One of the state-of-the-union guests in DC last night was Republican Smithtown Supervisor Patrick Vecchio.
The Republican town supervisor was invited by Democratic Congressman Tim Bishop. Each congressman gets to invite one other person to the event.
Dealing with a cold, Vecchio was nonetheless excited to attend, and said he was “very flattered” to be Bishop’s guest.
“When I traveled to Washington with the mayor (Vecchio once served as the late NYC Mayor John Lindsay’s bodyguard), I can’t tell you how many times, ... I don’t believe I was ever in the congressional arena,” he said.
While the two men are known to be friendly and work well across party lines, the exclusive invitation may have been in thanks for Vecchio’s cross-endorsement of Bishop last year for re-election.
Stacey Altherr