Aquebogue attorney under fire for lawn signs bidding Riverhead’s Latina supervisor ‘adios’

Aquebogue attorney Ron Hariri has come under fire for comments he’s made referencing the town supervisor’s ethnicity and for signs posted outside a building he recently renovated for a satellite office, declaring “Adios, Aguiar.” The property is located across the street from Aquebogue Elementary School, which is a designated polling place.

Steven Losquadro, counsel to the Suffolk County Republican Committee, said the signs were the last straw in an election cycle that gave voice to “Hispanic slurs, bigotry and just outright, outright racist hatred” directed at Riverhead Supervisor Yvette Aguiar, who is of Puerto Rican descent.

Losquadro said he is “extraordinarily offended” by things he’s seen on social media and heard on local air waves regarding the supervisor’s ethnicity and even though the election is over, “there has to be a reckoning for this.” He questioned why the Democratic candidates for local office didn’t disavow the “Adios Aguiar” signs and remove their own campaign sign from the same yard. “Why has everyone been silent?” Losquadro asked.

Riverhead Councilwoman Catherine Kent, who ran against Aguiar in the supervisor’s race, said she was not aware a large sign supporting the Democratic slate she headed had been posted on the Main Road property alongside the “Adios Aguiar” lawn signs.

“I don’t like those ‘Adios Aguiar’ signs,” Kent said. “I think they’re racist. I honestly didn’t know. I should have been more diligent about it,” she said.

Yolanda Thompson, a Riverhead resident and Aguiar supporter, wrote to the N.Y. State Attorney General to complain about the signs and a “vile campaign using hurtful, divisive and repugnant” commentary against Aguiar, including the signs and statements he’s made as a frequent caller to WRIV radio, which, she said, seek “to demean and belittle Hispanics and our supervisor, utilizing disgusting stereotypes and phrases in the process.” In comments on the radio he has referred to the supervisor as “Yvette from the Bronx” “Yvette from Puerto Rico” and said Aguiar “wishes to bring bodegas and cockfighting” to Riverhead, Thompson said.

Thompson, who is also of Puerto Rican heritage, asked the AG’s Civil Rights Division to investigate.

Hariri denounced claims that he is racist as “utterly ridiculous.” He said in an email he is a first-generation American and a child of immigrants, including those of Hispanic ancestry.

“The expression of my personal opinion in matters of public interest is protected by the First Amendment and the US and NYS constitutions,” Hariri wrote after being provided with a copy of Thompson’s letter to AG Letitia James.

“The radio advertisement referred to included my criticism of a Riverhead Town official (who is, in fact, from the Bronx, where many of my friends are from) for not addressing serious crime and drug problems in Riverhead, as well as the influx of illegal immigrants that have overwhelmed infrastructure, police and schools,” he wrote.

In May, Hariri also ran an ad on the same radio station claiming, without evidence, that the proposed school budget then up for a vote was “designed to accommodate hundreds of new immigrants to be dumped in Riverhead,” and slamming the supervisor and chief of police for doing “nothing to stop immigrants from taking over Riverhead.”

In the ad, Hariri claimed the school budget and an impending arrival of unaccompanied minors in the district was the reason Guatemala was opening a consular office in Riverhead. School district officials denied knowledge of an influx of unaccompanied minors in Riverhead, as Hariri claimed. Consul Ana Elena Mercedes Flores Chavarria said Guatemalan consular offices have no role in resettlement, but assist Guatemalen citizens already living in the U.S., with things like passports, consular IDs and birth certificates from their home country.

Hariri went on to urge voters to “Tell Señora Aguiar and the misfits on the school board they work for us, not Guatemala. Say adios to Aguiar in November and no on the school bond.” 

Voters approved the school budget in May. Rumors spread by Hariri on the radio station about an influx of unaccompanied minors in Riverhead have not borne out. And voters handed Aguiar a re-election victory in the general election last week by a wide margin.

Aguiar said she is “disgusted” that the community was subjected to the signs and comments and questioned why they did not draw more attention and condemnation.

“It is quite unfortunate that certain people stood by silently, while Mr. Hariri spewed his racism and hatred, and that others remained quiet, while Mr. Hariri offered his very public support to them,” Aguiar said in an email.

“Elected officials and community leaders, and indeed all of us in our town, we have to be responsible not just for what we do, but what we do not do,” Aguiar wrote.

“I am committed to seeing that no one else in our community will ever be subjected to such public horrific and offensive attacks. This type of behavior does not belong in our community,” the supervisor said.