Zeldin, Councilman Blasted For Response To 'Obscene' Trump Remark

SOUTHOLD, NY — A national debate was brought to the local arena this week when residents attended a Southold Town Board meeting to blast a councilman for his "full support" of Rep. Lee Zeldin's reaction to President Donald Trump reportedly calling certain nations "s---hole countries."

Trump has incited a fierce outcry after he, displeased with a proposal to bring back protections for immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries as part of a bipartisan immigration deal, asked the lawmakers why "all these people from s---hole countries" are coming to America, according to multiple reports, citing two sources.

Trump also reportedly suggested America should instead bring more people from countries like Norway.

This week, residents displeased with Zeldin's response, questioned Southold Town Councilman Jim Dinizio for his reported allegiance to the congressman on social media.

After Trump's reported comments, Zeldin responded in a series of tweets: Trump, he wrote, "wasn't elected for his ability or willingness to be politically correct." And, he wrote, "I'm not though here to call for the President's mouth to be washed out w soap & then for him to be physically removed from office. He's not perfect, but no President has ever been perfect. I'm still very strongly rooting for his success & America's success in this great new year."

When asked for comment, Zeldin's media representative Katie Vincentz replied, "Congressman Zeldin always welcomes input from all of his constituents."

Next, on Zeldin's Facebook page, residents said they were concerned over Dinizio's comments, where he said he assumed a resident "lived through the Clinton administration" and said Trump's comment was "nothing compared to what they hear at the dinner table on any given night. Or what they saw walking around on the mall in Washington DC the day after the inauguration last January."

At the meeting, Greenport resident Rev. Dr. Margaret Ann Cowden spoke out: "I must confess that I never expected to be unable to quote a sitting president because his remarks were too obscene to repeat," she said. "But even more distressing than the vile language was the blatant racism of President Trump’s remarks in the context of a discussion on Haitian, Honduran, Salvadoran and African immigrants in pursuit of the American Dream — a dream that is at the very core of this nation’s founding."

Cowden said living in a community where residents benefit from contributions of immigrant neighbors, she is committed to civil dialogue on reforming the nation's immigration system.

"While I realize that our President’s remarks are a national concern, and an international embarrassment, it felt even closer to home when I read the tepid and inadequate response from Lee Zeldin, who not only did not renounce the President’s vile language, but once again voiced his full support of this President and his policies," she said.

Then, when she read on social media Jim Dinizio’s support of Zeldin’s statement, Cowden said she felt the need "to voice my dismay at a town board member’s support of such demeaning speech and policies."

She added that it was "inconceivable to me that this would be his response to this national embarrassment."

She encouraged Dinizio to engage in dialogue with the town's anti-bias task force to hear their thoughts on the President's language and policies. Cowden mistakenly said that Dinizio was the liaison to the town's ABTF; that was incorrect — Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell and Councilman Bill Ruland serve as the liaisons to that group.

"And I would further request that he refrain from sharing divisive posts on social media that are disrespectful of his Democratic constituents. I make these suggestions in an attempt to start here, in our own town, to call for more respectful and less partisan public discourse," she said.

Added Chris Larkin of Greenport, "I would like to address public Facebook comments made by Jim Dinizio in a string of responses to Lee Zeldin’s attempt to justify the Presidents’ demeaning and vulgar statements about people from certain countries."

The congressman, she said, provided a "tepid" response and "failed to call out the President's language and what was implied by his words or, more importantly, his policies regarding immigration."

Addressing Dinizio's public response to a teacher on Facebook, where Dinizio said the President's comment was nothing compared to "what they hear at the dinner table on any given night," Larkin addressed the councilman: "I don’t know what is said at your dinner table or what you think is said at dinner tables in Southold, but that has not been my experience at dining tables here in Southold over the past 35 years. Vulgarity and hate are not routinely shared at my table."

Regarding last January’s march, Larkin said: "Many dozens of North Fork residents participated in the Women’s March and will be again participating in marches this Saturday in Sag Harbor, Port Jefferson or New York City. And, yes, there were angry, but not racist, words used, but we were not speaking as the country's leader. Such language but, more critically, policies emanating from such sentiments, have no place in the Oval Office. And, no excuses for such hateful language should be so lightly exclaimed by our elected officials."

Dinizio did not address the speakers at Tuesday's town board meeting.

But he responded to a request for comment from Patch, saying, "This was a blatant political move by angry Democrats."

The comments, he said, were not unlike what he had done to Greenport Village Trustee Doug Roberts last October. At that village board meeting, Dinizio questioned texts in which Roberts had allegedly called him "racist."

"I apologized publicly before the village board and to Mr. Roberts for my outburst," Dinizio said. "I hope these people will do the same in the name of civility."

Dinizio also commented on new Southold Town Democratic Chair Kathryn Casey Quigley's speaking to the board at Tuesday's meeting and asking for increased transparency in town government.

"From my point of view that night, I saw Ms. Katherine Casey Quigley, the chairperson of the Southold Democrat Party, and her members, trying to make political points while many of the people were waiting to speak about saving their homes from falling into the Sound."

Dinizio was referring to residents who'd come out to implore the board for help after recent storm damage at Hashamomuck Cove.

Photos by Lisa Finn.