Four Suffolk legislative incumbents outraised by challengers

Daily Point

Fundraising gathers steam with help from political connections

The trappings of political office give an incumbent an edge over a rival, and the biggest benefit is money — cash for campaign mailings, ads and lawn signs.

So, it’s surprising when an incumbent is outfundraised by a challenger.

In the November elections for Suffolk County’s 18 legislative districts, four incumbents raised less money than their challengers, according to July 15 campaign finance filings with the state Board of Elections.

Legis. Catherine Stark, a Republican and Conservative representing the 1st District, raised $8,825 during the Jan. 15-to-July 15 filing period, compared with $17,526.40 raised by her Democratic challenger Gregory Doroski, who also has the Working Families Party line. Stark has about $2,000 more than Doroski in the bank.

Legis. Steven Englebright (D, WF) raised $21,628 compared with Republican and Conservative challenger Laura Endres, who raised $30,943.80. Endres has $27,682.38 in the bank compared with Englebright’s $20,852.02.

Legis. Anthony Piccirillo (R, C) raised $24,475 compared with Democratic challenger Kelly Perry, who raised $29,204.85. Piccirillo reported $23,664.47 in the bank compared with Perry’s $22,524.41.

And 9th District Legis. Sam Gonzalez (D, WF) raised $2,700 compared with Republican and Conservative challenger Guy Leggio, who netted $41,770. Gonzalez has just $971.24 in the bank compared with Leggio’s $39,991.34.

How did challengers outraise their incumbent opponents? Simple — connections. Hey, it’s politics, after all.

Doroski’s haul was helped by a $2,996.40 check from Sheriff Errol Toulon’s political campaign. Endres’ campaign got a $4,000 boost from the Committee to Elect a Republican Majority, which lists a post office box in Brookhaven. Perry raked in $2,000 from Nancy Goroff, who lost the Democratic primary last year for the 1st Congressional District. And Leggio landed a $2,500 transfer from the Islip Town Republican Committee, and a $1,000 transfer from Islip Town Supervisor Angie Carpenter’s political campaign.

In eight legislative district races where challengers didn’t file reports, incumbents raised a combined $234,436.55. Six of those incumbents are Republicans and just two are Democrats.

And if money is a bellwether, the race for the 16th Legislative District may be competitive. Incumbent Rebecca Sanin (D, WF) raised $41,427.40 while Republican and Conservative Chad Lupinacci raised $34,789.15. Sanin, however, has $90,216.04 in the bank compared with Lupinacci’s $47,109.42. Lupinacci, the former supervisor of Huntington Town who decided not to seek reelection in 2021 amid controversies, transferred $28,159.62 from his supervisor campaign account.

Incumbents shouldn’t be disheartened, though — they still have access to those free official government mailers that substitute campaign flyers.

— Mark Nolan mark.nolan@newsday.com

Pencil Point

Trump's crash course in economics

For more cartoons, visit www.newsday.com/augustnationalcartoons

Final Point

It's official: Blakeman quotes Newsday to tout his record

It’s not usual for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman to be positive about Newsday, except, it seems, if he can use the news organization to his advantage.

In the last weeks of July, Blakeman’s reelection campaign has mailed two flyers touting what are considered his first-term accomplishments. The initial mailer cited freezing property taxes, hiring new police officers and protecting women’s sports. The second flyer focuses only on taxes and crime and drops the 2024 culture war issue of barring — at county facilities — transgender athletes on teams that don’t match their birth identity.

To validate the "Cutting taxes and fighting crime" claim, both flyers partially quote a sentence from a Newsday story, "Blakeman in his first term has held the line on county property taxes ..." On the opposite side of the first flyer is a line from the New York Post and on the second, the media outlet quoted is News12.

There's more than a little irony here.

Late last year, Blakeman asked the Nassau County Legislature to end Newsday’s long-standing status as the county’s official newspaper, which made it the paper of record for public notices and instead give that designation, and the ads, to the Post. Newsday sued in January claiming the move was in retaliation for its coverage of the Blakeman administration.

Chris Boyle, a spokesman for the campaign, did not return a request for comment on the campaign using Newsday as a reputable validator for his tenure.

The messaging on the flyers seems rooted in a recent text survey by Research-Polls, a Florida-based firm, that The Point detailed in May.

The poll asked: Which of the following statements best reflects your opinion of County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s leadership style?

The answer options were either Blakeman is too focused on the Trump administration and national matters at the expense of Nassau County issues, or Blakeman is doing a solid job as county executive, holding the line on taxes and making Nassau the safest county in the United States. That poll also asked respondents their view of Newsday.

The campaign flyer says the "held the line on taxes" story, which it presents as a newspaper clipping, was published May 5. The story was posted online the day before, on May 4, and was published in print on May 11. But May 5 is still a relevant time frame. That’s when Newsday posted an online story covering the Nassau Legislature’s vote to approve spending up to $1.7 million on a private law firm to defend itself against the Newsday lawsuit.

— Rita Ciolli rita.ciollii@newsday.com

Subscribe to The Point here and browse past editions of The Point here.