The sweep by Democrats in the Southampton town council election this month on New York’s Long Island might at first glance seem a victory for growth controls and land-use preservation. On the island’s East End, the party has been more identified with zoning and other planning tools for limiting development than its GOP rival.
But late developments in the race for Southampton supervisor have cast doubt on this. The clear winner was Maria Moore, the mayor of Westhampton Beach, a self-governed village within the overall town of Southampton. She defeated Cynthia McNamara, an incumbent on the town council who sought to move up to the supervisor post. (The supervisor sits as one of five council members but has considerably more sway over town affairs.)
The race was considered competitive and Moore’s 13-percentage point victory was a surprise. It followed a rush of campaign signs, ads and mailers for Moore in the closing days, introducing her in the many areas of the town where she had little previous presence and also barraging McNamara with attacks on her alleged links to unpopular Republicans elsewhere as well as to threats to natural resources. A particular thrust came from a putative group called Citizens for Clean Water. (An existing such outfit in New Hampshire with a similar logo disavowed any connection.)
It transpired after the election that this group, and some $140,000 in late money to the Moore campaign, appears to emanate from Robert Rubin, founder of Golf at the Bridge, a private country club in the Bridgehampton hamlet of the town. The Bridge is also a 20-lot luxury home development and the course is seeking approval from the town for “staff housing” on its scenic acreage as well. (Golf links on the East End increasingly are hard-pressed to find affordable digs for their labor.)
The plot thickens with suspicions of some disappointed McNamara backers that Moore was advanced by Democrats as a stand-in for their term-limited Supervisor Jay Schneiderman. Were this to be true, it could further cloud whether she was the “green” choice in this race, as Schneiderman has been criticized during his eight-year tenure for pro-growth stances. (The town council is considering a measure to loosen the term limits, which would allow Schneiderman to return to office.)
In large measure, Moore was backed by a familiar lineup of Democrat allies–labor unions, environmental lobbyists and bureaucracy-savvy developers, in this case the Long Island Builders Institute. Whether that will amount to cleaner water (a big East End concern) than McNamara’s election would have, is hard to say. McNamara in a pre-council capacity did lend her support to a major planned community (with golf course) set for her home hamlet of East Quogue, but Schneiderman is seen as backing the project also.
The full facts and acknowledgments from the campaign have yet to surface. What is clear is that the furtive way this election played out, with murky motivations and more than the usual ferocity of hit pieces, has left an unusual level of bitterness in a water-conscious town where grudges are only more unwelcome residue.
UPDATE Nov. 24, 2024: A year after the posting above, new and related recriminations surface in the ad below appearing in the latest issue of the Southampton Press. The implication is that Moore is doing Rubin a favor in trying to close a nearby sand and gravel operation. That business has long been in the sights of local officials and environmentalists–so Rubin’s golf-course housing development would not be alone in wanting it shuttered.
Tim W. Ferguson 