Port Times Record

Photo by Julianne Mosher

On Saturday, Oct. 23, the Greater Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce teamed up with local health care providers for their 12th annual Health and Wellness Fest. 

According to Barbara Ransome, director of operations with the chamber, the fair is usually held at Port Jefferson High School — but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was moved to a new venue, The Meadow Club, located at 1147 Route 112 in Port Jefferson Station. 

“We’re very happy to have the event after not having it for one year,” she added. “The new venue is working out great and it could be a new tradition for us.”

The purpose of the Port Jeff Health and Wellness Fest is to promote good health to all in the local areas of Port Jefferson by providing important information for all of one’s health and wellness needs. 

Ransome said that over 50 vendors participated this year, including Stony Brook Medicine, Catholic Health, Northwell Health, New York Cancer & Blood Specialists and other chamber partners.  

Stony Brook University students with Music and Medicine performed songs for visitors throughout the event. 

“I’m very pleased,” she said. 

Little ones who came with family members were able to trick-or-treat out of cars and received other goodies from the vendors, some who were in costume. 

Incumbent Brookhaven Town Clerk Donna Lent is running against Democrat Ira Costell. Lent photo from Town of Brookhaven, Costell photo from Costell

TBR News spoke with Town Clerk Donna Lent (R) and Ira Costell (D) over Zoom on Monday. They will be running against each other as the election for town clerk for the Town of Brookhaven approaches quickly. 

Lent, who is serving her second term as town clerk, has managed day-to-day operations such as issuing death certificates and handicap parking permits, while land-use applications are filed within the office. 

There are three divisions — licensing, registrar and administrative units — in her department alone, and on some days, Lent says up to 200 people will come into the office.

After extensive training, Lent was certified as a registered municipal clerk by the New York State Town Clerks Association in 2017, but before entering public service, she worked as a law office manager and was a small business owner.

Her opponent, Costell, has taken leadership roles in environmental causes such as the Suffolk County Watershed Protection Advisory Committee and served as chair of the county’s Pine Barrens Review Commission. 

He has been passionate about the fight against opioid addiction and prescription drug abuse. Costell is a New York State-certified addiction and recovery coach and has been involved in various recovery committees.

The two opponents came to TBR News Media’s offices to debate their opinions on whose ideas would be best suitable for the town clerk’s position.

The concern of making Freedom of Information Law appeals more accessible to the public is something that Costell said he will actively work on if elected. His main argument is that residents of Brookhaven have been left in the dark when it comes to requesting information from the Town Clerk’s Office.

However, Lent said if materials or records are not able to be provided, there is a reason as to why not. 

“They probably haven’t asked for the records correctly, we are not required to create records for them, we only have to provide what is already existing,” she said. “Sometimes people don’t search thoroughly because there was an aspect of something they weren’t unaware of that we were able to shed light on.”

Rebutting Lent’s argument, Costell said he had very serious questions about the FOIL process as there were nearly 14,000 requests last year in the town’s Law Department.

“I would like to work as part of that process for an audit to figure out how we can streamline that process,” he said.

Costell feels the information on the town’s website is not readily available to residents. 

“When initiating a public hearing notice on the town’s website, the information about the hearing is not connected to the notice, so residents don’t always know about the particulars of what’s being proposed in the public hearing,” he said.

Lent said the Town Clerk’s Office does the public hearing notices, which are readily available on the website as soon as they go up. However, the town clerk does not make the determination on what needs to get posted because the notice is from what the Law Department already drafted. 

“It is incumbent upon the clerk in my belief, to coordinate and collaborate, not to just handle a piece of paper and move it on to the next level,” Costell said.

In regards to communicating with the Town of Brookhaven, he said the software the office is using should be able to have direct sign-ups for people who are interested in a particular issue so people from various areas do not have to rely on someone from a different town to tell them there’s a hearing related to something they are interested in.

However, Lent said there is a sign-up system within civic clerks for alerts and areas of topic. She noted that residents can call her office to be added to get notifications as well. 

Costell believes that the Town Clerk’s Office should have more outreach to the public on a quarterly basis by using town facilities such as senior centers and recreational programs, to help residents navigate the online services or to assist communities that don’t have access to broadband. 

“We have been improving that process, that’s why we changed our software system last February,” Lent said. “There has been a period of adjustment for residents that were accustomed to finding documents within the old system, but if you use the search bar at the top it will take you to whatever you are looking for.”

