Candidate Profile: Laura Jens-Smith For Riverhead Town Supervisor

RIVERHEAD, NY —Suffolk County residents will be hitting the polls next month to elect local representatives.

The race is on in local town and village races leading up to Election Day, which, this year, falls on Tuesday, November 5. Patch asked those running for office to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles in the days leading up to the election.

Laura Jens-Smith, 56, of Riverhead is running for re-election as Riverhead Town Supervisor.

Her opponent is Yvette Aguiar (R).

Jens-Smith is a Democrat cross-endorsed by the Independence and Working Families parties. She and her husband of 27 years Robert M. Smith have two children, Molly, 22, and Ethan, 20, and two dogs, Eddie and Millie. She earned an A.S. at the Phillips Beth Israel School of Nursing and a B.S. from Pace University. The incumbent Riverhead Town Supervisor has also had a career for 20 years as a registered nurse.

Check out Patch's full Q&A with Jens-Smith below:

Patch: The single most pressing issue facing our community is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

Jens-Smith: A vision for our future . . . what do we want our community to look like in the next 10, 20 years. How do we preserve farmland, develop out EPCAL, deal with vacant stores on Rt. 58 and downtown? Over the next year we will be updating our master plan to address these issues.

P: What are the critical differences between you and the other candidate seeking this post?

J: I am about rolling up my sleeves, getting to the root of the problem, and looking for solutions. Working across party lines to resolve issues that face our community from big to small, from cleaning up our train station to tackling five-story buildings downtown. My opponent offers criticism but no practical solutions to the issues of the day.

P: Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform:

J: Fiscal responsibility and conservative budgeting to stay within the tax cap while providing needed services to our community.

P: What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

J: I currently serve as supervisor, and during my tenure I have settled three contracts with our town employees; two of the contracts had been expired for over two years. I have settled with the PBA, SOA and CSEA.

P: The best advice ever shared with me was ...

J: "Do the right thing even when it is hard."