Riverhead Republicans raised a combined total of roughly $67,000 in the first half of 2023 for their political campaigns and committees, primarily through large contributions from developers, business owners and consultants, a review of recently released campaign finance filings show.
Republican candidates and the town Republican committee together have just shy of $40,000 remaining in their war chest leading into the general election campaign season after expenses — dwarfing Riverhead Democrats, who have roughly $11,000 on hand, according to the filings, which were due at the State Board of Elections July 17.
Democrats raised slightly more than $27,000 during the current reporting period, which began in mid-January and ended in mid-July.
Republicans, led by supervisor candidate and Council Member Tim Hubbard, collectively received significant support from their regular contributors and also accepted contributions from several companies and business people with projects currently pending or under construction.
| MORE COVERAGE: Republicans pick their slate for town offices |
Hubbard took $9,000 — nine $1,000 contributions — from employees of G2D Group, the Huntington-based developer of the “Shipyard” four-story apartment building on East Main Street that opened last year. Another G2D Group apartment building, located on the corner of Osborn Avenue and Court Street, is currently under construction.
Three of the nine $1,000 contributions were made during a fundraising event Hubbard had in October, before he announced his run for town supervisor. The money raised from that event went to Hubbard’s town council campaign committee, “Friends of Tim Hubbard.” All of the funds in Hubbard’s town council committee account were transferred into his newly created “Tim Hubbard for Supervisor” campaign committee account on April 19, the filings show.
Two of Hubbard’s contributors, G2D Chief Executive Officer Greg DeRosa and G2D Chief Operating Officer Phillip Foote, each gave $1,000 contributions during the October fundraiser and again earlier this year, for a total of $2,000 apiece during the current campaign cycle.
These contributions exceed the “receipt limit” established by State Election Law for every elective office. The limit is set by a formula based on active registered voters in a candidate’s district or town. For Riverhead Town candidates, the receipt limit is $1,185.15 per campaign cycle, according to the Suffolk County Board of Elections.
The campaign cycle is defined as “the period after an election for a particular office, up to the next election for that office,” according to the New York State Campaign Finance Handbook, published by the State Board of Elections, which summarizes relevant portions of State Election Law for candidates.
The current campaign cycle for the two-year office of Riverhead town supervisor began on Nov. 3, 2021, the day after the last town supervisor election, and ends on Election Day this year, Nov. 7.
In an interview, Hubbard initially said he would refund any contributions that were in excess of the legal limit. But after consulting with his campaign treasurer, his daughter Meaghan Howard, Hubbard said the campaign cycle began in January and the contributions from DeRosa and Foote were “perfectly legal.”
A spokesperson for the State Board of Elections confirmed the start and end dates of the current campaign cycle in an email today. “You are correct that contributions to a candidate apply to an entire election cycle. If the term of office is a 2-year term, it would have begun after the election in 2021,” the spokesperson wrote.
The Campaign Finance Handbook states “the limit is applicable to each candidate from each contributor regardless of how many committees that candidate has authorized for the particular election.”
“If a candidate has an overcontribution from a contributor during an election cycle, the committee would need to refund the overage back to the contributor,” the State Board of Elections spokesperson wrote.
During her 2021 re-election campaign, Supervisor Yvette Aguiar accepted contributions over the legal limit from more than a dozen businesses and political action committees. She denied that her campaign took contributions over the legal limit, but ended up refunding the contributions to comply with the receipt limit.
Another developer who contributed to Republicans with a project in the hopper includes propane company owner Frank Fisher and his company 631 Propane. Fisher received site plan approval to build propane tanks and industrial buildings on Kroemer Avenue in October 2021. The project was last seen when representatives pulled its application to the Riverhead Industrial Development Agency after the IDA said it would not approve the enhanced tax benefits the developer sought. Fisher and his company donated a total of $4,500 to candidates and the committee.
Renewable energy consultant Daniel Sullivan and his company Skunk Works Inc. also donated $2,500 to Republican campaigns. Sullivan encouraged the Town Board to adopt a town code amendment allowing commercial battery energy storage facilities during a 2021 work session. The Town Board passed zoning code amendments allowing the facilities earlier this year.
Sullivan’s name was also listed a work session agenda item last year in connection with a possible solar facility at the Youngs Avenue landfill, but Sullivan did not meet with the Town Board during that work session. A solar company representative addressed the board during that meeting, which led to the issuance by the town of a request for proposals, and ultimately, a lease with the same solar developer authorized earlier this month.
Hubbard also received $1,000 from Georgica Property Management, a company affiliated with Georgica Green Ventures, the developer of the Riverview Lofts mixed-use apartment building on East Main Street. Georgica Green Ventures was also named a joint master developer for the town’s transit-oriented development project opposite the Long Island Rail Road Station. Georgica Green Ventures has also proposed a mixed-use apartment building on West Main Street at Sweezy Avenue, and is the developer of the housing component of the Family Community Life Center project planned for Northville Turnpike.
