In a letter addressed to Newsday
dated April 30, 2019, Huntington Town Supervisor Chad A. Lupinacci responded to
inaccuracies and personal attacks contained within a biased article published
by the Editorial Board on the LIPA lawsuit:
“As a public official – a former school board trustee, State
Assemblyman and now as Town Supervisor – I understand that criticism comes with
the job, and I have never publicly responded to such. I have also limited my
public comments regarding the LIPA litigation out of respect for the judge’s
wishes, while LIPA has done the opposite, including taking out a full-page
advertisement in a Northport newspaper this past week. The inaccuracies and
baseless personal attacks contained within the Newsday Editorial Board's
article, featured in the Sunday, April 28, 2019 print edition, entitled "Huntington should make a deal on
Northport power-plant lawsuit," however, require me to change my policy as they warrant a public
response.
“It was certainly not surprising to see yet another one-sided
piece by the Newsday Editorial Board on the Northport Power Plant
litigation – Newsday has made no secret of its thoughts on this case and
has been carrying LIPA's water for years. What did surprise me were the
personal attacks that the Editorial Board leveled against my colleagues on the
Huntington Town Board and me.
“The editorial described me as "all but invisible"
and said that I am floundering in my job. Not surprisingly, there were no facts
to support these defamatory statements. Indeed, this past weekend I attended
thirteen events, and since taking office I have made hundreds of public
appearances – hardly the schedule of an “invisible” Supervisor. As for
my job performance, I am proud of the many accomplishments of my administration
in less than eighteen months in office and the fulfillment of key campaign
promises. We have increased the transparency of Town government, passed term
limits, approved projects to revitalize Huntington Station,
strengthened both our Ethics Code and the Town’s ability to curb illegal
use of property and the abuse of short-term rental permits, improved public
safety, protected our quality of life, and passed dozens of amendments to the
Town Code to ensure that our laws are up-to-date.
“There is similarly no basis for the over-the-top assertion that
the Town Board "is stupidly chasing its own tail, terrified of
grassroot agitators from the Northport-East Northport school district...."
The Town Board is united in its determination to achieve a fair outcome to this
matter for all Huntington residents and has devoted significant resources to
the defense of the case, while actively engaging in settlement discussions. The
Editorial Board's reference to the residents of the Northport-East Northport
School District as "agitators" is demeaning and beneath a
serious journalistic newspaper. The people of Northport and East Northport are
deeply proud of the quality of education provided by their school district and
rightfully worried that what school district officials have carefully built
over decades will have to be dismantled. The residents are also concerned that
a tax increase will force them to abandon a community that has been their home
for generations. The editorial's attempt to trivialize these valid
concerns is quite frankly shameful and the Editorial Board should be
embarrassed.
“While Newsday is entitled to their opinion that the
Northport Power Plant is over-assessed, I resent the paper's continued attempt
to browbeat Huntington into accepting a bad deal. The Editorial Board praises
the deal accepted by Brookhaven Supervisor Edward Romaine, but
conveniently ignores the fact that the Port Jefferson plant and the
Northport Power Plant are not at all comparable. The Northport Power Plant is
capable of producing four times the power of the Port Jefferson plant and LIPA
would not be able to keep the power on without Northport. Indeed, Northport is
vital to the generation and supply of electricity on Long Island.
“The Editorial Board also incorrectly portrays Huntington as
irrational and unwilling to compromise. In actuality, it is LIPA and National
Grid that refuse to negotiate in good faith. The Town of Huntington has offered
LIPA/National Grid several settlement proposals, all of which would save LIPA
in excess of $130 million in taxes over the course of the settlement term. In
fact, considering the megawatt capacity of Northport and Port Jefferson, Huntington's
offer is actually better than the Brookhaven deal. Not only have LIPA and
National Grid rejected these generous offers, they stubbornly refuse to make a
counteroffer and have not lowered their demands since I took office in January
2018. I understand Newsday's opinion that a settlement is preferable to
continued litigation, but Huntington cannot negotiate against itself.
“While I am sure that this letter will do nothing to change Newsday's
opinion of the assessment of the Northport Power Plant, it is my hope that the
Editorial Board will endeavor to show some modicum of fairness in its reporting
on this matter, and rather than continually serve as LIPA's mouthpiece, make at
least some attempt to gather and present the facts in an evenhanded manner.”
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