Bonner to Face Primary Opponent Once Again

Councilwoman Jane Bonner will face a primary opponent for a third consecutive election this fall, as Brian Lenz, Brookhaven Town's former assistant director of traffic planning, will be facing off against the incumbent Republican on Sept. 10.

Lenz said that he's wanted to run for the seat since before Bonner, C-Rocky Point, even took office in 2007, and after the town board excessed his position in April, the door opened up for him to focus his efforts on getting onto the town board.

"I had told Kevin McCarrick, whenever he was ready to retire, I wanted to take his spot over," said Lenz, 36, on Monday. "I figured this was a good opportunity to throw my name into the hat."

The Shirley native and current Mt. Sinai resident said that his experience working in town hall as an employee would being a unique brand of talents to the town board.

"Often, town board members might ask a department head to do something without know how long it takes, or what it would take to hit the cost. I have that background," he said.

Bonner, running on the Republican and Conservative lines, declined to comment in much detail, referring comment to Brookhaven Town Republican Committee Chairman Jesse Garcia, just saying that "it hasn't changed what I'm doing at all. I'm at work, knocking on doors every night."

Bonner, a former president of the Rocky Point Civic Association, Board of Education Member, and legislative aide to then-Legislator Dan Losquadro, defeated Democrat Bill Shilling in 2007 by a 53-46 margin after McCarrick vacated his seat. In 2009 and 2011, she gained 77 and 74 percent of the votes in primary races against Maria Navarro and Ray Negron, going on to defeat John Leonard and Marie Berkoski in general elections.

Campaign finance reports filed in mid-July show that Bonner had over $11,000 in the bank at the last election filing, while Lenz had almost $900 after spending most of the $6,300 he raised since declaring his candidacy.