Disagreeing with Lent, Costell said he thinks the website is hard to navigate and should have the option to be translated to Spanish.

Lent feels her opponent will be biting off more than he can chew if elected as town clerk. “Everyone has hopes dreams and aspirations of what a job may be like, but it’s not until you get into the job that you have to face the reality of day-to-day operations and restrictions,” Lent said.

Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon speaks during a media event at the Suffolk County Correctional Facility in Yaphank. File photo by Kevin Redding

Errol Toulon Jr. (D) is running again for his seat as the Suffolk County sheriff with the hope to continue his efforts providing aid services for nonviolent inmates alongside the office’s law enforcement work with gangs and sex trafficking. 

Toulon’s opponent, William Amato, who is running on the Republican ticket, did not respond to multiple requests for a debate with TBR staff. The Suffolk County GOP office confirmed Amato is not actively campaigning.

Toulon, who has cross-party endorsements from both the Suffolk Democratic and Conservative parties, said his job as head of his department is “to take the brunt of everything, good and bad. And during these real challenging times, I have to ask, ‘How do I keep my staff calm, how do I keep them safe, how do I feel like they’re still valued?’” And compared to his previous positions in corrections, his current job gives him a satisfaction he hasn’t had before.

“I have a job now that directly impacts the community that I live and work in,” he said.

The Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office is the law enforcement branch dedicated to managing Suffolk’s jail system. Along with handling inmate populations, the office’s sheriff deputies are responsible for patrolling roadways alongside Suffolk County Police Department, investigating crimes committed on county property as well as managing the Pine Barrens protection hotline. The Sheriff’s Office also contains several specialized bureaus and sections for emergency management, DWI enforcement, domestic violence, among others.

Toulon, a former Rikers Island officer and captain, was voted into his first four-year term as sheriff in 2017 and was the first Black man elected to the role in the county’s history. Over those four years, his office has been involved with several high-profile drug and gang investigations, which included fact-finding trips to El Salvador and Los Angeles to investigate the connections of MS-13 to Long Island. He is proud of his office’s accomplishments, including his work with the office’s human trafficking unit and the creation of the START Resource Center, which provides inmates leaving county jails with employment and housing assistance as well as drug treatment and mental health care services.

But the year 2020 would throw a monkey wrench into all best-laid plans. Toulon said last year started out rough with the change to New York’s bail reform laws. Then the COVID-19 pandemic created a host of new challenges, especially safeguarding prison populations as well as corrections officers. 

During COVID’s height, officers kept inmates largely separated, which resulted in a minimal number of reported cases in Suffolk jails. Still, the year did have its share of tragedies, including the loss of Investigator Sgt. Keith Allison, a 25-year veteran of the office who died from issues relating to the virus in December. Recently, the Sheriff’s Office had to cancel its open house and family day due to staff shortages and the spread of the Delta variant. The sheriff’s website reports that, in September, 29 inmates tested positive for COVID, where 26 of those reportedly contracted the virus while in jail. Inmates are required to quarantine in a special housing pod for 14 days before being moved to general housing. Staff must take temperature checks and wear masks when coming into the facilities.

And all these extra protections have exacerbated current staffing shortages. Toulon said the Sheriff’s Office is currently down around 180 corrections officers and 43 sheriff’s deputies.

The recruitment struggle is one felt across many industries, law enforcement not excluded, though Toulon said his office has a uniquely difficult time getting people to apply, to have applicants pass the required tests and then to keep them on after they’ve had a taste of what can be a trying job at times. The challenge in recruiting is partially due to what he said has been a degradation of trust between law enforcement and the community since the start of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. The Suffolk sheriff has also seen more senior officers retire because of health concerns during the pandemic, and because of COVID they were not able to host any new police classes last year. 

Though there are currently over 1,700 people who are ready to take the next law enforcement exam in November, the expected acceptance rate is normally around just 15% to 20%, Toulon said. This lack of staff also has the effect of increasing required overtime for current officers, leading to faster burnout. 

“Sometimes, even when you get through the entire process and they have their first days in a jail when they’re working a lot of overtime, having to deal with inmates … it becomes challenging on the individual, especially someone that’s not used to it,” the sheriff said.

It’s another stress on a system that he said requires more financial help to truly give aid to the transient, nonviolent jail populations who need it. Toulon would like to see more psychologists and psychiatrists within the jail providing counseling, though there’s currently no budget for it.

