I read Andrea Klausner’s Letter to the Editor [“Beware of Grudges,” Letters, April 24], where Andrea suggests that my persistent attacks on, as I see it, political horse-trading are based on a grudge due to a lost election in 2019, where I “blamed the committee for a cross-endorsement that did not go his way.”
That’s actually not true, nor is it my motivation.
Honestly, I didn’t understand how fusion worked when the Southampton Democratic Committee nominated me for Town Board, but I realized quickly that I was going to lose, as a one-line candidate. In hindsight, I wasn’t a good candidate and should have handed the nomination off to someone else. I saw it through, though, hung in there with the Democratic Committee for a few more years, then realized that committees were not for me, so off I went.
As a moderate, there aren’t many groups to hang out with, so I offer my support to local candidates as an individual willing to help. That support is party-blind, though, as Andrea pointed out, it has been more Republican lately. I’m sure that I’ll support local Democrats in the future, too. It all depends on the person and their policies. That’s it.
So, no grudge, but certainly a lot of frustration with the end results of the fusion voting system.
Knowing that, frustration combined with internet muscles yields childish behavior, and I am guilty as charged. I like Andrea Klausner. We were (are) friends. We agree a lot more than we disagree. We are both passionate people, trying to make a difference where we can. I hope that we can talk about the dynamics that make up our local elections and possibly find common ground. Maybe we can make some positive changes. I’d like that.
I do apologize for the overuse of snark and cheap shots in some of my letters. Such things cheapen a message, and I hope to avoid these traps in the future. For this, I am grateful for Andrea’s letter, because it gave me a moment to pause, think and, hopefully, adjust.
Do I think cross-endorsements are hurting Southampton Town? Yes, and I’ll continue to broadcast that.
Can I spread that message without hurting people? Yeah, I can do that, and I most certainly will.
Craig Catalanotto
Speonk
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