I have watched the last two East Hampton Town Supervisors get ostracized and humbled by the local press. It is/was sad to watch “good proud” men who gave their all to do what they thought was best for the Town of East Hampton go through the meat grinder in order to help struggling ”for sale" papers sell advertising. It was very sad to watch neighbors become so polarized that they’d shout obscenities at each other in public town hall meetings. When I was a paid political/real estate/ business weekly columnist I called Larry Cantwell for quotes, information, and background a handful of times. He was always a classy man promptly answering the calls with straight answers. Now make no mistake that I am not saying Bill McGintee and Bill Wilkinson have not made some major missteps while they were supervisors, in private they might tell you their biggest ones, but what I am saying is being the decision maker for a town, divides people with each decision. A town supervisor of my home town in Westchester, whom I played tennis with, once told me, “Every day I lose a friend and make an enemy for life by just doing this job..” But guess what he didn’t have three papers dissecting him up to sell advertising, so he was Supervisor for about 6 terms until he was diagnosed with Leukemia. My point is this, Larry Cantwell; you are well liked, respected, considered competent enough that your election will be a carination, but I promise you this, in the end, your love for your home town will be shattered, and you will become somewhat bitter about the way you were used and abused by others who use supervisors to get what they want at his political expense. Can you get good things done? Yes. Will you pay a high personal price? Most definitely.
