With Supervisor Edward Romaine running for county executive and Councilman Dan Panico slated by the Republican and Conservative parties to replace him, big changes are in store for the Brookhaven Town Board.
Panico will lead a ticket including three town board incumbents and two new faces as voters will be asked to vote on candidates for four-year terms. Vacancies include the seat formerly held by Councilman Kevin LaValle who gave up his position for a successful town clerk run. Town government veterans Daniel Losquadro, the highway superintendent, and Receiver of Taxes Louis Marcoccia will also headline the ballot.
Running with Panico will be town board incumbents Jane Bonner in the second district, Michael Loguercio in the fourth, and Neil Foley in the fifth. Bonner has served as a Rocky Point School Board Member, civic association president, and aide for Losquadro when he served as a county legislator. First elected in 2007, the Rocky Point resident is the town council’s longest-serving official.
Loguercio, a 45-year resident of Ridge, started with the council in 2015. He has over 40 years of experience as a state-licensed insurance broker and insurance technology expert, and was also a journalist for an insurance trade publication where he wrote a bi-weekly column on risk management.
Foley, a former member of the town Board of Zoning Appeals, came into office in a special election in 2014. A New York Cancer & Blood Specialist senior vice president, he is active with the Patchogue Medford Youth Organization and the Bayport Blue Point Little League.
With Panico giving up his seat to run for supervisor, former town planning board member and Eastport-South Manor Board of Education trustee Karen Dunn, an attorney, is stepping up to succeed him. A Manorville resident since 1990, Dunn has served as either president or vice president of the school board over the course of 11 years that saw the merger of the Eastport School District with South Manor and the opening of the Eastport South Manor Junior Senior High School. The mother of four children currently serves as president of the Manorville Chamber of Commerce and has been chairperson of the legislative committee seeking state aid for her school district. Karen served on the board of directors of the non-profit Aid to the Developmentally Disabled Inc.
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| 6th district council candidate Karen Dunn |
Looking to knock off the board’s lone Democrat, Jonathan Kornreich, in the first district is Gary Bodenburg, 42, a special education teacher in the South Huntington School District who lives in Port Jefferson Station with his family. The former Selden resident holds a Bachelor’s Degree in education from St. Joseph’s College, an Administration Masters from Stony Brook and a Doctorate from St. John’s University in Educational Leadership and Supervision. He also served as an assistant principal with the Western Suffolk BOCES.
First elected to the highway seat in 2015, Losquadro will stand for re-election as a former legislator and member of the state Assembly covering northeastern Brookhaven. The Shoreham resident has been credited with establishing a comprehensive road resurfacing and drainage plan which is on track to repave every Brookhaven street at least every 15 years. He is a graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook having earned a B.A. degree in history. For nearly a decade before taking office, he worked as a senior property claims estimator for State Farm Insurance. He is a graduate of Shoreham-Wading River High School.
“Dan Losquadro has professionalized the Brookhaven Highway Department, thanks to his leadership and experience in the New York State Assembly and Suffolk County Legislature,” said Jesse Garcia, the county and town GOP leader. “He has created efficiencies and implemented much-needed improvements while holding the line on taxes, ensuring that Brookhaven’s 3,200 miles of roadways are second to none.”
Also running townwide will be Marcoccia, a former businessman and nationally recognized expert in the technology field who lives with his family in East Setauket. Rounding out the town slate is Steve Weissbard, 59, a Stony Brook attorney running for Sixth District Court judge. He has served with the Family Court, Suffolk County Attorney’s Office, and Suffolk Legal Aid Society.
The GOP candidates are running with Conservative Party backing and are seeking four-year terms.
“With Ed Romaine at the top of the county ticket, Dan Panico leading the slate in Brookhaven and a full ballot of experienced and proven professionals, I’m confident that our Republican candidates are ready to continue to hold the line on taxes, improve the quality of life for our residents and make our communities safer for our families,” Garcia concluded.