Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone won reelection last night. He defeated Republican candidate James O’Connor despite leaving most of his campaign war chest untouched.
Bellone ran on his record of cutting the county’s deficit by raising revenue and slashing jobs. He aired only one TV ad and kept a positive message, ignoring O’Connor and his attacks. Last night in his victory speech, Bellone stood on the stage as a popular incumbent.
“The people of Suffolk County delivered a mandate to advance the issues we talked about in the campaign- to continue to reform government so we can protect taxpayers and make government more effective,” he said.
Bellone also touted his efforts to improve water quality and jobs. One issue he didn’t mention was the county’s debt. Projections for sales tax revenue and savings in health care have fallen short. Jesse Garcia, head of the Brookhaven town Republican Party, said Bellone has created a $200 million deficit and that it will be his last campaign.
“He’s looking to get out," Garcia said. "He’s looking to leave a time bomb, a financial, fiscal time bomb here in Suffolk County.”
Garcia said that Bellone won by spending a million dollars, about ten times what O’Connor spent, but that left him with another two million dollars for a future campaign.
Turnout for this year’s election was about 13 percent.
