Republicans fill their slate for town elections

Riverhead Republicans put two fresh faces on the ticket for town offices last night: sod farmer Frank Beyrodt for town councilman and contractor William Van Helmond for highway superintendent.

Supervisor Sean Walter, who was unopposed, won nomination for a fifth term by a unanimous voice vote.

The party committee’s roll-call vote for two council candidates went to Councilwoman Jodi Giglio and Beyrodt, who easily defeated Robert Hartmann Jr. and Isabelle Gonzalez for the council nominations. Robert Peeker and Rick Boden, who had sought nomination for town council, both withdrew their names from consideration prior to the convention.

Political newcomer William Van Helmond of Jamesport, running without opposition, won the party’s nomination for highway superintendent. Van Helmond will look to unseat the only incumbent Democrat on the ballot this November, Superintendent George Woodson.

Veteran tax assessor Laverne Tennenberg, first elected in 1989, won nomination, unopposed, for an eighth four-year term.

In brief remarks accepting the nomination of a committee that turned him aside two years ago — Republicans nominated Giglio, then in the middle of her four-year term for the town supervisor slot — Walter said he was “honored and humbled” by their support. He told the committee that the town is moving forward in a positive direction and he looked forward to continuing on that path.

Giglio said she is honored to represent the Republican party as part of a “slate of people who love this town and put their heart and soul into it.”

“I will serve you proudly and I will do the business of the town and put my personal preferences aside and always do the business of the people and represent you with good, strong Republican principles and values,” Giglio said. “I promise you that.”

A political newcomer, Beyrodt told the committee he takes its nomination “very seriously” and he promised to “work diligently to earn the confidence and support of the voters in November.” The Baiting Hollow resident said he offers the voters “a fresh pair of eyes on the issues at hand” and promised to bring “the same common sense approach I use on the farm to town hall.”

Tennenberg — whom Giglio called the ticket’s “keynote speaker” who “guides us and puts us all where we should be” — said she looks forward to a Republican sweep in November.

That sentiment was echoed by highway candidate Van Helmond. “We’re going to make Riverhead great by voting the entire Republican slate this November.”

Last night’s convention, held at the Riverhead Elks Lodge, was overall a low-key affair — in sharp contrast to the party convention in the last local election year two years ago. In 2015, a sharply divided Riverhead Republican committee convened at Polish Hall and denied the incumbent supervisor its support after a tense floor fight that ended with an excruciatingly narrow victory by Giglio. Walter challenged the party committee’s pick in a primary fight, which he also narrowly lost. He then went on to run on the Conservative Party line and won re-election in November, defeating Giglio and Democrat Anthony Coates, his former paid political advisor, in a hotly contested three-way race.

Walter and Giglio have since forged a working relationship, though both readily admit they don’t always agree.

”We don’t beat each other up. We think things through,” Walter said in an interview. “We may not agree but we always bring it to a vote and always bring it to a conclusion. We’re not the bobbleheads that people complained about in another era. I don’t think that’s a bad thing,” he said.

“I think we have a great slate,” Giglio said in an interview.

“The town is on the right track as far as EPCAL,” she said. “Selling it is the number one thing, creating the jobs we lost when Grumman left. With downtown revitalization, there’s a lot of work left to do. The major focus in my next term will be code enforcement and quality of life issues,” she said, adding, “and keeping taxes down by making good decisions and running the town like a business.”

Beyrodt, 49, the married father of three teenagers, grew up in Mineola and worked in the Manhattan district attorney’s office for three years as a trial prep assistant, planning to attend law school. Then he “fell in love with the farmer’s daughter,” and moved east to work on the farm. His wife Laura and her father are partners in Cherry Creek and The Woods at Cherry Creek golf courses on Youngs Avenue. The family also owns and operates Stonewalls Restaurant at The Woods.

He served three years as president of the Long Island Farm Bureau and remains on that organization’s executive board. He is also active in Island Harvest, he said.

“I have always been a community-minded person,” Beyrodt said. “Riverhead is my home. I vow to do my very best to ensure that my community is better for my participation in the process,” he said.

“I’m really happy with the addition of Frank Beyrodt to the ticket,” Walter said. “When we lost George Gabrielsen we lost the perspective of the farming community. I think we’ve got a ticket that will win in November.”

The supervisor said the three things the Republican slate ran on when he and Giglio were first elected in 2009 were balancing the budget, revitalizing downtown and redeveloping EPCAL.

“The budget is balanced, Main Street is taking off and EPCAL will be sold, I believe, this year,” Walter said. “there’s not a measure that anybody can say the town is moving in the wrong direction, from assessed valuation to quality of life.”

He cast his critics as “naysayers” who are “going to tear things down” and be negative about the current administration’s achievements.

“A lot of people are afraid of their own success,” Walter said. “They see these big buildings going up on Main Street, they hear things about the sale of EPCAL and I think sometimes people get right to the threshold but they’re afraid to cross that threshold,” he said.

“Don’t be afraid of your success.”

Correction: This article has been amended post-publication as follow: Supervisor Sean Walter is seeking his fifth not his sixth term of office.