Candidate Statement on Brookhaven Ethics

The Town of Brookhaven’s Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals are extremely powerful, shape our very town, and make critical decisions on how our community will look. Therefore, it is crucial that these boards exist separately from the Town Board.

My candidacy for Council Member for the Second District is built on the principle that this independence be maintained as the bedrock of honest, effective government in Brookhaven. However, there are currently troubling areas where these seven-member boards overlap with the Council. Here are three major concerns that my candidacy seeks to correct:

1) These boards are almost totally Republican, which fails to reflect the diverse character of Brookhaven. By keeping them within one party, Brookhaven loses the benefit of varied opinions.

2) One member of each board is in a leadership role on the Brookhaven Town Republican Committee, creating dual loyalties.

3) At least three members have made donations totaling over $1,500 to Town Council members just this year, alone. Again, the independence of the boards is thus eroded.

In order to ensure that the independent, impartial nature of these two boards be maintained to the benefit of the residents of Brookhaven, my candidacy is pledged to achieve the following ethics changes:

1) Publicize as broadly as possible the operational meeting at which these board appointments are made.

2) Publish widely and repeatedly board openings so that all may apply.

3) Set term limits for board members. Presently they can serve in perpetuity.

4) To the extent that it is constitutionally feasible, prohibit campaign donations being given by members of these boards to elected officials. At the very least—a bare minimum—require that these donations be publicly disclosed, at least annually to the Town Ethics Board, especially in election years.

5) Mandate that board members be prohibited from holding positions of leadership in political organizations.

6) Require that elected officials who receive campaign contributions from developers, corporations and others having pending cases before their boards disclose them as a condition of maintaining their positions.

Such conflicts are evident when—at a time in which Brookhaven is touting rejecting fossil fuels—my opponent has received funding from several fossil fuel companies and developers.

I pledge that will not be the case when I represent impartially and without favor all people of the Second District of Brookhaven.