Your Island 10-25-23 (Chad Lennon Segment)

Noel DiGirolamo, president of the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association, warns that releasing police officers' personal information to criminals will further endanger them. Chad Lennon, a Republican conservative running for Suffolk County Legislature, emphasizes the need for more police officers and affordability in Suffolk County. He also highlights the importance of communication and understanding the impact of decisions on people's lives. Lennon is running in the 6th Legislative District, which includes communities such as Mount Sinai, Miller Place, Middle Island, Rocky Point, and Wading River. Early voting begins on Saturday, and Lennon hopes to keep families together and make life easier for residents in the county. The following are the words of Noel DiGirolamo, president of the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association. Police officers are already being targeted for assassination. Releasing their personal information to criminals will only further endanger them. Stand with law enforcement. Defend the police. Your Island, live and local, with your host, Tom Schillero, on 103.9 LAi Newsradio. And once again, welcome back as we move in right along. Historic vote going on down there in D.C. As I said right before the commercial break, by looking at the numbers, I was looking at the numbers as they were rolling in during the course of our show. I didn't see any dissension among the same Republicans that switched away from Jordan and Scalise and so on. And nobody has switched away. He's on his way. We're talking about Representative Mike Johnson from Louisiana, is on his way to becoming the speaker of the House of Representatives. He only needs 215 votes in this go-around. That's based on the number of people present. And as of right now, at this very second, 176 votes. So it looks like, folks, this little nightmare that we've been going through for the last 21 days is going to be open. We're going to have a speaker of the House of Representatives. And more important than that, right now at this very minute, we got a great, great candidate for public office on our show right now. Chad Lennon. I heard so much about Mr. Lennon. He's running for the Suffolk County Legislature. I think that's the 6th Legislative District. He will correct me if I'm wrong about that. And we're going to see what he has to say. But I'm telling you, folks, you've heard me say this many times. We get some great people, great people to run for public office. And I was reading Chad Lennon's resume and biography, and it's pretty incredible. But let's get him on the show. Chad Lennon, my friend, how are you? Great. Thank you for having me on the show. And you're correct. It is the 6th Legislative District. You know, Chad, I've always, to me, enamored with some of our great military folks and so on. You have a background, U.S. Marine. You're a recipient of the Purple Heart. Having that background, we have a good number of our military vets that have served in public office, and they make our great elected officials because they understand the whole idea of service and what that means. Is there a way to relate that to what you're about to embark on, if you are so successful in just about two weeks, I think it is, or even less than two weeks? Chad? Yes, I think, as you stated, service. That's something that the folks who joined the military are looking to do. That's something I look to do with service. And through that, your experience with dealing, for instance, myself being deployed to Afghanistan. I've been on the border. I've been in Africa, worked with other countries, worked with other branches. You learn how to work together with other people to achieve results. And that's definitely going to translate right over to being in public office. And that's important because there's no two ways about it. The American people, the people of Suffolk County, I hate to say this, Chad, but we're pretty demanding. We only deserve, and I believe this is true, the best and the brightest. And I think in many of the candidates that I've had on this show, you included, understanding your background. I think you represent that. And the unselfishness, anybody that joins our military and wants to serve at a time of crisis, and you did. To me, that gives you the mark on your resume to say that we are getting the best and the brightest and how important it is. Ed Romaine, who is running for Suffolk County Executive, is heading the top of the ticket. I should say you are a Republican conservative running on both those lines. And by all accounts, people are saying you're doing very well. What are you hearing? When you go door to door, I know you're running a very active campaign. People are meeting you. What do you hear from the folks? The two biggest things are public safety and affordability. Right now, we don't have enough police officers. We saw what happened with the whole defund the police. They try to be in movement. It really incentivized a lot of great people to become police officers. It incentivized a lot of our police officers to stay in. So since we lost so many officers who were looking to retire, we've lost a lot of experience and a lot of knowledge that could have been passed on to our up-and-coming officers. At the same time, we need to make a really push forward with the recruiting effort to get more police officers, those veterans returning from home, soon-to-be college graduates, those folks who are looking for a career change. Being a police officer, corrections, probation, sheriff, these are all fantastic jobs to have. And we