A snack-down for local mayor inspired by Trump

Daily Point

Expert: Snack man cannot pirate Sea Cliff gov’t

In a story widely munched on by news and social media, Robert Ehrlich, founder of the company that makes Pirate’s Booty snacks, recently showed up with three other men at Sea Cliff Village Hall, claiming the authority of a new mayor, which he most certainly is not.

As inspiration for his surreal attempt to seize power, Ehrlich invoked the current occupant of the White House, President Donald Trump, who has some experience in such matters.

Commenting later on his stunt, for which police were called but no arrests made, Ehrlich told LIHerald.com that he was attempting to assert his legal rights "as a taxpayer, as a citizen, and as a human being."

And, the newspaper quoted him as saying: "I’m interpreting the law any way I want, the way Trump would interpret laws as he sees fit. It’s called trickle down politics, which is what we’re doing."

And it illustrates again the degree to which Trump has influence over local politics.

The brief civic annoyance from the 66-year-old Ehrlich was apparently based on the state’s 2009 law, called the "New NY Government Reorganization and Citizen Empowerment Act." The measure was enacted with the declared intent of allowing local officials, governments and citizens to "reorganize outdated or less efficient districts by establishing procedures for consolidation."

In 2012, the law led to a referendum on whether to abolish Sanitary District 2 in Baldwin, where residents complained of high tax bills for services received. Had it been approved, collection would have fallen to the Town of Hempstead. The proposal lost, 4,597 to 1,682. In 2010, the village of Mastic Beach was formed by referendum — and dissolved the same way six years later.

No parallel goal, or even a tax-savings rationale, was made clear in Sea Cliff before Ehrlich and company marched into the village hall and, according to officials, began to simulate a takeover, telling people they were fired and could reapply for their jobs.

Elena Villafane — who is the real-life Sea Cliff mayor elected in 2021 — is running for reelection on Tuesday and is unopposed on the ballot. "If he really had a true intention in regard to village government, it’s an open ballot — he could just run ... I’m not afraid of a contested election," she told a Newsday reporter after the bizarre exhibition.

Villafane said Ehrlich brought signed petitions on his foray, ostensibly to begin the restructuring process. Petition signatures would need to total 10% of the jurisdiction’s population, which means 500 for Sea Cliff’s population of about 5,000. Ehrlich hasn’t released the petitions so there is no way to immediately judge their validity.

Paul Sabatino, a former chief deputy Suffolk County executive and municipal law expert, told The Point that under the Empowerment Act process, "No, you don’t file something and then make yourself mayor," he explained. Changing the local governing structure requires several steps, including the referendum on which people vote.

Ehrlich’s hostilities with local officials go back at least two decades. In 2004, he unsuccessfully sued the village in federal court over the permitting process for his sushi restaurant. By the time the case was dismissed, he was ordered to pay $900,000 to the village and officials to cover attorney fees.

Last week’s story drew a big burst of attention. But efficiency and reform do not seem to be the real purpose here — as some might also say of Trump’s deconstruction of federal laws from the top of his government.

— Dan Janison dan.janison@newsday.com

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Final Point

Election amid CPS 

On its surface, a statement issued last week by the Suffolk County Association for Municipal Employees union in response to the county’s plan to activate its "child fatality review team" didn’t seem unusual — especially in light of the recent spotlight on Suffolk Child Protective Services. CPS caseworkers are members of the union.

Newsday has reported that Kerri Bedrick, the mother of 9-year-old Eli Henrys, who was killed in his mother’s wrong-way crash last year, was the subject of numerous CPS complaints from 2018 to 2023. CPS labeled many of the complaints "unfounded" and didn’t take any action against Bedrick.

The statement, issued by AME President Daniel Levler, didn’t mention Bedrick or Henrys, instead focusing on CPS workers who, Levler said, "dedicate their lives to protecting Suffolk County’s most vulnerable residents."

"AME will fight vehemently against any process that is focused on a rush to judgment of our caseworkers or does not allow for due process," Levler wrote and posted to social media last week. "Our members work hard every day to protect our most vulnerable residents, and this Union will continue to work hard every day to protect our members. We will not allow our members to be scapegoats for systemic failures."

But the timing of Levler’s statement was telling.

Levler is in the middle of a contested election. Online voting for union leadership — Levler and executive vice president Thomas Moran are running on a slate with six other candidates — began March 4 and ends Tuesday, March 18.

Two other slates are running against Levler and his team — one led by Terry Maccarrone and Annette Mahoney-Cross, and the other led by Brian Viggiano and Christopher Cuddihy.

On their social media, Maccarone and Mahoney-Cross advocate for transparency, responsiveness, integrity and "real leadership." Viggiano and Cuddihy emphasize defending workers rights, calling Viggiano "Blue Collar Brian." Levler and Moran focus on enhancing benefits, noting on their website their ability to "strengthen our union’s political influence" and their recent effort to push for Tier 6 pension changes approved last year in Albany.

In that election season context, it was easy to read Levler’s words not just as a statement from the union, but a campaign message from Levler himself.

"President Levler fights for DSS caseworkers, demands due process regarding proposed ‘child fatality review team’," the statement’s headline read.

Levler’s statement emphasized the need for staffing increases, competitive salaries and benefits, and mental health counseling for CPS staffers.

But it concluded with a sentence that sounded like a reelection theme.

"We applaud all of our members in DSS and our CPS Caseworkers for the outstanding essential services they provide and for the lives they protect each and every day, and we will continue to fight for you," Levler’s statement said.

Election results are expected later this week.

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

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