Patch Candidate Profile: David Calone For Suffolk County Executive

SUFFOLK COUNTY — Suffolk County residents will be hitting the polls soon to elect local representatives.

The race is on leading up to Election Day, which, this year, falls on Tuesday, November 7.

Patch asked those running for office to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles in the days leading up to the election.

Dave Calone, a Democrat, is facing off against incumbent Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine, a Republican, as both vie to fill the seat held by current Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone.

Here is Patch's candidate profile of Dave Calone:

Name

David Calone

How old will you be as of Election Day?

50

Does your campaign have a website?

https://www.suffolkforward.com

What city or town do you live in?

Setauket

What office are you seeking?

Suffolk County Executive

Party affiliation

Democrat

Education

Port Jefferson High School (1992), Princeton University (1996), Harvard Law School (1999)

What is your occupation?

Businessman, former prosecutor

Do you have a family? If so, please tell us about them.

I am married with three school aged kids. My wife, Rev. Kate Jones Calone, is a Presbyterian minister.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Have you ever held a public office, whether appointive or elective?

Yes, I have held several senior, volunteer leadership roles within Suffolk County: Chaired the Suffolk County Planning Commission, chaired the Suffolk County Superstorm Sandy review taskforce, led the Suffolk Forward county initiative to help small businesses survive the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now we'd like to ask a few questions about your reasons for running and your general views on politics and government. First, why are you seeking this office?

Suffolk County has never been led by a prosecutor, nor by a business leader. I am both. I have also held senior leadership roles within county government, where I have successfully cut red tape and solved problems. Blended together, I have the skills and experiences to solve the key problems Suffolk families face.

As a prosecutor, I held criminals accountable. I know how to partner with law enforcement and social service professionals, including the SCPD, to fight crime. I’ve laid out robust public safety plans with ideas to fight crime, protect schools, fight addiction, address gun violence, and more. You can read more here.

As a businessman, I have started and grown companies, created jobs, and saved consumers tens of millions of dollars on healthcare. I know how to look at a budget, find efficiencies that allow us to cut taxes, and create workforce housing. What’s more, I have the independence to fight the corruption that far too often leads to higher taxes. Read more here.

If we want to move Suffolk forward, we can’t elect the same politicians — who have let problems grow and raised taxes — and expect different results. It is time to elect new leadership to solve the problems ahead.

Please complete this statement: The single most pressing issue facing my constituents is ____, and this is what I intend to do about it.

Improving affordability and opportunity.

We face an affordability crisis as a region, as young people are being forced off of Long Island and seniors are struggling to remain here in retirement. I will be the first Suffolk County Executive with a background in business. As such, I have the independence and skills to fight corruption and make the budget more efficient. I’ll cut general fund county property taxes by 10 percent. I’ll work to make housing more affordable. I’m endorsed by the AFL-CIO, and will help create good paying jobs. I will also work with our small businesses to make Suffolk County the best place in New York to start and grow a business, including by making it free to start a business in Suffolk County and creating a County Small Business Success Center as a resource for our local small businesses. Read more here.

What needs to be done to address water quality issues on LI?

With water quality in Suffolk County at an all time low and getting worse, this is a threat we need to address with urgency. I have been working to improve our water quality for over a decade, and I am ready to lead immediately. In my first week in office, I will work with the County Legislature to put on the ballot the Suffolk County Water Quality Restoration Act to unify our sewer districts, increase our sewage capacity, and in lower-density areas, increase the deployment of nitrogen-reducing I/A systems. As I mentioned, I have been engaged in the fight to protect clean water for over a decade. As chair of the Suffolk County Planning Commission, I worked with County Executive Steve Bellone to launch the county’s water quality effort, I chaired the county’s wastewater finance task force, and I helped draft the most recent bipartisan ballot initiative. I worked with leaders, Republican and Democrat, to build consensus and pragmatic solutions to secure clean water. I am infuriated that – two times this year – the Republican-led Legislature put politics ahead of public health and denied voters the ability to vote on this clean water referendum. I am equally infuriated that my opponent did nothing and sat quietly despite pleas for his help, as his party rejected this opportunity to protect our water. Under my leadership, that changes. We will put this on the ballot immediately.

