Pols Resurrect Long Island Statehood Chatter

Two East End legislators are once again tossing around the idea of Long Island statehood, two years after a Daily Show sketch poked fun at the idea.

Assemb. , I-Sag Harbor, and state Sen. Ken LaValle, R-Port Jefferson, are floating the idea after the business group Long Island Association announced plans to study the consolidation of Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

"County government was not meant to serve 2.8 million people. ... Nassau and Suffolk are already the two largest counties in the state," .

Thiele added that the population of Long Island is larger than 19 states in the country.

However, legislation proposals by LaValle and Thiele for a Long Island State study date back to 2007, and they have always failed to get out of committee.

LaValle has also called for the creation of Peconic County, consisting of the five East End towns of East Hampton, Shelter Island, Southold, Riverhead, and Southampton The legislation has been introduced every legislative session for over a decade.

In 2009 The Daily Show jumped on the issue with a mock news report about LI statehood, which famously used an interview with half-wits in a bar to paint the region as ... unsophisticated.

What do you think about all this LI statehood talk? Let us know below.