If it were a WWE event, touts would dub it the "Blue Point cage match."
In a highly unusual move, Brookhaven Supervisor Brian X. Foley (left), only three months into his second term, is seriously weighing a run for town board next year against his chief nemesis, Republican Timothy Mazzei.
The move would pit the two men in a hometown battle for Mazzei's 5th District seat, a part-time job that pays $65,000 a year. To make the run, Foley would have to forgo renomination for his $110,000-a-year supervisor's job and seek other employment, so far unidentified.
Foley himself declined to comment, but backers describe the idea as an "out of the box" effort to show that Democrats are intent on quickly returning to power in Suffolk's largest town, rather than conceding their 2005 victory was a once-in-a-generation fluke. Republicans won back a 4-3 board majority in November.
If Foley makes a town board run, party officials say they have a "deep bench" of supervisor contenders led by Patchogue Mayor Paul Pontieri, architect of the village's revival, or Assemb. Marc Alessi (D-Shoreham), an outspoken advocate on utility issues.
"I think it's a very savvy political strategy," said Marsha Laufer, Brookhaven Democratic chairwoman. "What's important to Brian is our reform agenda, not whether he's supervisor or on the board."
But critics say the ploy is the largest sign yet that Foley is unhappy and ill-suited....
Rick Brand
.....in his job as Brookhaven's chief executive. If Foley is serious, they say it makes him an immediate lame duck. Or, more likely, it is simply a weak volley over the bow of Mazzei, the de facto head of town government who has made Foley's life difficult.
Jesse Garcia, Brookhaven Republican chairman, laughing, labeled it a "desperate childish act" by an "ineffective and unresponsive" official. "Anyone who has seen Brian Foley in action has come to expect that kind of pouting," said the party leader, adding that in a head-to-head race with Mazzei, "It would be a one-way express ticket out of government" for Foley.
Frank Tassone, Mazzei's spokesman, was more blunt in his assessment of Foley: "I think he's completely lost it."
However, Richard Schaffer, Suffolk Democratic chairman, said Republicans' shrill response belies their worry.
"It sounds to me like they are completely in shock and know full well it means they could lose the majority." And, Schaffer added, "They have an incumbent who has never had a real race, and they know it."
What could make Foley's town board candidacy so potent is that his family has represented the area for nearly a half-century. Before twice winning townwide, Foley spent 16 years as a county lawmaker and his father, John, held the seat for 24 years before that as well as a four-year stint on the town board.
"Brian and his dad never lost an election in that district," Laufer said.
No pushover, Mazzei won last year with nearly 63 percent of the vote. Foley, in his last legislative run in 2003, won with 65 percent and townwide last year with 54 percent in the supervisor race, an easy eight-point victory.
But Michael Dawidziak, Mazzei's campaign consultant, cautioned that Foley town board candidacy could be a "huge mistake," because that history shows voters don't turn out popular officials just because another well-liked incumbent makes a challenge.
"They usually feel they can keep both," he said.
Some Democrats, however, believe that Mazzei, who has aspirations to succeed Thomas Spota as district attorney, might balk at a block-by-block battle against Foley that could end Mazzei's political career. Dawidziak countered that Republicans could react with a double-switch of their own, running Mazzei for supervisor and another contender for town board.
"If they think they are rattling Mazzei's cage with this," Dawidziak said, "they are going after the wrong guy. He loves a fight."