Bombs Flew
East Hampton
March 2, 2026
To the Editor,
It may be that our latest war is the right thing to do. Iran murdering its own people did need to be stopped somehow. But what trust could we possibly have when our president lies about everything and takes responsibility for nothing?
It was just a few months ago he bragged that we had destroyed their nuclear arsenal.
Negotiations with Iran were going well, so Trump said; then he was unhappy, and the bombs flew less than a day later.
Usually, dictators start wars when their approval ratings are down and they are drenched in scandal.
Usually might be now.
TOM MACKEY
Americans Will Die
East Hampton
March 2, 2026
Dear David:
Not long ago, the Republican Congress passed a tax bill that will take away health care and raise prices for American families so it could deliver billions of dollars in new tax cuts to billionaires and big corporations.
Between gutting Medicaid and health insurance for children and letting American Care Act tax credits expire, the Republican tax bill threatens to kick 15 million Americans off their health insurance. It also threatens to more than double premiums for the 22 million who get their insurance through the A.C.A. marketplace.
Americans deserve higher-quality, affordable health care, not to pay more for less, and especially not to fund tax cuts for billionaires.
The Republican answer — junk insurance.
The G.O.P. is falling back on its farce of offering people “more choice” in the marketplace by proposing to lower the price on some A.C.A. plans. The catch is the deductible, the amount you pay out of pocket before insurance coverage starts picking up the bills, which will rise to $15,000 for individuals and $31,000 for a family of two.
For a family managing diabetes, cancer, or a sudden hospitalization, a $31,000 deductible isn’t “choice.” This isn’t reform. It’s catastrophe. And it is exactly the type of nearly worthless health insurance that the Affordable Care Act was designed to eliminate.
When the rest of the world gets the universal health coverage that all humans deserve, Trump is sending health care back to the dark ages of denied coverage for pre-existing conditions.
If the G.O.P. plan becomes reality, an estimated 50,000 Americans will die every year from lack of health care and a half a million families may go bankrupt because of health care expenses. The administration’s own estimates suggest up to two million people could drop coverage by 2027 under these changes. Adult dental care would no longer count as an essential benefit. Enrollment rules could tighten.
Since the Truman administration (the 1940s), Democrats have been proposing a national health care plan for America — like literally every other developed democracy in the world has — but Republicans have remained loyal to the insurance industry instead of to us.
It’s time for Americans to demand that our lawmakers deliver a health care plan that actually helps, rather than hurts, Americans. Unfortunately, our congressman, Nick LaLota, has no interest in helping us. It’s time for him to go.
Sincerely,
BRUCE COLBATH
Backdoor Man
Montauk
March 3, 2026
Dear David,
I would hate to see the future of East Hampton Town determined by a backdoor politico backed by turncoat Republicans and independents.
Backdoor Jerry has done a wonderful job of fostering corporate retail, McMansion-building, hedge fund interests, pricey restaurants (with the exception of Sam’s, Fierro’s Pizza, and John Papas), real estate magnates, corporate landscaping, and security concerns. He even flies in Santa to the village every Christmas in a helicopter. (I had thought that Santa traveled by sleigh!)
East Hampton Village is beautiful in large part because of its beautiful trees (kudos to the East Hampton Ladies Village Improvement Society). Unfortunately, the only people who can live there, buy there, and eat there are wealthy people who are catered to on all levels, including the political and economic. Seventy-seven percent of the homes in the village are owned by second-home owners. To explain the transformation of the village in living color please drive by Starbucks on Main Street on any Saturday morning in August.
On a national level, we live in an environment controlled by fake Republicans. We need to ensure that on a local level we are never controlled by fake Democrats under the leadership of a backdoor man.
Please vote for real Democrats in the June primary. Vote for Kathee Burke-Gonzalez and her slate of Democratic Committee candidates.
