Vecchio: Suffolk GOP Pathetic, Altschuler a 'Carpetbagger'

Smithtown Supervisor Patrick Vecchio wrote a scathing letter calling Suffolk GOP Leader John Jay LaValle's leadership "pathetic" after he endorsed opponent Robert Creighton for Smithtown Supervisor on Monday night. 

LaValle attended a fundraiser for Creighton Monday night at the Smithtown Elks Lodge, in which he endorsed Creighton as "the exact kind of person you want to have at the top in Smithtown" while Vecchio still holds the reigns. 

Vecchio's writes: 

Chairman John LaValle,

It is mind-boggling that you, with your failed electoral record, have the temerity and audacity to come into Smithtown and endorse a candidate for Town Supervisor and demean the stellar government of our town.

What is especially egregious, is that you have no real standing to articulate anything of value or substance on election matters.  Let’s look at your record. The Suffolk County Legislature currently consists of Eleven Democrats, two minor party legislators and only five Republicans, a significant erosion of GOP strength under your watch. In January, your candidate for the county legislature of the First District was trounced in a special election by a Democrat. The Republican Party garnered less than thirty-three percent of the vote in a district that favors Republican enrollment. That is pathetic. 

Suffolk County’s two Congressmen are Democrats, as is the County Executive. Your congressional candidate, the carpetbagger Randy Altshuler, was defeated by an overwhelming 11,000 votes in 2012. In short, your support and endorsement of anyone is the “kiss of death.”

I am seeking a 13th term as Town Supervisor of Smithtown, and I do so with a great deal of pride, achievement and fiscal integrity. You had two terms as Supervisor of Brookhaven and you departed while your town was under investigation. The Town of Brookhaven was labeled, “Crookhaven,” during your tenure in office. That sobriquet, unfortunately, has affected the candidacies of too many good and able Republican candidates for any office.

There is one good option for you, and that is resignation. You owe it to the Republican Party of Suffolk County.

- Patrick Vecchio