need to make sure that we provide that foundation that says, not only is it a great job, but you'll be appreciated for this job. And they, you know, I can't say enough for our police officers. They're the ones who run for the danger to keep our community safe. So I think that's a big thing we need to do is make sure we have that. You know, I live in Rocky Point. I have the Ring app. And just about every night, I see that we have folks trying to break into cars, sheds, you know, just every week. My buddy from down the block said, oh, my neighbor had someone sleeping in his front deck. And it's like, oh my God, this is crazy. It's not a police officer issue. It's a manning issue. So we definitely need to make a push forward in supporting our police in that way. The other thing is affordability. Look, people leave Suffolk County not because of where we are, but the cost of it. One of the first things I want to do is work with Ed Romaine and suspend that energy tax. We're one of the few counties in the country that have a tax for energy. And we need to suspend that, cap the gas tax, cap the mortgage tax, maintain that we don't have an increase in our property taxes. We need to do everything we can at our county level to make it more affordable to keep people here. I know there are a lot of people texting me right now going, yeah, right on. You know, I guess in years past, that was OK to say that. But we have a situation right now, and you know this full well, that because of the inflation, what's happened in the last few years since January of 2021, the average person in your neighborhood, Rocky Point and Wading River that lives in the 6th Legislative District, the average, I should say, family, they're paying $700, $800, $900 more a month because of the increased cost to fill up your truck, to fill up your car, to fill up home heating oil, and what's happening at the supermarkets and so on. I mean, that's a lot of money, $700, $800 a month in increased cost because of inflation. It's tough for the folks right now. So your point on doing away with some of these taxes on some of the necessities, I think it's well-founded. Are people receiving that with open arms? Surprisingly, a lot of people didn't understand that they're getting taxed on their energy bill. So they were surprised to hear that, but happy to hear that we're looking to suspend that. So it is getting a positive feedback on it. I'm paying these taxes, too, so I feel the crunch. So I want to make sure that we can do everything we can to make life a little bit easier at our level. Look, it's a lot, you know, federal level, state level, but at our level at the county, we need to do everything we can to make sure that we keep our people here. We're seeing too many of children that are leaving, not just at the county, but New York State, our parents, our aunts. We want to keep these communities together where our parents and our grandparents and our children can be a block away, a town away, rather than states away. Okay, if you're just joining us, I'm with Chad Lennon. Chad's going to be on the ballot starting on Saturday. If you decide that you want to start voting 13 days ahead of time, early voting begins Saturday, the 28th. Chad will be on the ballot as a Republican conservative running in the 6th Legislative District. And Chad, just tell the folks who are listening right now, what communities are those? Because I know many people want to know if you're going to be on their ballot. So we're looking at Mount Sinai, Miller Place, Middle Island, Rocky Point, Wading River, Shoreham, Yacht Tank, a little bit of Corum, Ridge. That's the area that we'll see. Now, last time we had these elections, it's not the same exact area that the 6th Legislative District was previously. For the most part, it will be the same, but there's just a little bit of difference like Yacht Tank and a couple of election districts in Corum that you'll see that will encompass the 6th District. Now, how do you view the role of, I've spoken to so many of the county legislators, and I kind of like talking to the county legislators, because they're the local folks. If you are so successful and you get elected, you're the person that we're going to see on a Sunday morning in a bagel store, buying bagels. And we're going to see you around town. You're going to be that close to the people, to your constituents. You know, not so much if you're a member of the House of Representatives, or you're the governor, or you're the county executive, and so on. How do you view the role of a county legislator? Communication. That's the biggest thing I've been talking about, especially with the various organizations that I've spoken to as well. When you're making decisions that are going to affect people's lives, not just in a vacuum, there'll be second and third order effects. We need to make sure that we have that open communication with the people, with the organizations, to understand, I'm going to make a decision to go forward with something or not go forward with something. How is that going to affect everybody? We need to forward project as much as we can, and getting that input, getting the information will help us make better decisions. Being able to speak to people when you're just, like you said, going out to the pay-go shop on a Sunday morning, or when you're in the office and people are calling you, or you're going to meetings, and giving elected officials the information will have them better informed, making better decisions. Are you ready for it? I mean, so many people say, well, I thought it was going to be a part-time job. I think any elected official learns that