Sincerely,
BRIAN POPE
Ditch Fiasco
Springs
February 28, 2026
To the Editor,
I’ve not had a chance to get out to Ditch Plain since the most recent storm but was not surprised to read in your coverage that much of the just-installed $5 million protective dune has already washed away. As someone who has been highly critical of this wasteful and poorly planned project from the start, I thought it might survive for a few years, not just a little over a month.
Clearly, even the town knew it would not last long as they left extra sand after completion and one board member stated, “It’s not a solution in the end. It just bides time for the community to become more resilient.” How is that going to happen? By just dumping even more very expensive sand again? Does the town administration think sea-level rise and climate change will magically reverse in the near future?
It should be interesting to see if the federal government will now bail out the town, as is hoped, but it is unlikely and a foolish backup plan. It would be pure folly to just dump more sand at this location.
For some reason though, local officials seem to think wasting millions of local, state, and federal money is a good idea. Don’t they realize this comes out of all taxpayers’ pockets and is one of the reasons our local budget has increased by over 8 percent two years in a row now?
More worrisome, don’t they realize the sugar daddy federal government borrows more than one out of every four dollars it spends already and our state leads the country in terms of debt per capita?
These types of erosion protection projects are neither fiscally nor environmentally sustainable. If they are to be continued, then the money should come out of the pockets of the dozen or so commercial operators in downtown Montauk that mainly benefit or the few dozen residential homes near Ditch Plain — in 2013, Bridgehampton and Sagaponack began special tax assessments to fund beach replenishment projects and in 2026 it is finally time for East Hampton to do the same.
Moreover, didn’t town officials realize that at other local erosion projects in the recent past such as the Lighthouse, downtown Montauk (both just a few miles away), and Gerard Drive, the planners were wise enough to at least harden these areas with rock, stone, or sandbags to withstand the coming tides?
Few seem to realize that the town had been dumping $300,000 to $400,000 of sand every year at Ditch Plain for years now and it washed away each time. Why did anyone think just dumping 12 to 13 times more sand, 16 feet tall, all at once would be any different? This is a good question for the town’s consultant, who is supposedly an expert in coastal erosion. It’s sad though that no one on the town board had enough common sense to realize this was going to be a complete waste of money and resources.
This brings up one of the many errors that have been made over the years:
Why didn’t the town work with the federal government when its dredge was two miles away in downtown Montauk a year earlier? Sand would have cost probably only a quarter of the eventual $5 million if this had been done. The way this has been managed has become a windfall for the local quarry owners. I suppose if the town gets its way, tens of millions of yards of construction sand, which is a limited resource, will continue to be wasted.
In the big picture, this also brings up the question why the town in the last decade has refused to spend any money on sustainable investment to lower its own greenhouse gas emission profile.
The town’s contribution for this project has been $2.5 million so far, but if that money had been spent on putting solar on town-owned buildings in the last three years when it would have qualified for a 30 percent federal credit, it could have offset all its own electric usage with clean renewable power for the next 25 years. Instead, that money was basically washed away in a month with little to show for it.
The town should make clear why more than six years after the state provided a free review of solar potential in East Hampton, nothing has been done and why this report continues to be ignored.
Cate Rogers helms the sustainability committee and was also in charge of the Ditch Plain dune project, so she has a fair amount of explaining to do. At the very least, she should step down from the sustainability committee and, given this citizen committee’s track record of inaction, it should just be disbanded.
The Ditch Plain fiasco, like so many of the failures of the town administration in recent years — the senior center, the Building Department, practically no affordable housing development in the last decade despite thousands being on a waiting list, lack of any sustainability-oriented investment, absence of deer management or tick control even though the town board called for both over a dozen years ago — all seem to be the result of either incompetence or corruption and perhaps sometimes both.
In a town where it seems the one-party rule can only be broken if it is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy as happened in 2009, hopefully it won’t take that kind of extreme situation to finally get some much-needed diversity on the local town board.
BRAD BROOKS
Voter ID
Montauk
February 28, 2026
Dear Editor,
Reading your editorial on voter ID, I’m shocked at your left-wing views.
