Huntington supervisor race seen as significant for housing effort statewide

Daily Point

Realtors make pitch on Smyth-Lupinacci contest to support Melville plan

As early voting gets underway, Republican voters in Huntington Town are seeing texts, mailings, social media ads and videos from an unusual source.

The New York State Association of Realtors Fund — which is responsible for the state Realtors’ independent campaign expenditures — is spending more than $150,000 to support Huntington Town Supervisor Ed Smyth’s campaign against Brooke Lupinacci, who serves on the town’s council.

It marks the first time the state Realtors group — which represents licensed real estate agents and brokers across the state — has ever gotten involved in a local race on Long Island.

The campaign came at the urging of the Long Island Board of Realtors, a division of the state association that includes 30,000 agents and brokers, who officially support the Melville Town Center rezoning backed by Smyth and opposed by Lupinacci. LIBOR officials said they see the outcome of the Smyth race as potentially significant for other suburban pro-housing efforts and candidates across the state.

Smyth is a real estate attorney — but LIBOR officials said he has never been a member of or affiliated with the group. Marlo Paventi, LIBOR’s vice president of government and political affairs, noted that Smyth "is someone who understands the plight that Realtors are facing and that homeowners are facing."

"He hasn’t been afraid to speak out and support these initiatives," Paventi said.

LIBOR and the state Realtors fund polled before beginning the ad and found Smyth’s race was "competitive," LIBOR government affairs director Kevin Brady said.

"If we thought this was a slam dunk for Ed Smyth and his team, we wouldn’t have gotten involved," he added.

LIBOR’s ads don’t mention Lupinacci — or the Melville rezoning. While they allude to affordability, they don’t directly talk about housing or real estate, either, instead calling Smyth and his town board running mates "the real conservative team" and "real conservative fighters" who will "protect Huntington’s bottom line."

"He’s the candidate that puts Huntington first," said one of the video ads.

Brady noted that while the ads don’t say it directly, the group is pushing back against the often-made arguments that building more housing in places like Melville would hurt existing home values.

"If Realtors thought the Melville rezoning would harm home values, our members would not support it and we would not be running this campaign," he said.

Brady noted that a Smyth loss could more broadly undermine a pro-housing agenda on Long Island, adding that the race has broader implications for the state as a whole.

"We see this as a statewide bellwether for suburban redevelopment," Brady told The Point.

— Randi F. Marshall randi.marshall@newsday.com

Pencil Point

Stormin' California

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Quick Points

Whale of a problem

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— Michael Dobie michael.dobie@newsday.com

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