Since starting his career in law in 2003, Stephen Kiely has served as counsel in nearly every East End township, plus Brookhaven Town and the Suffolk County Clerk’s office. Although his nomination is still considered unofficial until petitions are formally filed on April 16, Mr. Kiely has been named as the Suffolk County Republican Committee’s candidate to run for the New York State Assembly seat now held by Fred W. Thiele Jr., a Democrat who is not seeking re-election after a long career in politics.
Mr. Kiely, who lives in Mattituck on the North Fork, is currently Shelter Island’s town attorney, appointed two and a half years ago in a unanimous vote by a town board with a Democratic majority. He has served in that capacity or in similar roles in Southampton Town and Southold Town, has been a special prosecutor in the villages of Greenport and Westhampton Dunes, was in private practice for six years, and has also represented clients in weekend and holiday arraignments in Riverhead Town Justice Court.
“What I do for a living is I write laws and interpret laws, and that’s what an assembly person needs to do,” Mr. Kiely said in an interview on Tuesday. “You get dropped on your desk, sometimes with only a couple of hours, to read and digest laws that you have to vote on. I’d be able to do that with ease — I’m able to dissect it and see what unintended consequences there might be.”
He calls himself “a community guy” who wants to use his skills to help people. “It’s important to have a loudmouth from the East End to make sure the East End’s concerns are heard loud and clear, and that’s what I intend to do” if elected, Mr. Kiely said.
He touts as accomplishments having written Southampton Town’s rental-registry law and helping prepare Shelter Island’s community housing plan. He supports innovative approaches to affordable housing as well as home rule, meaning he opposes Gov. Kathy Hochul’s efforts to sidestep towns’ authorities in creating new housing opportunities.
“I agree that affordable housing is a major, major issue, but there are other ways to handle it than blanket-build apartment complexes,” Mr. Kiely said. “Where is the most vacant land on Long Island? The East End. That’s where she’ll pursue it. I want to protect our rural character, whether it be in a battle of ideas or with a megaphone.”
He also wants the state to rescind executive order 170, which, when it was issued by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, “made us a sanctuary state without any input from the residents through their representatives,” Mr. Kiely said. “I am very empathetic to the plight of the migrants . . . but we have to really help people who are here first before we can help others.”
He also said he supports reversing some of the recent changes to New York’s criminal justice system, including the so-called Clean Slate Law that seals the criminal records for certain types of offenses after a specific period of time. “I get the intent behind it, and I’m all about helping people who are reformed get back on their feet, but it has to be done in a smarter way,” Mr. Kiely said.
He would also seek to enact a “homicide by sale” clause to hold drug dealers accountable for deaths involving fentanyl or fentanyl-laced street drugs, and would like also to enact regulations against smoking marijuana in public.
Mr. Kiely said he admires Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine, whom he “would seek to emulate,” and enjoys a good working relationship with Anthony Palumbo, who represents the East End in the State Senate.
His undergraduate degree in justice and policy studies was completed at Guilford College in North Carolina, and he earned his law degree at Hofstra University in Hempstead. He said he comes from a family with a legacy of both law enforcement and military service. A father of four children, he also has coached youth lacrosse and basketball and is a member of community groups including the Mattituck-Laurel Civic Association and the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Hampton Bays.
Asked whether he identifies with the discourse of the national Republican Party, Mr. Kiely said he is instead “laser-focused on the East End, and East End residents, and what I can do to help them.”
On the Democrats’ side of the campaign, Southampton Town Councilman Tommy John Schiavoni is the leading candidate to face Mr. Kiely in the Assembly race.
