Kathleen A. Cleary

Huntington Town Council
Kathleen Cleary

A lifelong Long Islander, Kathleen A. Cleary grew up in Massapequa Park and currently resides in East Northport with her husband and teenage daughter. She holds a degree in business administration from Adelphi and, more recently, earned a degree in horticulture technology management from Farmingdale State College in 2016. Today, she serves as a horticulturist for Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River, where she manages grant research and applications, along with native plantings.

Orelli officially wins Huntington highway superintendent election

Dec
12
2017

All the votes have been counted, and Democratic candidate Kevin Orelli has been declared the winner of the race for Huntington highway superintendent.

Orelli, 66, defeated Republican candidate John Clarke 25,087 to 24,763, garnering 50.32 percent of the vote, according to the official, and final, results from the Suffolk County Board of Elections.

“I’m very excited to be the winner, and I’m looking forward to starting the job,” Orelli said Tuesday. The position is a four-year term and pays $139,969 annually plus a $7,000 stipend for being emergency response coordinator, for a total of $146,969.

Orelli was also on the Green, Working Families, Women’s Equality and Reform party lines. He lost a Democratic primary four years ago for highway superintendent....| read more ››

Lindsay Defeats Piccirillo In 8th Legislative District Race

Dec
4
2017

Bill Lindsay III has been re-elected to the Suffolk County Legislature, defeating Republican challenger Anthony Piccirillo by 230 votes with all absentee ballots now counted, the Suffolk Board of Elections said Monday.

Lindsay, who has held the 8th Legislative District seat since 2013, led Piccirillo by a margin of 9,954-9,711 on Election Night, but with more than 1,000 absentee ballots outstanding at the time, the race was too close to call.

"I want to congratulate Bill Lindsay on his re-election as legislator in the 8th Legislative District," Piccirillo said in a statement Monday evening. "When one lives through an election this close it does bring to life the idea that every vote counts. My supporters and my family have been...| read more ››

Errol Toulon Jr. wins Suffolk sheriff’s race; Larry Zacarese concedes

Dec
4
2017

Democrat Errol Toulon Jr. will be Suffolk County’s new sheriff after Republican candidate Larry Zacarese conceded the close race Monday.

Toulon, a former New York City deputy corrections commissioner, becomes Long Island’s first African American nonjudicial countywide elected official, political observers said.

Toulon and Zacarese vied to replace Sheriff Vincent DeMarco in the Nov. 7 election that was too close to call on election night and required counting of more than 14,000 absentee ballots. Toulon expanded his unofficial election night lead of 1,352 votes over Zacarese to 2,043 votes by Monday, out of more than 300,000 votes cast. A handful of votes remain to be counted, election officials said.

Suffolk’s other contested race was also settled Monday when Republican Anthony...| read more ››

Sini defeats Perini in Suffolk district attorney contest

Nov
8
2017

Suffolk Police Commissioner Timothy Sini handily defeated Republican Ray Perini in the race for Suffolk district attorney on Tuesday night, promising to restore integrity to the office.

“Together we have ushered in a new era of criminal justice in Suffolk County, an era of integrity, fairness and doing the right thing,” Sini told nearly 200 supporters at his campaign headquarters in Hauppauge. “We are going to return the office to the honorable institution it once was.”

Sini campaigned as a reformer, pointing to his experience as Suffolk police commissioner and 4 1⁄2 years as a former assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District. He had promised to make sweeping changes to a district attorney’s office that had been run for...| read more ››

Sini seals the DA deal, Suffolk sheriff race a dead heat

Nov
8
2017

In a landslide victory, Suffolk County will have a new district attorney, and with that a new chief of police.

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Tim Sini (D) defeated Ray Perini (R) with 62.08 percent of the vote in the Nov. 7 general election. Perini, who came up with 106,773 votes, ran a contentious campaign against Sini, who campaigned as a reformer hoping to restore reliability to the office.

“Together we have ushered in a new era of criminal justice in Suffolk County, an era of integrity, fairness and doing the right thing,” Sini told supporters at his campaign headquarters in Hauppauge. “We are going to return the office to the honorable institution it once was.”

With Sini’s victory, he will...| read more ››

Dems hold on to the county: Sunderman takes term-limited seat in tight race

Nov
9
2017

It was an exciting election night for Suffolk County Democrats, who will retain their majority in the Legislature by four seats.

Despite holding that majority, Republican Rudy Sunderman was elected to Legis. Kate Browning’s term-limited seat in the 3rd District by a close 52 percent of the vote, with 6,849 votes.

At about 11 p.m., Suffolk County Republican Party chairman John Jay LaValle announced his win and he was called to the stage by a chant of people screaming “Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!”

His opponent, Democrat Josh Slaughter, took home 47 percent, with a total of 6,132 votes. The race was a nail-biter. By 9:30 p.m., Sunderman and Slaughter were neck and neck, but after a few more districts’ votes came...| read more ››

Errol Toulon Jr. up by 1,657 votes in Suffolk sheriff recount

Nov
29
2017

Democratic Suffolk sheriff candidate Errol Toulon Jr. is up by 1,657 votes with 76 percent of absentee ballots counted, and is on the verge of formally winning the election against Republican foe Larry Zacarese.

Zacarese on Wednesday withdrew his volunteers and ceased any further challenges at the county Board of Elections.

Democrats on Monday withdrew from the process that had resulted in fewer than 200 objections on both sides. Toulon had an unofficial election night lead of 1,352 votes.

To rebound, Zacarese would have to win more than 80 percent of about 4,600 absentee and affidavit ballots left, which all sides agreed was unlikely in what had been a tight race. Election officials said the recanvassing should be completed by...| read more ››

In Westbury, Joe Biden talks of son’s death, family’s pain

Nov
27
2017

Former Vice President Joe Biden recalled the loss of his son Beau and his family’s subsequent struggle to grieve during an hourlong talk at the NYCB Theatre at Westbury Monday night, where he also reflected on the current political climate.

Biden, seated with “Today” anchor Al Roker on the theater in the round’s iconic rotating stage, is on a 19-city book tour promoting “Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose.” The book recounts, in part, when Biden lost his 46-year-old son, Beau, to brain cancer.

The book’s title, Biden said, reflected a request from his son to forge ahead after his death on May 30, 2015. It was not, the former U.S. Senator from Delaware said, a...| read more ››

Edward Toulon Jr. maintains lead in Suffolk sheriff’s race recount

Nov
22
2017

A count of nearly 17,000 absentee and affidavit ballots in the Suffolk County sheriff’s race is about 40 percent complete, with Democrat Errol Toulon Jr. maintaining a lead over Republican Larry Zacarese, according to county election officials.

After nearly a week of counting, Toulon, 55, of Lake Grove, holds a 1,312 vote advantage over Zacarese, 42, of Kings Park, according to Democratic Elections Commissioner Anita Katz and Republican Elections Commissioner Nick LaLota.

The paper ballot count has been completed in Shelter Island, Smithtown and Babylon and is nearly complete in Brookhaven, Katz said.

On Wednesday, the overall tally stood at 144,458 for Toulon and 143,146 for Zacarese, officials said.

Toulon had an unofficial 1,354-vote lead on election night.

Republicans cast...| read more ››