Politico Chat: From Boats to Bills, a Local Candidate for Suffolk Legislature
Volume 49, Issue 9
By David Crohn

This is the first in a two-part series of question-and-answer sessions with the leading candidates for the position of Suffolk County Legislator, Eleventh District, which covers all of Fire Island, as well as all or parts of Bay Shore, Brentwood, Brightwaters and West Islip. The office is currently held by Angie Carpenter, whose term ends in January 2006. Next week we’ll be talking to the Republican candidate, Thomas Barraga.

George Hafele is known by many in the area as president of Fire Island Ferries, but he’s recently chosen to don another cap—that of public servant. He recently raised $5,000 in Fair Harbor for his campaign and plans to hold another fundraiser in Ocean Beach on August 28.

If you don’t know him, or didn’t know he was running for office and would like to see where he stands on the issues, here’s your chance.

You have no experience in public office, but have said that you see that as a strength. Why?

Government is too important to leave entirely to politicians. After you’ve been in office for years and years, your priorities change. Your existence becomes the next election.

So you hope to be in close contact with your constituents?

Absolutely. I’ll find a place to centrally locate my office and I plan on being in that office on days when most legislators aren’t working. If you’re open nine to five everybody’s out working and then you end up doing most of your work over the phone. I prefer to work face to face with people.

What do you think you can bring to this position?

I’ve always been a person who confronts problems, deals with them and solves them. I’ve been doing that all my life. [My time in office] would be a continuation of that. I’d be doing it in the public sector and not the private.

So then why should people vote for you?

Because I understand the district. It’s a very diverse place. People are learning that I’m someone who can help deal with their problems and will work hard to solve them.

You’re running under the Democratic ticket. To what extent would you say that reflects your approach to lawmaking?

Someone told me that “If you run as a Republican you’d have an easier time getting elected,” but you know, it’s one of those things that you can’t change. The district that I’m running in is a highly Republican district; it hasn’t been represented by a Democrat since 1975. So I have a very daunting task ahead of me. At this level of government it’s about constituents’ services, about understanding and solving the problems within your particular district, and how that affects the rest of the county.

What are some of the particular concerns of the constituents there?

As I go around and speak to people in the community one of the things I had my eyes opened to was gang recruitment. I didn’t think that gangs were a huge problem in this area, but they are a menace and they’re growing daily. Suffolk County Police does a wonderful job, but recruiting 13-year-old kids in middle schools in Brentwood and Bay Shore is a scary proposition. I feel that to reach the kids before the gangs get to them, to get them involved in afterschool and summer programs, to keep that risk at bay, is extremely important.

Another big issue is lack of affordable housing for our next generation of Suffolk County residents. I have two children who are highly educated who can’t afford to buy homes because the price of homes are just going off the wall.

Another problem is the Suffolk County jail. There are state requirements for inmates that the county is not meeting at this time and the deadline is approaching. We’re going to have to build a new jail. That’s an extremely expensive proposition. The county executive is working with the state Department of Corrections to minimize the effects on the taxpayers but it’s going to be very expensive.

And on Fire Island?

My commitment to the Fire Island reformulation project will remain steadfast. If anything were to happen to Fire Island , there would be severe problems in the rest of the district, so it’s not just my parochial interest in the island. It’s my concern for the rest of the district. To me that’s of the utmost importance. I’ve been there for every major storm of the last 35 years. I’ve seen what has happened over the course of the years, and we can’t allow it to continue. It’s a question of getting the federal funding, which is the largest portion, but the local governments would also have a portion of that to pay. It’s a question of orchestrating the different levels of government in a cooperative fashion. What happens on the beach has a trickle-down effect for the entire local economy.