To the Editor:
At the public hearing on June 10 on the special permit and site plan for the Petrocelli hotel in the Town Square, Council Member Denise Merrifield called out Laura Jens-Smith after Jens-Smith made her comments on the project. She asked Jens-Smith if she is the chairperson of the Riverhead Democratic party. When Jens-Smith declined to answer, Merrifield said she thinks the public has the right to know about Jens-Smith position as well as the fact that Supervisor Jerry Halpin is the Democratic candidate for election this year. Merrifield went on to ask if, when she speaks to this Town Board, Jens-Smith is speaking as the chair of the Democratic party to Halpin the candidate or if she is speaking as a resident?
It was both obnoxious and offensive on Merrifield’s part to bring political affiliation into the conversation. When Petrocelli spoke on behalf of his own hotel project, did she ask him to disclose how much money he has given to the Riverhead Republican Committee of which she and Council Members Bob Kern are members? How many Republican committee members have taken the podium to address the board without being subject to similar cross-examination by Merrifield?
Even more concerning and the height of hypocrisy for Merrifield was an incident at a recent public hearing on May 20 on the town’s taking by eminent domain of the Long Island Science Center’s building on Main Street. Specifically, Peter Timmons, Merrifield’s husband, spoke in support of the condemnation and the taking of the building but he identified himself only as a resident of Wading River. Merrifield sat silently and said nothing about her relationship to Timmons. Certainly, the public had the right to know of that relationship inasmuch as Timmons was fully supporting Merrifield’s position on the condemnation and the taking of the building — a matter on which she will eventually be voting. If ever Merrifield owed a duty to the public it was to let them know the speaker was her husband. And yet, a few weeks later, Merrifield felt just fine badgering Jens-Smith about the public’s right to know of her affiliation with the Democratic party.
Really? There’s an old saying, Ms. Merrifield: What’s good for the goose certainly has to be good for the gander.
Kathy McGraw
Northville
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