampton Press description of everyone making nice, things are not simply smooth sailing at the moment. Heaney's public temper tantrums during Board meetings and behind the scenes maneuvering are dragging Nuzzi along and making everyone just a little nervous. Sweet smiles and voices of cooperation are, in part, window-dressing, as they ready for the Main Event come January 2008.

Since Kabot won the race and moves over from Town Board member to Supervisor, there will now be only 3 Board members aside from her – instead of the 4 slots that exist on the Board in addition to Supervisor. Board members have a 4-year term while Supervisor is only a 2-year term.
So there are a few options that have some interesting ramifications.

First, Kabot could do nothing. That’s an attractive option because it appears to not be a political move. Of course, anything that a politician does is a political move – it just doesn’t always appear to be calculated.
Not appointing a replacement leaves the Board with Kabot, Throne-Holst and Graboski – and on the other side of the political fence is former Heaney shill, Chris Nuzzi.
Since Heaney lost the Primary to Kabot, and then the General election, that particular game is not over. Heaney has been giving Kabot a very difficult time at Board meetings while he is still Supervisor and she, still a Board member. Heaney is a sore loser; a petulant child in the parlor game of manners and, more importantly, the plan is to create enough trouble so that he is not out of power. The roots of corruption go deeply into local Republican politics -- and the possibility that the friendly law firms, political connections, job appointments, financial quid pro quos, and outright control of the money – including all of those New York property tax dollars and transfer tax multi-millions (Peconic Preservation Fund) -- which might now be out of Heaney’s grasp – is upsetting to him as well as the Old Boy network. Heaney and Thiele managed to finesse money into the PILOT program and now the schools also get to divvy up some of that Transfer Tax money -- with some cooperation from Spitzer.

Some of the Heaney bureaucracy is already being dismantled. Garrett Swenson, the Town Attorney, one of the architects (at least as far as its public face is concerned) of the Draconian and unconstitutional rental law that takes effect on January 1st – has already started circulating his resume.

The Code Enforcement bureau of the Police Department may have some new members on the rubber gun squad (the fictional squad whose members have been relieved of any authority) – and the Police Chief may be having a fireside chat soon with the new government after “The Raid” that targeted Kabot and her aunt. Too many Southampton Town officials complied with the order from Heaney and Nuzzi to break Kabot's shoes with that little arrangement – which the Southampton Press dutifully reported – in terms that were none too sympathetic. (Republican controlled advertisers intimidated for years by the Republicans were on the mind of the Loucheims, no doubt. And, the fact that Heaney had his hand into their editorial department also didn’t help Kabot.)

The same political targeting that made Kabot the brunt of the only real purpose of the new rental law – political targeting using the immigrants in Southampton as its raison d’etre – remains on the books. It certainly brought home to Kabot and other Board members what the real purpose was of that law which was enacted with her help. Heaney played upon everyone’s basest fears and retaliative fantasies and slipped the law in so that he could buy more votes and use the law to target adversaries.

So, by doing nothing, Kabot would preserve control of the government process with a reformer (Throne-Holst), a Republican with a sense of ethics (Graboski), and Nuzzi – the Crookhaven leftover from the Heaney days whose only current function is to disrupt on orders from Heaney. Nuzzi is likely to be spy and a quisling whose job will be to lay low and then to disrupt, not advance the needs of Southampton residents or non-resident property owners. But, temporarily he will appear to be a team player in order to confuse his adversaries and be ready to support Heaney's hidden agenda.

It may be a pleasant change to have a Board primarily composed of women who have, for years, suffered from the misogyny of the Heaney administration that was memorialized in the behavior of his right hand man, Garrett Swenson – known among female politicians as “The Neanderthal.”
This negative treatment of women has been a familiar strain among law enforcement – from court officers and Code Enforcement, to Police, and to clerical staff – for decades. The off-color jokes have barely been contained even after the election.

Well boys, time to knock it off. Unless you want to leave your equipment hanging on the door on your way out.

The second option is a little dicier.

The Heaney forces would salivate over an opportunity to see Russo appointed.
That mistake would put Kabot right back into the open arms of the old-boy Republicans and would be the nail in the coffin for reform. While it would appease the Party regulars and have Heaney dancing on Main Street, the Town voters would be screwed. While no one knows what Kabot plans to do, that would be a signal that Heaney is still calling the shots and Kabot is trying to buy peace. In other words, nothing will have changed – the whole election imbroglio would simply have been smoke and mirrors, a dog and pony show for the voters.

The third option would entail some new entrant, once speculated to be Ann Nowak, a close associate of Kabot’s and a Water Mill attorney who worked on her campaign. While that may seem to be a neutral decision, it is widely considered to be unlikely, given that Novak has stated openly that she has no interest in the appointment. Since she hasn’t run for office, the political, non-political denial is more believable than usual.

The fourth option is more interesting. Alex Gregor.
Gregor destroyed Heaney’s chance for a fourth term. He not only took out Heaney in the third party run for Supervisor by a few votes, he arguably made it impossible for Heaney to win the General Election by taking some of the Republican votes in Hampton Bays– a location that was strongly pro-Heaney. Gregor has a long memory and his treatment by Town government under Heaney was unforgivable. He was a whistle-blower whose only reason for making complaints was the health of the residents.
He is an environmentalist and an ethical politician who took on Heaney after being defamed over his challenge of Bill Masterson. Masterson is the Highway Department Chief who thus far has escaped the fate of the Crookhaven Federal inquiries, which brought indictments against other bid-rigging paving contract suspects. The well-known habits of bureaucratic functionaries, which brought heavy money into the coffers of the Republicans in Town Hall, was something that Gregor wanted to change. Obviously, Heaney could not let him screw with the money source -- and spread nasty rumors that prevented Gregor from winning.

So, appointing Gregor to the empty slot would be the right thing to do for the Town. He is well respected and neutral. He’s a local that wants balance. He is also someone that returns calls and answers questions. The people like him.


The last option involves calling a Special Election. She could do it with 90 days notice or she could wait until next November’s General Election. While Kabot may or may not know this, she cannot call the election herself but must petitiion the Governor to do this.
Delaying the decision brings criticism; not delaying the decision brings criticism. No matter what she does, she will be criticized.
However, the loudest criticism will come from the Heaney boys who will criticize anything other than Russo’s appointment.
And, then, they will criticize anything and everything she does – until Heaney and his allies’ gain control of the Board again.

Any way possible.

Unless Kabot does what any shrewd politician who takes control of power does.

When New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn first took office she fired everyone and started over with her own people.

Politics is serious business.