Former Mondello aide back in business at the SBA
Matthew Coleman, far left, and others look on as Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler, second from right, addresses Long Island Association officials in Melville Thursday. Credit: Matthew Coleman
Daily Point
New regional administrator hits his old LI turf
Kelly Loeffler, the former U.S. senator from Georgia who in February became administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, dropped into Suffolk County on Thursday for official appearances. As reported in Newsday, she met local company executives at the Long Island Association’s Melville headquarters before touring GSE Dynamics Inc. in Hauppauge.
Loeffler was accompanied at these events by a familiar face to Long Island politicos and business figures, Matthew Coleman, 44. He’s the SBA’s new regional administrator for New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
Often, it takes time during a new presidential administration to fill regional posts, and Coleman is among the first in this region. Another early appointee is Michael Martucci of the Hudson Valley, who administers the parallel region for the Environmental Protection Agency for EPA administrator Lee Zeldin. Other such positions are expected to be filled in the coming months.
This is Coleman’s second tour at the SBA; he was regional communications director for the same Atlantic region, mostly through the first Trump administration. Politically and personally, his roots are in Nassau County. He’s from the Five Towns and graduated from George W. Hewlett High School before going to Tulane University from which he holds a bachelor’s degree. In his last go-round at SBA, he served as national spokesman for the Paycheck Protection Program and COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans.
Coleman was known in electoral circles in previous years as a political aide to Joseph Mondello, the late former Nassau Republican chairman, and a key aide to Anthony Santino, who served as Town of Hempstead supervisor in 2016 and 2017. He also served on state and national GOP campaigns. Until February, he was a senior vice president at Mercury Public Affairs. Matthew Cohen, who’s president and CEO of the LIA, hailed Coleman, whom he’s known for about 15 years, as someone who’s committed to public service, telling The Point he "gets along well with both sides of the aisle.”
— Dan Janison dan.janison@newsday.com
Pencil Point
Not n-ICE?
Credit: PoliticalCartoons.com/Pat Byrnes
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Quick Points
Bonus perspective
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- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explained President Donald Trump’s tariff policy as the game theory concept of strategic uncertainty, saying, "You’re not going to tell the person on the other side of the negotiation where you’re going to end up." There’s no evidence Trump tells the people on his side, either.
- Democrats are ecstatic that polling shows that people disapprove of President Donald Trump’s handling of immigration. Hopefully, the Dems realize that doesn’t mean people liked what they were doing.
- The morning-line top betting pick for the Kentucky Derby is a colt named Journalism, giving a frisson of joy to reporters everywhere who would love to be favored.
— Michael Dobie michael.dobie@newsday.com
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