Plane politics in East Hampton

Daily Point

Airport campaign takes flight

The future of the East Hampton airport is once again taking center stage, just weeks before an election that will determine the town’s next supervisor.

A group of aviation owner-operators called East End Local Alliance is sponsoring a 60-second ad that will air starting Tuesday on WLNG-FM — a popular East End radio station.

“There’s a price to be paid for failure,” the commercial begins. “In the Town of East Hampton, the taxpayers are paying that price as members of the town board face millions of dollars in legal fees and court-directed judgments for consistent failures on zoning disputes and their campaign to shut down the Town of East Hampton Airport.

“These dollars should be spent on parks, roads and other essential services. Not lawyers,” the ad continues.

Alliance spokesman Gary Lewi said the ad is just the start of what will be a broader public information campaign.

As of a February board meeting, the East Hampton town board had retroactively capped legal fees for the airport dispute, being paid to Cooley LLP, at $3.18 million for 2022, and approved another $1.5 million for 2023. At the time, a board-approved resolution said it “wishes to exhaust all options to protect residents from excessive airport noise … ” The board at the time also approved the retention of two other law firms to handle litigation related to the airport fight.

The radio ad comes less than a month before Election Day, when East Hampton residents will choose a successor to Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc. Town Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, a Democrat, is running against Republican Gretta Leon.

But the East End Local Alliance spokesman said the ad wasn’t attempting to support a specific candidate.

“This campaign is not meant to participate in any election cycle, but to place before the public the need to end the current costly legal impasse and find a pathway outside the courthouse,” Lewi said, adding that there was no plan to end the advertising effort after Election Day.

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

Pencil Point

A loss worldwide

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Quick Points

Reality and fantasy

• Politicians from all wings of both major parties are criticizing President Joe Biden’s efforts to deal with the situation at the southern border. But until members of Congress stop using immigration as a campaign issue and start passing legislation to do something about it, the nightmare will continue.
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• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says the U.S. is in a “serious weakened position” with no House speaker and Israel’s declaration of war against Hamas, pointing out that Republicans barely control the House majority and now lack a leader. When MTG is a voice of reason, you know we’re in uncharted territory.
• Rep. Matt Gaetz says losing his seat for spearheading former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster would “absolutely” be worth it. Not sure anyone would disagree.
• A new insurance company survey found New York drivers stuck in traffic start losing their cool after 16 minutes. Which some New Yorkers will tell you is off by about 15 minutes.

— Michael Dobie michael.dobie@newsday.com

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