What do you think can be done to help improve our infrastructure, highways, etc?

In 2022, New York received a C- grade for its infrastructure from the American Society of Civil Engineers. To make Suffolk County more affordable, improve our quality of life, and unleash our economic potential, we must improve our infrastructure and make it easier for residents to get around. The single most important thing we must do is to prepare to secure much-needed funding. Right now, over $1 trillion dollars of infrastructure funding is available from the federal and state governments, but they are not just giving this money out . . . we have to fight to earn it. I will create a County Grants Office to consolidate the efforts of county departments, municipalities, and other stakeholders that want to participate, and create and execute a strategic plan to bring home our fair share of resources. I will also make sure we study other creative solutions to drive infrastructure financing, such as an infrastructure bank. In addition, I will create a county-wide app through which citizens can report potholes, re-imagine our public bus system, and implement regional solutions for traffic on the North and South Forks. You can read more ideas in the “Improving our infrastructure” section of my Affordability and Opportunity plan, linked here.

How would you plan to help local business owners, who are struggling because of high rents, inflation and labor shortages?

Having long been active in the Suffolk County business community, I know personally the serious challenges facing local business owners. I launched the Long Island Emerging Technologies fund to launch 10 Long Island based companies, and I spearheaded the Suffolk County efforts to help local small businesses survive the COVID-19 pandemic. I will be the first county executive to come from the private sector, and I am ready to partner with our business community to not only address the challenges they face, but also make Suffolk County the best place in New York to start and grow a business. The first step is to put government on the side of local small businesses. I will make it free to start a business in Suffolk County, signaling that we are open for business. I will also create a Small Business Success Center for the county, where local business owners can go to get their questions answered and be directed to further resources. Next, we need to address the affordability crisis on Long Island, which is leading to labor shortages and high rents. I am ready to attack the crisis on two key fronts: taxes and housing. With respect to taxes, I have plans to cut general fund county property taxes by 10 percent, and to look at county government with fresh eyes to identify efficiencies that will allow further tax relief. We must also increase housing options for working people, which is why I will create a Chief Housing Officer to enact a regional plan to increase housing. Among other things, we will work with communities and local governments to identify areas ready for further development, make the county permitting process quicker and easier, and identify county land that can be repurposed for workforce housing including around our community colleges and elsewhere. Finally, we need to increase workforce development pipelines in our county, which we can do by expanding pre-apprenticeship programs and offering more career connected training at Suffolk County Community College. We can also help address the shortage of trade workers by creating a county “TradeCorps” that would work with school districts to identify graduates who would like to explore trade careers. You can read more of my plans in my Affordability and Opportunity plan,linked here.

What is your stance on the current migrant situation affecting New York? And migrants were to be directed to shelters on Long Island, how would you prepare/plan for that?

Under Steve Bellone’s leadership, Suffolk County is not a sanctuary county, and under my leadership it will not become one. As a prosecutor, I swore an oath to uphold the law, and I intend to do so as county executive. While I empathize with those families who have come here legally to seek asylum (whether they come from South America, Ukraine, or elsewhere), they are being failed by governments of all levels. The federal government, including Republican members of Congress from Long Island, is failing with a broken immigration system and a lack of funding needed to address this problem. New York City is failing us all with promises of shelter it cannot keep. What’s more, it is outrageous that the governor of Texas is bussing migrants to New York State. Leaders in these governments — federal, border state, and New York City — need to fix these problems, not try to pass human beings around like political footballs to more places unable to house and support them. I told the governor in no uncertain terms, Suffolk County cannot be a destination for migrants being sheltered in NYC — we are stretched thin enough housing and servicing our current county residents, including those in our community struggling with homelessness.

What are the major differences between you and the other candidate seeking this post?

Voters this year have a choice for who will lead our region forward: the politician or the prosecutor.

My opponent has been in political office for nearly 40 years, and he has failed to offer solutions for the major challenges facing our region — affordability, safety, water quality, and more. In fact, he’s made things worse. He’s been part of a culture of corruption and sided with his donors over communities. As a result, he’s raised taxes each of the past 8 years. His website includes no ideas for what he would do if elected. If he has not solved these problems in the past 40 years and has put forward no new ideas, why should we trust him to accomplish anything for us in the next 4?

