Candidate Profile: Eric Shultz For Southampton Town Trustee

SOUTHAMPTON, NY — Suffolk County residents will be hitting the polls soon 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.

Eric Shultz, 64, of East Quogue is running for election as Southampton Trustee on the Democratic and Libertarian lines. His opponents include Bill Pell, Scott Hortowitz, Ann Welker, David Mayer, Andrew Brosnan, Thea Fry, Megan Heckman, Donald Law, Edward J Warner Jr., and Frederick Havemeyer.

Shultz is married to Monique; he has a horticulture degree from SUNY Farmingdale. He is retired from the New York City fire patrol. He previously served on the conservation board, planning board, and on the Southampton Town Board of Trustees as ex-president.

Check out Patch's full Q&A with Eric Shultz below.

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

Eric Shultz: The diminishment of control of our own waters and internal partisanship that has caused the board to not function properly.

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

S: I have the most experience of any candidate, having served on the conservation and planning boards as well as many years on the trustees. My thorough knowledge of the town, its history and its people, make me uniquely qualified to restore the respect that this board deserves and steadfastly defend the public's access to clean waters and beaches.

P: If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community?

S: The current board has voted to give away land and has betrayed the public's trust by doing so. It has allowed outside agencies to get involved in management decisions that should be handled by the board and in doing so has minimized home rule.

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

S: My pledge is to run only one term and in that time establish committees on different issues that would expose people to the duties and powers of the trustees which would create a group of qualified candidates in the next election cycle.

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

S: I wrote the policies regulating docks and other marine structures that is now copied by the New York State DEC. I researched and proposed the legislation that led to the banning of treated lumber in Southampton Town waters, making Southampton the first community in the United States to ban copper and arsenic in our waters. I proposed, lobbied and caused five other townships to join Southampton to fight the New York State DEC's proposed saltwater fishing license fee. I testified in court and we subsequently won the case. I spent hundreds of hours assisting our attorneys in the numerous lawsuits by researching ancient records enabling the trustees to successfully win cases. I initiated the televising of trustee board meetings, and started the trustee Facebook page to better inform the public as to the projects we were undertaking.

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

S: To quote Leonard Hawkins, longtime member of the planning board, "Whenever you make a decision for political reasons, you're not doing the public's work."

P: What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

S: I know how government is supposed to work and I believe public service is one's highest calling. I am proud of my long service to the town and I would like the opportunity to help restore the reputation of this beleaguered board.