In Southampton Village elections, a policing report adds to the drama

Southampton Village Mayor Jesse Warren. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost

May 10, 2021

Daily Point

Southampton Village takes a look at its costly police department

Southampton Village has had plenty of political drama over the last year, including a rental dispute between Mayor Jesse Warren and his former landlord Mark Epley, a former village mayor. Warren is up for reelection in June, and that race now has a new dimension: an eye-opening operational report on its police department released Friday.

The report, by Edmund Hartnett Risk Management, was authorized by the village’s governing body, including Warren.

The report characterizes the village as having "low violent crime and property crime rates" compared to comparable communities, and it notes that the department has approximately 30 sworn officers.

Among the highlights:

SVPD overtime in the 2020 fiscal year hit $450,000, spending the report called "excessive and out of line in comparison to expected police management benchmarks."
The department’s canine unit of one officer and one dog "is a ‘nice to have’ but not a ‘need to have,’" the report suggests, considering that the dog often spends time in training and being called to neighboring jurisdictions with larger police departments.
The salary and overtime of one officer deployed to the Suffolk County District Attorney's East End Drug Task Force for several years is paid by the SVPD, according to the report, and that officer earned over $80,000 in overtime in 2019.
The report recommends funding body cameras, making the department less top-heavy and prohibiting SVPD members from working off-duty jobs within the village, reducing police responses to some situations such as automobile accidents, and adding more oversight from trustees.

SVPD Chief Thomas Cummings told The Point that "some conclusions reached in the report are simply wrong" but said he was declining to comment on specifics due to his status as a village employee.

The task force of residents and stakeholders who presented the report findings on Friday noted that trustees can implement a portion but not all of the report’s recommendations without renegotiating collective bargaining agreements.

This isn’t the first time recently that policing and politics have intersected in the village. Over the summer, the Southampton Village Police Benevolent Association issued a vote of no-confidence in Warren, the village mayor, in part due to his support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Southampton Village PBA President Michael Horstman said in an email that the PBA was reviewing the Hartnett report, adding "this is a clear attempt by the Mayor to distract the voters."

Warren says the report’s conclusions should be looked into but the purpose of the review was to improve the police department’s operational performance and make the village safer.

"There's always room for improvement," he said.

—Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano

Talking Point

Zeldin to Cheney: It’s not all about you

With Rep. Liz Cheney finally due to get the boot on Wednesday as the House Republican conference leader, Rep. Lee Zeldin confirmed to The Point that he first voted back in February to remove her during a secret conference ballot, after she voted to impeach defeated President Donald Trump.

At that time, weeks after the Capitol insurrection, 145 Republican conference members voted to keep her in the role as No. 3 in party leadership. Another 61 Republicans, including Zeldin, voted to strip her of the position, a move for which the Freedom Caucus and controversial Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, a Trump loyalist, loudly lobbied and campaigned in public.

Zeldin said he felt all along that Cheney has been "exercising her own agenda" without really consulting the conference members. He suggested she should at least have told her district and her fellow members first rather than go for a national splash. Zeldin said his rationale regarding Cheney was, "It’s not all about you."

"She had some issues within the conference — not me but with others — from the beginning of her time within the House," he added.

The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney was first elected to the House in 2016 as the lone member from Wyoming. She has firmly accused Trump and his allies of "spreading the big lie, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system."

Over the weekend, another Republican who voted to impeach Trump over the Jan. 6 insurrection, Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, echoed Cheney’s side. He said in a televised interview: "The message from people who want to get rid of Liz Cheney is to say, 'It's just time to focus on the future and move on.' Like this was 10 years ago and we've been obsessed with it since."

In contrast Zeldin, who says he’s running to lead his blue state, moves the conversation about the House GOP away from Trump. On Fox News Radio’s Brian Kilmeade show, Zeldin said Monday of Cheney: "By the way, she’s not getting kicked out of the conference. It’s just the position of conference chair should be held by somebody who’s ... representing the will of the conference."

Publicly, Zeldin positioned himself more as a promoter of fellow Rep. Elise Stefanik from northern New York to succeed Cheney as chair. Now Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California is on the same page, saying he backs Stefanik, who had been considering a gubernatorial run, for the post.

The Shirley congressman, meanwhile, has lined up enough of the weighted vote from county GOP leaders across the state to be favored as next year’s party nominee for governor.

Stefanik posted special thanks to Zeldin. At 2:49 p.m., with Cheney’s ouster a done deal, she tweeted: "Thank you for your support Lee!"

—Dan Janison @Danjanison

Pencil Point

Danger all around

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

Final Point

A clever way to stand out in a crowded city primary

A new voting system is getting a big test in June, when NYC residents will get to rank up to five candidates in order of preference for the first time in citywide races.

It would likely be a while before ranked-choice hits Long Island, if ever, but here’s the gist to help you understand what’s happening in these crucial city races:

If a candidate gets over 50% of first-choice votes, they win. Otherwise, the last-place candidate is eliminated, and the votes of those who chose him or her now go to the second choice of those voters. This continues until there are two candidates left. Some of the benefits include giving voters more choice and preventing the spoiler problem — you can rank your beloved likely-to-lose candidate first and then put your pragmatic choices lower down.

It’s a little complicated, and a little close to the primary, so politicians, civic groups, and media outlets are starting to rev up their education efforts — including a $15 million push announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio at the end of April.

Then there’s the cheeky strategy of one candidate for city comptroller, Zach Iscol, who created flyers saying "Zach Iscol Will Teach You Ranked Choice Voting."

That may ring a bell for New Yorkers who’ve seen the somewhat ubiquitous "Dan Smith Will Teach You Guitar" flyers that are common in NYC to the point of parody.

The flyer includes a picture of Iscol holding a clipboard and campaign literature as opposed to a guitar.

Beyond the educational effort about the new voting system, the flyer was an attempt to get some attention for Iscol, an Iraq War veteran who has helmed a mental health nonprofit for vets. He’s one of dozens of candidates running across multiple public offices in the city primary, many of whom are struggling to break through the crowd.

Iscol’s parody flyers drew some knowing smiles in the city, and the candidate seemed excited about being followed by @DanSmithSongs himself.

It’s not the first time Dan Smith and his guitar has been pulled into NY politics. Last year, former Gov. David Paterson revealed that Dan Smith Was Teaching Him Guitar.