The Republican supervisor candidate also received a $1,000 donation from a Westchester-based developer interested in building a ‘5-star resort’ and spa on the Long Island Sound in Riverhead.
Hubbard said in an interview he was unaware of who donates to his campaign. “I don’t even know what happens when money comes in,” Hubbard said. “I don’t really want to know where it comes from, to be honest with you. It’s a lot easier if I don’t know.”
Riverhead Ciderhouse owner John King’s real estate company contributed $2,500 to the Riverhead Republican Committee on May 1, according to the filings. At that time, the Riverhead Ciderhouse had an application pending before the Planning Board to legalize an already-built expansion of its tasting room and patio area. The Planning Board in a split 3-2 vote on July 6, voted to approve the expansion. Planning Board chairperson Joann Waski, who running for a seat on the Town Board this year, cast the deciding vote on the Ciderhouse application.
Other large business contributors to Republican coffers were from DeLea Sod Farms ($2,500), employees at H2M Architects + Engineers ($1,300); Riverhead businessman Brian Stark ($1,000); Riverhead engineering firm Young & Young ($500); the town’s annual auditors PKF O’Connor Davies of Hauppauge ($500); Richmond Realty ($500); J. Petrocelli Contracting ($500); golf management company Parkland Golf of Medford ($1,200); Baiting Hollow Club ($1,000); Apple Honda ($600); the Hyatt Place in Riverhead ($750); Kelly Development Corp. ($500); the law firm Campolo, Middleton & McCormick ($500); Leassard Realty ($600); Woodhull Landscaping ($500); the Commercial Industrial Brokers PAC ($500); and the companies of motorsports advocates John and Lois Anne Montecalvo ($800).
Republicans also received a total of $900 from the Riverhead Police Benevolent Association and $600 from the Riverhead PD Superior Officers Association. Democrats only received $250 from the Riverhead PBA and none from the Riverhead PD Superior Officers Association.
Democratic candidates say they aren’t focused on fundraising
Riverhead Democrats lagged behind Riverhead Republicans this fundraising — and two candidates told RiverheadLOCAL that’s intentional.
Most of the money supervisor candidate Angela DeVito and the Riverhead Town Democratic Committee have received came from smaller contributions from individuals with addresses in and around Riverhead Town.
DeVito, who raised roughly $8,000, said she is not putting pressure on supporters to contribute to her campaign.
“I guess if they think that raising a lot of money so that you can buy a lot of airspace, poster space, lawn sign space, ad space, is the way that they’re going to win an election, then go for it,” DeVito said, referring to the Republicans.
“I think that the other thing is to appeal to the electorate with what you believe are real issues,” DeVito said. “Yes, there are costs,” she said, citing as an example the cost of postage for mailing of 300 letters. She had to raise money for that, DeVito said. “We shouldn’t need $100,000 to run a local election.”
When DeVito ran for supervisor in 2013, she raised around $58,000 — a lot of which was “wasted,” she said. DeVito lost to incumbent Supervisor Sean Walter by fewer than 800 votes in an election where about 7,500 votes were cast.
“If that’s their strategy, to win a campaign by overwhelming people with just ‘vote for me’ sort of stuff, and people go in and are not informed about better choices then yeah, perhaps that strategy will win,” DeVito said. “But I just can’t see building that big of a war chest, because what do you do, live on it?”
DeVito, who contributed $500 to her own committee, received two $500 contributions, which were her largest amounts.
Democratic Town Council candidate Rene Suprina said she is not seeking campaign contributions. She only has $20 in her committee’s account, which she put in herself. She did receive a $771 in-kind contribution from the town Democratic committee, according to her filings.
Both Suprina and DeVito filed after the July 17 filing deadline due to a technical error, they said.
Democratic Town Council candidate Andrew Leven created a campaign committee but has not filed a report of any kind, including the required “no-activity” report when a committee has neither income nor expenses during a reporting period. Leven did not return a call seeking comment for this article.
Some of the larger contributions to the Riverhead Town Democratic Committee came from campaign committees of former or current candidates, according to the filings. Evelyn Hobson Womack, a 2021 Town Council candidate, contributed $997.81 from her campaign committee and a political action committee for Nancy Goroff, who ran for Congress against Lee Zeldin in 2020, contributed $2,402.50.
Ed Tuccio, real estate broker and the owner of Tweeds Restaurant & Buffalo Bar, contributed $1,000 to the committee.
Reginald Farr, a farmer and the coordinator of the EPCAL Watch group contributed $500 to the town Democratic committee. Until last month, DeVito was a member of EPCAL Watch, which has been critical of the sale of town-owned property at the Calverton Enterprise Park to the Triple Five affiliate Calverton Aviation & Technology. EPCAL Watch has repeatedly called for the town to terminate its contract with Calverton Aviation & Technology. Democratic candidates this year and in the past two elections campaigns have made opposition to the land deal a focal point of their campaigns.
Editor’s note: This story has been amended to reflect Angela DeVito’s resignation from EPCAL Watch last month.
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