Oyster Bay Town Council Candidates: Meet Ned Newhouse

WOODBURY, NY — Voters in the Town of Oyster Bay will head to the polls Nov. 5 to cast their ballots for supervisor, council, clerk and receiver of taxes.

In the council election, seven candidates are vying for three open seats. Three candidates are running on the Democratic ticket and three are running on the Republican line. One is running as a Libertarian.

Comprised of the supervisor and six council member, the town board is the legislative body for the Town of Oyster Bay. The panel is responsible for operating the town, and does this by passing local laws, ordinances and resolutions.

Unincorporated areas in the town include Bethpage, East Norwich, Glen Head, parts of Glenwood Landing, Greenvale, Hicksville, Jericho, Locust Valley, Massapequa, North Massapequa, Old Bethpage, Oyster Bay, Plainview, Seaford, South Farmingdale, Syosset and Woodbury.

Incorporated villages in the town include Bayville, Brookville, Centre Island, Cove Neck, Farmingdale, Lattingtown, Laurel Hollow, Massapequa Park, Matinecock, Mill Neck, Muttontown, Old Brookville, Old Westbury, Oyster Bay Cove, Roslyn Harbor, Sea Cliff, Upper Brookville and Westbury.

Patch reached out to both candidates via email and/or Facebook to hear where they stand on important issues affecting the community.

Here are their responses.

Ned Newhouse

• Age (as of Sept. 1): 59
• Town of residence: Woodbury, Town of Oyster Bay
• Position sought: Town council
• Party affiliation: Democratic and Working Families Line.
• Family: Married 21 years, two school age children.
• Does anyone in your family work in politics or government? No not one.
• Education: Bachelor of science from Rochester Institute of Technology.
• Occupation: Executive director, Digital Media. I've worked in traditional media and now digital media now for the last 40 years in sales, operational, and leadership COO, SVP, CRO, Exec Dir Positions.
• Previous or current elected or appointed office: None, I owe no one a thing. I can afford to be 100 percent focused on doing right by the people. These career politicians in the Town of Oyster Bay with their multiple jobs sell us out. It makes me sick.
• Campaign Website: ElectNed.com

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

Beaten up roads. People living in a mess. Cars pounded in craters. We need a comprehensive road reform and rebuild plan that initially studies our 707 miles of roads and puts that data for the leadership and the public to see, so we can then act and prioritize them for repaving and repair. We need to stop using the $700,000 per mile subcontracted "friends of" Saladino companies the administration uses. We need to start an apprenticeship program that uses our town's workforce to do some of this work ourselves. We need to be better negotiators be strategically breaking down the milling and paving into projects to reduce our costs. We have been failed for a decade and we need REAL leadership that only cares about the people!

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

I've worked in the private sector all my life. I am a 60-year-old successful turnaround executive that has led or fixed 500M to 1 Billion public and private companies into success. I am beholden to no one. I've not taken a dime from any vendor, law firm, or anyone else that the town does business with. I was born and raised in Massapequa and now live in Woodbury for the last 18 years raising my family. I don't need this job, I want this job because I love my community and someone needs to step up and to take it back and serve the people. Joe Saladino has never held a job outside of government. With the way, he lies and hides from the people, does not have any town halls, won't show up for debates, is arrogant to people, deletes posts on his Facebook page, he wouldn't make it a week in the private sector.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)?

We are such a failed community by its leadership. Our debt of $680,000 is a runaway disgrace. That is $7,500 per homeowner! That means 33 cents on every tax TOB tax dollar we pay goes just towards interest and principle. That 1/3 burden is the reason why we are so broke to do anything else. Saladino administration is riddled with so many overpriced cronies that the union workers had to take a pay cut. Our Tobay Beach is nearly washed away. This has been happening for years and he did nothing. Now its really bad, and there is still no plan. Where's the leadership? No one trusts them. Saladino has spent millions of dollars in self-promoting mailers at the public expense! He has sent over 27 this year, on target to send 34 this year alone. That is one every 10 days? On our dime, while we have nearly 3/4 trillion in debt?

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

- Having town halls on local issues to give voice to the people

- Respond to every email and phone call

- Fix our commuter parking problem. How can people pay their taxes if they can't get to work? How can our seniors find a place to park in the middle of the day at the train station so they can use mass transit?

- Hicksville revitalization. The town is full of garbage. It has a rat problem. Dumpsters overflow. Weeds grow on abandoned property. Town has a corruption and felon legacy. On what planet is anyone going to trust these people to do the right thing and rebuild Hicksville without corruption costs and just another mess?

- Stop dumb lawsuits that are now over the $100M range. Stop using $700 an hour lawyers for these dumb lawsuits. For example, they are suing the Hicksville builder of the failed garage. They had a one-year guarantee. Everyone knew immediately it was leaking. They did nothing! So FIVE YEARS later they decide to sue. How is this case remotely winnable? The only reason why they never took advantage of the guarantee in the first year and waited for five years is that the well-known building commissioner was so corrupt. He went to prison and died there. That's our leadership in a nutshell.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

I've fixed and led company turnarounds. I build unified, happy teams, that have goals, are valued, get rewarded for achievements and we celebrate our victories. It's my job as a leader to ensure that we have a rewarding, conducive environment where people are given the chance to succeed, and we treat people with respect. In the same notion, it's my job to weed out disruptive people that either are not doing to their job or negatively effecting others or our goals for success. Everyone has a job to do.I was a founder in 1995 of a company called 24/7 Media. This was a new business called "internet advertising." I was the SVP of advertising. I built a sales force from one person day one, to just three years later into a sales force and team of over 150 people that generated over $2 billion in advertising revenues. We had to build a training program, set pricing, build marketing, set pay rates because this was a brand new business! As a result of my success, 24/7 Media, we went public and 24/7 was one of the most successful companies in internet advertising. Many of the people I hired, trained are now leading executives in their own right. It makes me proud to have helped so many good people. As Chief Revenue Officer of Bankrate, leading all revenues in four years, I took a company that lost $22 million with a .32 cent stock price the year I got there and under my five years the company was valued at over $1 billion and had a $42 stock price! Bankrate.com is still one of the leaders in the internet finance space.

The best advice ever shared with me was ...

To be the best manager, in order to solve problems, you need to break down the issue into small elements so you can then rebuild in the most optimum way. That tactic requires you listen to people, copy the good thing that others do, build a formal plan with targets and goals and off you go into fixing problems large and small!

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I love my TOB community. Being in office is 1000 percent about public service. You don't steal a pencil. We have been let down by our public officials. I want to serve my community and its people and fix it! I want to work hard, leave a wonderful impact and prove to people there is still good people in government that they can trust. That would be the payoff I'd like to earn.