Big changes are on tap for local government as Brookhaven’s political parties have selected their candidates for the town board in a November election made even more noteworthy with the departure of Supervisor Edward Romaine, who will lead the GOP ticket as a candidate for Suffolk County executive.
Running to replace him is Daniel Panico, 44, the district six councilman who also serves as Romaine’s deputy supervisor. In accepting the nomination, Panico pledged to continue his focus on quality of life issues and the environment, keeping the town under the state-mandated tax cap, and maintaining Brookhaven’s Triple A credit rating.
“Dan Panico has the vision and experience to lead Brookhaven forward and face the challenges ahead,” said Jesse Garcia, chairman of both the county and town Republican Committees, at the party’s convention Thursday in Ronkonkoma. “As a member of the town board, he has time and again been a leader in introducing critical initiatives on behalf of our residents.”
As councilman, Panico is credited with helping spearhead the most aggressive crackdown on illegal housing and blighted structures in the history of Brookhaven with the removal of more than 400 zombie homes and legal action against absentee landlords. He authored landmark legislation such as a town tax cap, anti-nepotism law and sweeping ethics reforms, according to Garcia, and has been a pioneer in the areas of land use, zoning and planning, preventing overdevelopment and preserving open space, while promoting economic development of local businesses.
Prior to serving on the town council, Panico was a member of the Brookhaven Planning Board and served as senior deputy county clerk, where he worked to make Suffolk one of the first counties in New York to implement an electronic document filing system. He is a graduate of William Floyd High School and received a Bachelor’s Degree in History and Political Science from Stony Brook University, as well as a law degree from Touro Law School. The candidate lives in Center Moriches with his wife Deanna and their children, Grant and Brooke. If elected, Panico will join Romaine and four other town supervisors from Center Moriches: August Stout, Claude Neville, Percy Raynor and John Havens.
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| Daniel Panico |
With Panico stepping up, the Republicans have selected Karen Dunn, a former town planning board member and Eastport-South Manor Board of Education trustee, who is also the president of the Manorville Chamber of Commerce, to vie for his seat. With a large portion of the district encompassed by Mastic-Shirley and the Moriches Bay Area, Dunn’s selection ruffled the feathers of some GOP faithful who preferred someone hailing from the South Shore. Potential candidates complained that they weren’t notified of Dunn’s nomination until the night of the convention and said her selection was engineered by Panico, who preferred her over other hopefuls.
Panico’s commitment to environment preservation mirrors that of Romaine who has made the future of waste management on Long Island a top priority. The town currently ships its garbage to be incinerated in Westbury in exchange for handling the resulting ash at the Yaphank Landfill. Brookhaven’s next supervisor will have to grapple with the eventual closure of the facility and the costs of handling the town’s waste. Also on the agenda will be expanding sewer capacity and the protection of the town’s water resources such as Forge River, which has been severely degraded over the years by pollution. Panico supports the Southern Mastic Beach Ecological Restoration Project and the Forge Road Dam fish and eel passage connecting the Peconic River to Peconic Lake. He’s been a driving force behind the preservation of hundreds of acres of farmland and open space and is a key player in the redevelopment of Mastic Beach’s Neighborhood Road. Another success has been leveraging the town’s purchasing power to allow an average National Grid customer to save about $100 annually.
Panico has been outspoken in urging state officials to better protect children by cracking down on peddlers selling THC candies in counterfeit packaging and oppose a 47 percent payroll tax hike to bail out the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. These and other issues are reported on the councilman’s Facebook page which he updates frequently as a way to communicate with town residents.
Serving as councilman, Panico was recognized by the Long Island Business News as a rising star at their prestigious “40 under 40” Annual Awards Gala, and was nominated for Stony Brook University’s "40 under 40 Award" as well. He’s received William Floyd School District’s Distinguished Alumni Award and was honored by the New York State Grand Lodge Foundation, Order of the Ancient Sons and Daughters of Italy in America, receiving their highest honor the Golden Lion.
“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.