right away, that you're not a part-time position, even though they may say it is, that you're always at the community meetings. The VFW folks are going to want to see Chad Lennon. The civic associations are going to want to see Chad Lennon. The school board is going to want you down there to talk about a couple of things. Is that something that many of our legislators don't prepare themselves for that, but they get a rude awakening when it first starts? It's no problem for me. I've been a Marine. You're a Marine 24-7. You've got to understand that you could be called in for some issue, and that's one of the biggest things, I think, too. To put yourself at that point of friction, if something happens, I want to be able to get down to where the issue is happening, to see it with my own eyes, and understand what's happening, not sit back and go, oh, I'll read a report on it. Reading a report is great, but getting down to where the issue is happening, getting a feel for it, that's going to make a real difference. That's what all elected officials should be doing. And that is important. I know people do rely on it. And by the way, folks, it looks like the vote has given us, the people of this country, a new U.S. House Speaker, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson. He actually got to 215. Now he's at 217. This nightmare is over with. Let me just throw that out to our candidate, Chad Lennon. What were your thoughts about what was happening down there in Washington and not being able to choose a speaker? And you should know, of course, what I just said. It just happened just now. Mike Johnson has been elected the new Speaker of the House of Representatives. But your thoughts on that, on what was taking place? It was a mess. It's about time. 21 days is 21 days too late. It should have been worked out immediately. You have to come together and work with people. You're not going to get your way 100% of the time. Heck, you're not going to agree with the people that you voted, even if you're a Democrat, Republican. You're not going to agree with those people 100% of the time. But if you can get together and say, look, the base value of what we all stand for, you understand what it is. I may not get the results for you immediately, but we're going to work towards that. And it was just too much back and forth and complaining. You need to come together. You need to work together. And it was just, and especially putting it out there at a time of such need with what's going on with the Russia-Ukraine crisis and now Hamas slaughtering Israelis. We needed a Speaker of the House 21 days ago, but it's great to hear that it's happened now. And now it's time for us to move forward as a country in support of the people of America and those around the world who rely on us for our leadership. I always say elections are exciting times. It was an election, obviously, right now in the House, and they elected a new Speaker. We're seeing local elections taking place. We're going to elect a county executive, a new county executive for the first time in 12 years. Your particular district, Sarah Anka, was the incumbent there. She's term limited out. So the people in your district elect a new legislator, fresh ideas, a fresh approach. And I'm not going to keep you too long. I know you've got a very busy schedule. How would you define that fresh approach that you're going to take? Mike, I've done a ton of projects that I want to bring together. Most of my background is military and veterans. I've done things from a 66-mile hike for veteran suicide awareness for Citi Field to Kerr Memorial Park. We do a pro bono day every year at the Suffolk County Bar Association to provide free legal services. I've put together programs for veteran organizations to come together to better connect, communicate, and collaborate to get a more holistic approach to supporting the veterans in our community. And that can be translated to all the different organizations and the demographics that need assistance is to work together. And one of the big things, as I say, is leadership. I have 15 years in the Marine Corps. I think that's proven leadership there. And I'm going to be making myself available for everybody because I want to hear from everybody, and I want to work with everybody to do what's right for people. It's not about what's right for me. It's not about what's right for anything else other than what's going to improve our way of life for the residents of not just the 6th District but all of Suffolk County because, in the end, as a legislator, you represent a district, but you're also making decisions that are going to affect everybody in the county. Absolutely fantastic. Just give us a website or how people want to learn a little bit about you. Again, folks, I'm talking to Chad Lennon. He's going to be on the ballot starting on Saturday, early voting money for the Suffolk County legislature. Do you have a Facebook page or a website for your campaign? There's a Facebook page, Chad Lennon for County Legislator. On there, it's updated just about every day with the areas that I'm walking and knocking on doors, different events that we're doing, or just me speaking about an issue. But that's a great way to connect, see where I'm at, and ask me questions. Just a fantastic candidate, ladies and gentlemen. Just a pleasure to speak to Mr. Lennon with the military background. Just great to have you on the ballot, give the people a choice of some good leadership out there. Chad, I appreciate it. Thanks for taking your time out today, and hopefully we'll talk to you again soon. Appreciate that. Sounds great. Thank you very much.