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The Huntington Republican Committee’s 2021 slate of candidates for Town office will build on the tremendous progress achieved by the Town Board’s Republican Majority during the last four years. Led by supervisor candidate Ed Smyth, who was first elected to the Town Board in 2017 and currently serves as Deputy Supervisor, the Republican candidates will continue the Republican Majority’s record of holding the line on property taxes, combating overdevelopment, ensuring public safety and making Town government more accountable.

“When Republicans won a majority on the Town Board in 2017, they put an end to years of massive property tax increases and uncontrolled development that urbanized large parts of our town,” said Huntington Republican Chair Thomas McNally. “Since then, conservative Republican leadership has changed the trajectory of Huntington—capping property taxes, limiting the allowable size and density of new development and enacting term limits.”

Before Huntington voters elected a Republican Majority in 2017, the Democrat-led Town Board repeatedly broke the state property tax cap, including one of the largest tax increases in Town history in 2017, which was also supported by Gene Cook. Since 2018, the Republican-led Town Board has held the line on property taxes and protected the state tax cap—saving Huntington homeowners and small businesses millions of dollars.

The Republican Majority on the Town Board adopted term limits and strengthened Town ethics laws to enhance financial disclosure, prevent nepotism and stop former Town officials from exercising influence on behalf of private clients. Republicans also repealed Democrat-passed zoning changes that allowed an unlimited number of apartments to be built on commercial and mixed-use properties and resulted in every unpopular development project built in downtown Huntington over the past decade.

“Democrats were content to let Huntington be overrun with unchecked development, turning a historic town with suburban charm into a city,” said Chairman McNally. “Through the leadership of Councilman Smyth, Republicans stood up and saved our town. Just last month, the Democrats and their partner Gene Cook tried again to allow high-rise apartments to be built from one end of town to the other. Thankfully, Ed Smyth and dozens of concerned Town residents joined together to stop them.”

The Huntington Republican Committee’s slate of candidates for Town office consists of Ed Smyth, Town Board candidates Sal Ferro and Dave Bennardo and Highway Superintendent candidate Andre Sorrentino.

“We have a tremendous slate of candidates that Huntington taxpayers can believe in,” said McNally. “There’s no question that Ed Smyth, Sal Ferro, Dave Bennardo and Andre Sorrentino will protect the wonderful quality of life that makes Huntington such a special place to live.”

Sign the petition opposing overdevelopment in the Town of Huntington.

We just got word that Councilman Mark Cuthbertson and Councilman Eugene Cook are trying to shut down public debate on their public hearing to expand the development of three-story apartment buildings across our town.

Instead of offering this resolution to cancel the public hearing in front of the public at the Town Board meeting at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow, Cuthbertson and Cook are planning on voting on the cancellation at the Town Board Workshop meeting at 10am. The Town Board Workshop meeting is a public meeting but it isn't video recorded like the Town Board meeting when it is held in person. Cuthbertson and Cook plan to use the forum to cancel their public hearing behind closed doors.

The public is allowed to attend this meeting and we encourage each and every one of you to attend the Workshop meeting at Town Hall tomorrow at 10am to make sure your voice is heard.

At the recent June 15th Town Board meeting, Democrat Councilman Mark Cuthbertson proposed a zoning code amendment, seconded by Councilman Eugene Cook, to allow for the development of three-story apartment buildings anywhere up to 1,500 feet outside of our five main downtown hamlet centers – Huntington Village, Huntington Station, and now in East Northport, Greenlawn and Cold Spring Harbor. A public hearing has been scheduled on the proposal for the in-person July 13th Town Board meeting at 2:00pm.

Now that word has spread on social media and the public has seen and reacted to the plan proposed by Cuthbertson and Cook, which could usher in a new wave of overdevelopment, both Cuthbertson and Cook are now trying to cancel the public hearing, or "un-ring the bell," as Councilman Ed Smyth put it in his statement this week.

