Baldassare Yes--Losquardo No!

‘Tis the season for Meet the Candidates. I attended a forum on Monday, Oct. 7, that showcased all the candidates running this year. Let’s consider the candidates running for Town of Brookhaven Highway Department Superintendent:  Lori Baldassare and Dan Losquadro.

Ms Baldassare has been a Civic activist, was the driving force securing the funding for the Heritage Park, has worked in Town government for years, and was the  Deputy Superintendent of the Highway Department until January 2013, among many other things.

Mr. Losquadro’s experience, on the other hand, has been mostly legislative, until he left the state assembly to run as  Highway Superintendent.

At this week’s meeting, in response to whether the candidates could ensure us that the problems with last year’s blizzard wouldn’t happen again, Baldassare basically said that if elected she’ll make sure it doesn’t. Mr. Losquadro’s reponse is right in that it shouldn’t  be about what one person can do during an emergency--there should be systems in place regardless of whether the person at the top is there or not.

So let’s look at what happened.  Ms. Baldassare was there during Sandy and was more than likely the only one at the top. John Rouse was running for his new position! Given all the devastation , the roads were cleared in a timely way. Information got out on what we needed to do.  I was without power for 11 days and I knew where I could get help. In other words, there was a system in place and the system worked.

Now let’s consider Nemo.  Ms. Baldassare wasn’t there.  After the Romaine administration took over at the Town, the most experienced person in the Highway Department, Lori Baldassare,  was fired and Mike Murphy, a person who had only spent a few months in the office, was put in place. Then, when the blizzard hit, most of Town government was on vacation or having dental problems.

There was no one there with the experience to take on the job. Mr. Losquadro, say what you will, I am confident that if Ms. Baldassare had still been at the top, she either would have been there herself or would have had people in place to take over.

Finally, at the Meet the Candidates event the other night, Mr. Losquadro introduced himself by saying  he didn’t need to tell the audience much about his background because we all know who he is. Mr. Losquadro, did you simply not want to remind us that you left the state assembly only months after being elected? Did you not want to remind us that this caused a special election that taxpayers had to pay for? Did you not want to make it known that your experience doesn’t qualify you to run the Highway Department? Did you not want us to remember that since you were reelected to the Assembly in November 2012 but declined to serve, that we have had no representation in Albany?

Lori Baldassre has that knowhow and experience.  She hasn’t been jumping from one office to another.  She has been committed to local issues and doing what we want her to—Her  job!!