Coates launches ‘Better Riverhead’ with a party and promises

Anthony Coates says he’s not running for office — at least not right now — but the launch party he hosted last night for his new “Better Riverhead” website had the feel of a campaign kickoff. It came complete with an introduction of Coates by Aquebogue businessman Duane Lewin: “In a world of checks and balances, Tony you would be a great guy to balance things. Here’s Tony Coates, our guy.”

The soirée at the Jedediah Hawkins Inn drew about 45 people for appetizers, wine and a five-minute speech by Coates on his hope to bring positive change to Riverhead through his new website, betterriverhead.com, which he calls “an online civic association.” Gathered to listen to Coates outline his plans were more than a few people who, like Coates, have run for office themselves, including Riverhead Highway Superintendent George Woodson, Brookhaven Town Councilwoman Jane Bonner, former Riverhead councilman and current planning board member Ed Densieski, former supervisor candidates Angela DeVito and Greg Fischer and former town board candidates Bill Bianchi and John Stefans.

Coates, strategist for many local Republican campaigns dating back to 2003 and one-time political consultant to the current incumbent Republican supervisor, switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican in 2012 to seek the Republican nomination for town board in 2013. When the Republican committee denied him its designation, he mounted a primary campaign, with the backing of Supervisor Sean Walter, to attempt to wrest the nomination from incumbent Councilwoman Jodi Giglio.

Coates has since changed his enrollment back to Democrat and doesn’t rule out a run for office again at some point, but won’t commit to the idea just yet — even if he sounds a lot like a candidate.

Standing at a podium borrowed from the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, whose executive director, longtime Coates ally Richard Amper was seated nearby, Coates railed against town hall’s politicians and their “misguided policies.”

While town board members, he said, “call themselves conservatives,” they  live beyond their means, Coates said, bringing higher tax increases, lower property values and multi-million dollar annual deficits to Riverhead.

“Six years ago, when this administration came into office, we were firmly in the black. Today, we’re deeply in the red,” Coates said.

‘Bald-faced lies’
Supervisor Sean Walter called Coates’ statements about the town budget “bald-faced lies.”  The last time the budget was in the black, he said, was during the Stark administration. He’s been working to eliminate the deficit and get the town back on stable financial footing, he said — as Coates knows, he added.

“Mr. Coates is fond of bending the truth, but these statements go far beyond bending the truth,” Walter said.

Coates scoffed at Walter’s proposition that the Calverton Enterprise Park will bring fiscal stability to the town.

“We’ve raised $23 million from that land over the years and its slipped through our fingers like a playboy living off a trust fund,” he said.

The town’s practice of drawing on its reserves, funded by land sales and land contract options at the Calverton Enterprise Park, in fact long predates the current administration. The town used those funds to reduce property tax increases for at least the past dozen years — even as it increased annual spending by as much as 9.9 percent (in 2008.) According to town budget documents, Riverhead dipped into its reserve funds to balance the budget every year from 2001 through 2014.   The practice was roundly criticized by the current supervisor when he ran for office in 2009 and one he vowed to end. Walter likened it to living off a credit card and making only the minimum payment every month. (The current fiscal year’s budget does not rely on reserve fund spending.)

“In the 2000s, town spending increased at a rate of 7 percent per year,” Walter said in a phone interview this morning. “Tax base growth did not keep up with spending, so the town drew down its reserves.” Since he took office, he said, spending has increased about 1 percent per year.

“What I find simply amazing is how he worked with me to set the course for this town’s fiscal recovery. I don’t understand how he can say things like that,” Walter said.

Birth of a political campaign?
Coates said his new enterprise will host “issue forums” four times a year and conduct polling. His website will be “a place where people can get good information and get cold, hard facts,” he said.

“We’re going to give you the other side of the story and not just what the politicians want you to hear,” Coates said.

He predicted the website, which will “stand for change” will “ruffle feathers.”

“We’re going to be told it can’t be done. We’re going to be told that Town hall is working absolutely as hard as they possibly can. We’re going to be told there are no other answers. We’re going to be told we don’t know what we’re talking about,” he said. “We’re going to be called naive and negative — and to that I say this group of people is the most positive people of all because we know this town can do better.”

Stefans, a Democratic committeeman who is chairman of the Democrats’ screening committee this year, said he believes Coates is interested in running as a Democrat, though he hasn’t made a formal declaration.

“I expect to meet with him maybe today or tomorrow. He said he wanted to get through last night’s event first. I think he’s interested in running for supervisor,” Stefans said.

“I can’t imagine why he’d go through all this effort with Better Riverhead if he didn’t have something in mind,” he said.

“I am obviously very concerned about the direction of the town,” Coates said in an interview this morning. “At times I would like to be a candidate, at times, like last night, I’m happy to make a contribution as a citizen. So, I don’t know what the future holds this year or next year or the next. We’ll see,” he said.

Giglio, who has declared her intention to seek the Republican nomination for supervisor, said Coates “is very eloquent with words but doesn’t always speak the whole truth.” Their primary battle in 2013 was a bitterly fought contest. She was the top vote-getter in the three-way race for two seats, with more than 40 percent of the vote. Coates finished third with 21 percent.

“I’m ready to take him on again, if he’s the Democrats’ candidate,” she said, expressing skepticism that he’d be selected. “He hasn’t demonstrated that he’s electable, in my opinion,” she said.

“The people of Riverhead have always been ahead of the politicians,” Coates told supporters last night.

“It was good and common folks that moved the animal shelter,” Coates said, referring to the effort by resident Denise Lucas who formed Riverhead Move the Animal Shelter, which has raised money toward that goal, though it has not yet come to pass.

“It was common folks that built the community garden. It’s great citizens like my friend Ray Pickersgill here who are improving Main Street,” he said, pointing to the Riverhead BID Management Association president. “It’s not the politicians. It’s the people,” Coates said, drawing applause.

“So I don’t want to hear it and I don’t want to be told what this town can and cannot do. It is the good folks of Riverhead that built the jet fighters at Grumman that protected our democracy. It’s the good folks of Riverhead who built the lunar module that landed on the moon. And lemme tell ya — changing town hall ain’t rocket science,” Coates said.

Coates asked for donations of $20 per person for the gathering last night and his website has a “donate” button that doesn’t yet lead to a payment page of any kind. He said today he’s decided to form a political action committee called “Better Riverhead” that won’t be designated as supporting any a particular candidate. Last night’s event raised $1,863, he said.

“If I do run for something, I will form a brand new, candidate-designated committee under a different name,” he said. Monies raised for “Better Riverhead’ will remain with “Better Riverhead,” he said.