And in case you were wondering—no, it's not 2006, the year Councilman Cuthbertson’s proposal passed, allowing countless apartment buildings to be built around Huntington Village and Huntington Station for the past decade and a half, enriching Huntington Democrat donors. Fortunately for all of us, when they took office in 2018, Supervisor Chad Lupinacci and Councilman Ed Smyth worked on a proposal in their first two years in office to put a stop to this unsustainable and reckless overdevelopment and thankfully it passed after a year of community input, in 2020.

It is, in fact, 2021 now, fifteen years after Cuthbertson’s first proposal to turn our suburban town into a city, and his new proposal to expand the development of three-story apartment buildings is a real threat today.

Procedurally, a legally noticed public hearing cannot be cancelled without a Town Board vote and that can only be done on the day of the Town Board meeting but, as Councilman Ed Smyth pointed out, the public has every right to be heard despite Cuthbertson’s and Cook’s attempts to stifle public comment on a matter that will affect all Huntington residents’ lives.

Another important question to ask is, “Where does Huntington Democrat candidate for Town Supervisor, Rebecca Sanin, stand on Cuthbertson’s proposal?” We know where our candidate for Supervisor, Ed Smyth, stands on reckless overdevelopment but Sanin has remained quiet on this pressing matter.

An Important Message from Huntington Republican Party Chairman Tom McNally

Many of you may have received an invitation for an upcoming fundraiser from Friends of Eugene Cook in support of his run for Town Supervisor. To be clear, the only candidate endorsed by the Republican and Conservative Parties for Town of Huntington Supervisor is ED SMYTH.

First, Eugene Cook is NOT ENDORSED by the Republican Party nor by the Conservative Party for Town Supervisor. This fundraiser is specifically intended to finance his campaign for Town Supervisor against the Republican Party and Conservative Party candidate Ed Smyth.

Sadly, Eugene Cook has partnered with, and is being supported by, prominent Democratic Party leaders and operatives in his campaign for Town Supervisor. This is part of a Democrat scheme to siphon votes away from Ed Smyth and elect a liberal Democrat as Huntington’s next Town Supervisor. This is dirty politics and, unfortunately, the Democrats have co-opted Eugene Cook to be a part of it.

Any contribution to Eugene Cook’s campaign is money that will be directly spent against the endorsed Republican and Conservative candidate Ed Smyth.

Here are the facts:

1. The Huntington Democratic Party’s Vice Chair, along with other high-level Democratic Party operatives, collected hundreds of petition signatures to place Eugene Cook on the ballot for Town Supervisor.
2. A thorough analysis of these petitions established that almost 60% of Eugene Cook’s signatures were collected by Democratic Party operatives.
3. After a bipartisan review conducted by the Suffolk County Board of Elections, hundreds of Eugene Cook’s signatures were found to be improper and invalidated.
4. A lawsuit is pending to have Eugene Cook’s petitions thrown out by the court, because they are permeated with forgeries and fraud.

The Democrats are desperate. They are attempting to manipulate the process to overcome their weak candidate, Rebecca Sanin, and their failed record of higher taxes, overdevelopment and corrupt, insider deals paid for at the taxpayers’ expense. They know running Eugene Cook on a third-party ballot line is the only chance they have to defeat an accomplished leader like Ed Smyth.

We cannot allow the Democrats’ cynical ploy to succeed.

During Ed Smyth’s first term in office, the Town Board has held the line on property taxes, reformed town government and taken long overdue steps to protect our suburban quality of life. In November, I am confident that voters will easily see through the Democrats’ scheme and continue the progress achieved during the last four years by supporting ED SMYTH and his running mates—Sal Ferro, Dave Bennardo and Andre Sorrentino. Make no mistake, a vote for any other candidate is a vote for the liberal and corrupt Huntington Democratic Party.

Please join me in showing your support for Ed Smyth and our team of Republican Town candidates by signing up to volunteer and by making a contribution to help ensure a Republican Majority for four more years.

- Tom

Dear fellow Huntington Republicans,

We have a tremendous slate of candidates we have running for Town and County office this year and report that we filed more than 1,000 petition signatures qualifying them to be on the ballot.