Lesko Looking to Bring Brookhaven Together

There's no doubt that Brookhaven Town's Supervisor, Mark Lesko, is an intelligent man. He's articulate and never reaches for words; hence, his conversation is free of space-filling uh's or colloquial expressions like "amazing," "awesome," or "you know."

He also speaks directly to his visitor and when he does so, there's a genuine spark in his blue eyes that indicate he enjoys a good conversation and sharing his ideas about Brookhaven Town. A Roman Catholic, he comes from a family that is one quarter Slovakian and three quarters Irish.

"Actually there's a town by the name of Lesko," the Supervisor explains, "it used to be in Slovakia and is somewhere over the Poland/Slovakia border."

Speaking in his office at Brookhaven Town Hall in Farmingville, Lesko, 47, seems fully relaxed. It's a bright day and the sun streams through the windows that constitute two walls of the room. Born in Washington, D.C., Lesko attended the Sidwell Friends School where the Obama daughters are currently enrolled. While there he was an All-American quarterback on their football team and earned Gatorade Player of the Year honors. Unfortunately, back injuries precluded his playing during his senior year.

From high school he went on to Yale and graduated from the Georgetown University Law School. Serving as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for 10 years, Lesko is probably most noted for successfully prosecuting what has become known as "the Muttontown Slave Case."

Was there a single defining moment that prompted Lesko to enter a life of public service?

The Supervisor takes a deep breath and says, "Sidwell Friends is a Quaker school but ironically they have very few Quakers who attend it. In my senior year they had a public service requirement and I assisted mostly elderly blind people at one of the local institutions.

"This was before computers and there was no voice activated technology. It was really the dark ages in that regard and as a result most of my time was spent doing errands with the residents and reading to them. Through that experience I decided to spend a good portion of my life in public service."

Lesko's family hails from Pennsylvania and many of his relatives are involved in public leadership; including former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge who is a distant relative.

Yet it seems that there was quite a leap from Lesko's career as prosecutor to Brookhaven Town Hall.

"In the US Attorney's world," Lesko explains, "10 years is the point where folks usually evaluate where they're going with their careers. In fact, in New York, most people stay five or six years before going into private practice in New York City. That's something I didn't want to do."

Lesko did his share of soul searching and contemplated some opportunities in the administration when a friend suggested that he contact Suffolk County Democratic Chairman Rich Shaffer.

"We sat in his office and literally 10 minutes into the conversation - and this was a time when Brian Foley had not yet been elected to the State Senate - Rich looked at me and said, 'If Brian Foley wins, would you like to run for Brookhaven Town Supervisor?' I had never given such an idea two seconds thought up until that point, but I looked at him without blinking and agreed because I thought it would be interesting."

Why? Lesko is a firm believer that being a mayor is one of the best jobs in public life. He likes the "chief executive" functioning and being the leg of government that is closer to the people.

He added that, "Obviously it wasn't that simple: we both took time to think about it and Brian had to get elected, but over the course of the next two months there were a series of conversations and we both decided it was a decision that would make sense. It was a little crazy on Rich's part because I'd never been elected to public office, but it worked out pretty well."

Having been in office for a little over a year, Lesko happily says his perception of the job has changed and mostly for the better. Going from an outsider to the leader of day-to-day operations for a massive town government is no easy task. He was initially surprised by the quality of employees and their "level of dedication and commitment."

Before any seats were held, Lesko hit the campaign trail – a tireless and humbling experience. People, who were present at the Democratic Headquarters in Farmingville, will remember how he talked about being fatigued and hungry after a long day of campaigning and seeing a single porch light on at the end of the road.

He impressed his staff when he insisted on heading down that road and knocking on that door because those homeowners might be the ones who had the votes needed to win the election.

"I think my training as a trial lawyer helped," Lesko adds with a bit of a chuckle, "I was used to long days and nights. At a trial you're not only up on your feet but thinking quickly, and you have to speak for a living."

At this point in his nascent political career, Mark Lesko is proud of many of his accomplishments, yet two truly stand out in his estimation. The first is debt. Lesko said he effectively managed the Town of Brookhaven through the fiscal crisis created by the Great Recession.

"We had over $12 million in new, unforeseen, deficits that arose literally the moment I took office," he says. "We had to balance out a budget last year in face of that $12 million deficit."

This year's budget cut spending an additional eight percent and froze taxes. He and his staff are now in the midst of implementing a new fiscal plan to address a perspective budget gap in 2012, which is going to be roughly around $17-19 million.

They are also trying to be pro-active and focus on creating more efficiency in government while cutting additional revenues.

The second notable achievement that Lesko takes pride in is in changing the tone of town government.

"We pretty much took the hyper-partisanship out of the equation," he says. "While the work force had high morale, they were also pretty beaten up after all the back-and-forth of the hyper-partisanship. We came in and set a bi-partisan tone and got across the message that we all have to work together to solve the major problems we face as a township. That really caught on. I think people were not only relieved, but inspired by that. For me, there's no other way to do business. Simply put: we all have to work together."

In Lesko's mind, there are three challenges that face Brookhaven Town: addressing the immediate fiscal crisis, finding jobs for the unemployed and finally, for everyone to come together.

If the fiscal crisis is not fixed, Lesko says the town is going to be in a difficult area of making very tough decisions. With this, comes stimulating the economy so jobs are created and bringing together a "fragmented" town.

"We have to bring all of Brookhaven's residents together so that we have a singular purpose," he says, "to help create a new technology-based economy that is going to create the jobs and prosperity that our parents and grandparents enjoyed back when we were part of the defense sector. That was a time when the major jobs in the defense community were located on Long Island."

For some time now, there has been a persistent rumor circulating in Brookhaven Town that the reason why Verizon's FiOS cable, internet and telephone system has hardly been available in the area is that the Town doesn't want it. Certainly with the recent problems of stations being dropped from Cablevision's line-up, people are looking for other options for their television reception.

When the matter is broached to Lesko, his answer is emphatic: "There is absolutely no truth to that. FiOS has been an irritation to me from the minute I took office. They routinely and systematically lie to the residents of Brookhaven. They advise the people of this town through their operators and employees that somehow Brookhaven is stopping FiOS from laying its fibre-optic cable.

"I repeatedly have called Verizon on this issue. They won't return my calls and frankly, I think they laid off the woman who was their liaison with our town. They're proposing lay-offs of some of their work force—the CWA workers. Frankly, from what I understand, FiOS has written off Brookhaven. That's unacceptable because many of our residents want FiOS and it's unconscionable to write off an entire township and just pick the more affluent areas."

The Supervisor promises to continue trying to talk to FiOS and negotiate with them but says, "Right now, though, it's like talking to a brick wall."

After talking with Lesko, one senses that he has not only the intelligence and focus to make his vision of economic prosperity a reality. He understands the challenges facing him as Town Supervisor and seems to possess a decency that isn't always found in people in leadership positions.

It's his genuine love for Brookhaven and its residents that will fuel his drive and allow the town to develop to its fullest potential.