By contrast, I know what it takes to fight crime, because I did it as a prosecutor. I know what it takes to create jobs and balance a budget, because I did it leading dozens of companies. I also know what it takes to problem solve for Suffolk County, having won a national award for cutting red tape in Suffolk. I am also the only candidate with detailed plans for what it will take to move us forward, which you can read online here.

If you want more of the same — and a leader who puts their donors first and raises your taxes year after year — there’s a candidate for you. But if you are ready for new leadership, skillsets, and ideas to move us forward, I am your candidate.

If you are challenging an incumbent, in what way has the current officeholder failed the community?

My opponent has been in political office for nearly 40 years, and he has failed to offer solutions for the major challenges facing our region — affordability, safety, water quality, and more. He’s been part of a culture of corruption, with allies who have been convicted of fraud, bribery, and public corruption. What’s more, Newsday reported that he himself sided with his donors over the local community that he represents by helping his donors try to sweep under the rug allegations they were dumping potentially hazardous toxins* in the Brookhaven landfill. As a result, he’s raised taxes each of the past eight years. Enough is enough.As a result, he’s raised taxes each of the past eight years. Enough is enough.

If he has not solved them in the past 40 years and has put forward no new ideas, why should we trust him to do so in the next 4? It’s time to turn the page on Ed Romaine, and to elect leaders we can trust to look out for the taxpayers, not special interests.

What other issues do you intend to address during your campaign?

Public safety. When I graduated law school, I became a federal prosecutor because I wanted to fight crime . . .and I did. I held criminals accountable in Suffolk County and across the country. Nothing is more important to me than the safety of your family and mine. If elected, I will be the first former prosecutor to serve as Suffolk County Executive, giving me unique insights into what it takes to partner with law enforcement to fight crime and keep families safe.

That’s why I put forward a comprehensive, eight pillar plan for what it will take to secure the safety of Suffolk families going forward. It includes a broad range of issue-areas, including school safety, robustly funding law enforcement, employing tools and technology to support officers, combating addiction, preventing gun violence, and pushing back when ideas from Albany or DC are wrong for Suffolk County.

You can read more online here.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

I have a well-rounded set of accomplishments — in the public and private sectors — that demonstrates that I am ready to lead our region forward.

In the private sector, I have created companies and jobs. I created a company that has saved consumers tens of millions of dollars on health care and was named four times one of the fastest growing companies in America. I created the Long Island Emerging Technologies Fund, where we have launched 10 companies here on Long Island. I started Patriot Boot Camp, through which we have trained over 1,000 military veterans, active duty service members, and military spouses on how to start and build a business.

As a federal and state prosecutor, I fought crime here and across the country. I helped lock up an al Qaeda terrorist. I took on corrupt corporations defrauding consumers and our military, and helped recover for New York taxpayers what was, at the time, the largest fraud recovery for taxpayers in the state’s history.

As a Suffolk County leader, I have helped cut red tape, protect our water, and offer a unifying vision for our county moving forward. I am the only candidate in this race who has won a national award for making Suffolk County government more efficient. I helped lead the Reclaim Our Waters program to protect clean water. I also quarterbacked the creation of Suffolk 2035, the first long-term plan for our region created in the past 40 years, and got it passed by the County Legislature with a unanimous vote.

I have used my skill and know-how to make things better for Suffolk families in various senior leadership positions in Suffolk County. Now, I am ready to be county executive to do even more to help improve the lives of Suffolk County families.

What is the best advice anyone ever gave you?

My father told me that 'actions speak louder than words,' and it has been a mantra that has stuck with me and informed my career decisions. I have always sought out roles where I can have a real impact — whether as a prosecutor, a business person or a county official. Now I am running for Suffolk County Executive because I believe that my background and skills will allow me to take innovative action to meet the challenges facing all of our families in Suffolk — how to keep us safe, make this place more affordable, create opportunity and protect the wonderful natural environment that makes this such a special place to live.

Is there anything else you would like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

Read more online here.

*Editor's Note: No wrongdoing has been proven, or charges filed, in the issue of potential toxins in the landfill.