Where are the John Kennedy democrats? They would never stand for this.
This is becoming politics versus policy. Let’s try to protect our integrity. Voter ID is common sense and fair. This is a way of protecting our democracy.
The left wants to change the Constitution. The idea that Black or brown and Latinos can’t get government ID is soft bigotry of how you talk down to people. Stop marginalization of Black and brown people. Ever hear of a birth certificate, first thing you get when you’re born?
“Burdensome” is ridiculous. As is spending billions to obtain identification.
Are people voting today, yesterday? Remember the toothless woman on TV screaming, “I just voted three times for Barack Obama!”?
My Black friends vote. We often have conversations in reference to what’s going on in our country.
In God and country,
BEA DERRICO
Larsen’s Slate
Amagansett
February 28, 2026
To the Editor:
I’ve never had as many W.T.F. moments reading a single issue of The Star as I did last week. The principal catalyst was Christopher Gangemi’s “Democrats: New Guard Challenges the Old,” which contained several statements of fact I found quite startling.
The grossest surprise was that two old acquaintances of mine, people I helped years ago try to restore some democracy here, are running for Democratic committee membership on Jerry Larsen’s slate. I will not name them, in memory of the battles we fought as soldiers on the same side. Instead, I will use a sentence from another of last week’s Star articles to reproach them: “A Jan. 16 public hearing” in the village, on a rather controversial issue involving beach access (the third rail of local politics!) “drew no comment from the public” (Christopher Walsh, “Dogs, Trucks Measure a No”). Think about that, and the reasons why, friends.
The town at least still retains an active tradition of attendance and outspoken comment, in which at least one of you has always been a very active participant. I thought we were all trying to let more free air in here, but if your candidate wins, the town will become as airless as the Moon. And I add: I am not so saintly as to ignore the health benefits of sweet revenge, but am not a fan of burning down what remains to achieve it.
A meta-insight: In my letters I have always described Mr. Larsen as a blowhard, but if he is running candidates to take over the Democratic committee, he is a lot more “dope on the mike” than I thought (Machiavellian, that is).
An insight based on what you didn’t say: Where is the third candidate who interviewed for the nomination, who didn’t commit to entering the primary? He is invisible in the very actual, very factual recent coverage. Since he is, or was, the one person in the race I would actually trust to run the town, his present invisibility is one, sad, and two, also a teaching moment.
Yeats’s “The Second Coming” has been quoted to death, so I try to avoid it, but: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity.”
The most probable means of rapid rescue for this town would depend on someone who aspires to and achieves as much of the following as possible: Intelligence, charisma, compassion, people and organizational skills, and most of all the commitment and intensity to go straight for the goal, and never give up. (Yes, I will blurt it out: Someone like Zohran Mamdani.)
I saved the most astonishing for last: “One current Democratic committee member who will not be running? Christopher Kelley. . . .” (From the article by the first Christopher. Might need a chart to sort them all out.)
This is the guy I mainly refer to as “Voldemort” in my letters, He Who Shall Not Be Named, the boss of the Democratic machine for at least the last 15 years. He was the shot caller during the period when all three of the people I have mentioned — the two who have defected to Mr. Larsen and the guy who has disappeared — were forced out of the local Democratic Party for being too intelligent and independent. Since he doesn’t actually have to be elected to any public office to run things — particularly not such a minor, street-level one— this may not mean much. But it could also be a tell that the machine is coming apart, like a space station falling out of orbit in a cheesy science fiction movie.
It’s like living in a noir science fiction comedy (“Dark Star” comes to mind).
For democracy in East Hampton,
JONATHAN WALLACE
Witnessed Firsthand
Amagansett
February 27, 2026
Dear David,
I am writing in response to the recent article written by Christopher Gangemi “Larsen’s New Guard Challenges Democratic Establishment,” detailing the developments within the East Hampton Town Democratic Committee and the upcoming primary campaign led by Mayor Jerry Larsen.
