The race for Port Jefferson mayor has heated up, and like an overfilled spaghetti pot has boiled over and started to burn the table we eat from.

Conversation online has started to grow toxic in several places. There is room for discussion about the past history of both candidates, but it has to be based in the realm of fact. The Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce will be hosting a meet-the-candidates night this Thursday, June 6, from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Village Center. It is the perfect time to ask the pertinent questions, but there should be a number of facts that every villager is on the same page with before the start of the meeting.

Falsehood: “[X] candidate does not live within the village!”

Both candidates live within village limits and have for several years. Mayor Margot Garant lives in the westernmost portion of the village, while newcomer John Jay LaValle lives in The Highlands at Port Jefferson.

Falsehood: “John Jay LaValle was indicted of corruption while town supervisor!” 

This one is often a confused topic. LaValle was the Brookhaven Town supervisor from 1996 to 2005, when he stepped down from his position and later moved on to be Suffolk County Republican chairman. While others in the Republican Party were indicted for corruption around that time, no official charges were ever brought against the candidate.

Falsehood: “Garant took out a campaign ad against LaValle trying to discredit him!”

The May 30 edition of The Port Times Record newspaper contained an advertisement from Taking Action Suffolk County, a nonprofit that is involved in electing Democrats over Republicans. The ad asked for people to vote for Garant, but the ad was paid for by TASC, which stated on the ad it was not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

Falsehood: “Village officials are specifically targeting LaValle signs!”

After certain Residents First Party candidates got heated over issues involving their signs several weeks ago, acting Chief of Code Enforcement Fred Leute Jr. looks to set the record straight.

He was originally told by an official in the village that signs were not allowed on public property, which is correct according to Village Attorney Brian Egan, but he was also told that anything 3 feet from the curb is prohibited as an easement.

“They did not want me to take signs off easements,” he said, admitting it was a mistake not to ask another village official first. 

The acting chief said he uses Tuesdays to do paperwork and other administration duties, and usually dresses in plain clothes to do that work. He also takes his personal vehicle to Village Hall on Tuesdays, as he said he doesn’t wish to waste taxpayer money using a public safety vehicle.

On his way to work he drives around the village interacting with homeless populations, but he also noticed several signs along his way that were on public property, and others on residential property right next to the road near St. Charles Hospital. Another sign was in front of The Steam Room seafood restaurant in the garden facing the road, which he originally thought was public property. He said once he learned it was not village property, he took that sign and replaced “in the same holes I took it.”

He added that he did not know where the signs removed in the residential section were precisely, and those signs were instead picked up by trustee candidate Tom Meehan, of the Residents First Party. Leute said the event became a big misunderstanding.

“There was no malice against LaValle,” he added.

Garant and Leute have confirmed signs are not being taken down from private property by village officials.

The story that appeared in the June 6 edition of the Port Times Record stated Margot Garant lived near the country club. Her mother, Jeanne Garant, lives in that portion, while Margot lives in the western portion of the village.