As a former 10-year Democratic committee member, I have witnessed firsthand the challenges of transparency within our party. During that period of time, I was censored during meetings for attempting to speak the truth about the town’s misleading statements, having served as a board watcher who was well aware of the issues facing our community.
In the article, Deborah Choron, the current secretary of the committee, mentioned that the current chair has appointed many new members. However, when I review the current committee, I recognize only a handful of individuals who were part of the original elected committee. After eight years of Democratic committee appointments, it is only fitting that we fulfill the democratic process with a newly elected committee that represents the voices of all East Hampton Democrats.
Jerry Larsen’s organization of this election process deserves recognition. His ability to coordinate such a significant undertaking speaks volumes about his commitment to our community and the betterment of East Hampton. It is time for a fresh perspective and renewed leadership within our Democratic committee, and I fully support the movement toward a new slate of elected Democratic committee members that truly represents the interests of our constituents.
The primary vote for the Dem committee is on June 23. Mark your calendars and exercise your vote for a better democracy.
RONA KLOPMAN
—
Ms. Klopman is a Larsen-slate candidate for Democratic committee member in District 12 in Amagansett. Ed.
Not Done Legally
Amagansett
March 2, 2026
Dear Editor,
As reported last week in The Star “Larsen Returns Some Campaign Donations,” much of the money, perhaps almost half of what he raised last year, will need to be returned, as it was obtained in violation of New York State election campaign finance law.
In the Feb. 5 Star, it was reported that Mr. Larsen’s campaign touted $132,000 raised between Sept. 9 and Dec. 16 last year, calling it “the largest fund-raising total ever recorded” in a race for the nomination. There’s a reason it was the largest ever recorded: It was not done legally.
I hope he will be fully transparent about the amount he illegally obtained.
If Mr. Larsen cannot be fiscally responsible in the handling of his own campaign donations then we cannot trust him in managing our tax dollars in any elected position.
ROBERT WICK
First Time
Springs
March 2, 2026
To the Editor,
For the first time in my life (and I’m old), I have no confidence in, nor do I believe, a word coming out of my government.
SUSAN MENU
The Chief Architect
East Hampton
February 26, 2026
Dear Mr. Rattray,
Donald Trump is the face of his administration. However, he is certainly not the brains. Little public attention has been given to those who actually shape Trump’s administrative agenda. Doing so reveals a frightening cast of characters. Consider Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, who oversees much of the domestic policy coming out of the White House.
In 2006 Mr. Miller wrote in a column for The Chronicle, Duke University’s student newspaper, that he had spent weeks “immersing” himself into what happened on 9/11. He emerged with a strong xenophobic sentiment and a passion for strict border security, writing, “Maybe, if more people researched the true story of Sept. 11, in all its horror, it won’t take another attack, and more untold devastation, to motivate us to fix the perilous status quo.” No doubt Mr. Miller was motivated enough to see himself on a mission.
Before joining the Trump administration in 2016, Mr. Miller worked for Senator Jeff Sessions, where he drafted a handbook that was instrumental in bringing down a bipartisan immigration reform bill. While working for Mr. Sessions, Mr. Miller also helped craft policies aimed at rolling back civil rights, weakening voting protections, and targeting marginalized communities, including people of color, immigrants, and L.G.B.T.Q.+ Americans.
After joining the Trump administration, Mr. Miller became the chief architect of its “zero tolerance” immigration policy, which led to the forced separation of thousands of children from their parents at the southern border. An article in Vanity Fair reported that Mr. Miller “actually enjoys seeing those pictures at the border.” Even now, hundreds of children remain separated from their families.
Mr. Miller also collaborated with anti-immigration hate groups, including the Federation for American Immigration Reform and the Center for Immigration Studies, both of which have deep ties to white nationalist ideologies. His input led to the largest detention of immigrants in American history and a normalization of xenophobia as part of domestic policies.
Stephen Miller is the epitome of what happens when a bigot gains power, especially at the highest level of our government.
SALVATORE TOCCI