“The mental health institutions throughout New York state were closed in the 1980s or 1990s, and so these individuals are winding up in jail, but [state government] never funded the jails,” he said. “The staffing model for the Sheriff’s Office was really from a 1960s or ’70s version, and it hasn’t been updated to what we need to do to address the particular individuals in our custody.”

Though the sheriff said their new initiatives have not increased the office’s budget, he is still banging the drum for more funding. Suffolk County reportedly received approximately $286 million in aid from the federal American Rescue Plan back in May, though Toulon said they have not received any percentage of those funds. County spokesperson Derek Poppe said in an email that no ARP money is slated to go to the sheriff’s department.

Challenges still exist for Suffolk jails due to the pandemic. Corrections officers are still required to wear masks on their shifts. At the same time, only around 40% of corrections officers are currently vaccinated. There is no legal requirement for Suffolk law enforcement to be vaccinated in order to work, and while Toulon is fully vaccinated, he said he told his staff to consult their primary care physicians to make that determination.

“I understand it’s an individual’s choice at the moment,” he said. 

The number of people incarcerated in Suffolk jails hovers around 780, according to the sheriff, though that population is transient, and can change from day to day. The Sheriff’s Office, through the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, has tried to provide vaccinations for its inmates, leading to around 350 so far. Still, only approximately 30% to 40% of that jail population is currently vaccinated. “All we can do is just try to encourage the inmates to at least receive the vaccine — hopefully help them learn a little bit more if they’re a little skeptical before making that decision,” he said.

As for the future, the sheriff said he wants to work hard to make sure that the majority of the inmate population — all those who are nonviolent and not a danger to the community — receive the social services they need.

“Everybody should be held accountable for their actions, I should be very clear on that, and [incarceration] is necessary for those who would do harm to be removed from society,” Toulon said. “But those men and women that are going through domestic violence, substance abuse — we have many victims of human trafficking that are in our custody, many females that we’re working with — we want to help them, empower them so that they can support themselves and support their families.”

Kings Park senior quarterback Jonathan Borkowski #10 plows his way into the endzone for the score in a Div III road game against Comsewogue Oct 23. Bill Landon photo

The Kingsmen of Kings Park raided Warrior nation and put a damper on Comsewogue’s homecoming football game Oct 23 where the Warriors struggled to find traction. Kings Park quarterback Jonathon Borkowski punched in for the score on a keeper in the final minute of the opening quarter and followed it up four minutes later with 10-yard touchdown run to put his team out front 14-0.

On Comsewogue’s ensuing possession Kings Park cornerback Kyle Weeks stepped in front of Brady Shannon’s shovel pass for a pick six that covered 41 yards. Kings Park senior Mert Duman whose foot was perfect on the day made it 21-0 at the half. Jonathan Borkowski’s 10-yard run found the endzone midway through the 3rd quarter for the 28-0 lead. Kings Park senior Nick Laviano broke free for a 60-yard run early in the 4th for a 35-0 advantage. Shannon the senior quarterback would avoid the shutout in the closing minutes with an 11-yard run for the score and with Josh Carrolls kick concluded the game for your 35-7 final.

The win lifts Kings Park to 5-1 in Div-III while the loss drops the Warriors to 2-5. Comsewogue concludes their 2021 campaign when they retake the field Oct 29 hosting Hills West. Kings Park is also back in action on Oct 29 with a road game against East Islip. Kickoff for both games is 6 p.m.

All photos by Bill Landon 

Pixabay photo

Over the summer, dozens of nonprofits and organizations hosted beach and park cleanups across Long Island. 

People came together with their trash bags in hand to pick up debris and trash. Families made days out of it, grabbing dinner afterward with the kids. Couples turned it into a bonding experience. 

While it’s inspirational and helpful for members of the community to work together to clean up the communities in which we live, shouldn’t the town government take the lead with these efforts?

To that end, the road along Route 25A in Setauket has eyesores that detract from the beauty and safety of our community, including several dead trees, overgrown gardens, leaves and debris. Street lights that protect pedestrians and help drivers navigate the area are dimming, making them less useful as we approach days with less sunlight.

Long Islanders receive and appreciate the return on investment from their taxes, particularly when roads are cleared after a storm or when children receive excellent educations from public schools. Given the tax bill, however, shouldn’t the town be able to use some of that money for upkeep?

The community doesn’t police itself and shouldn’t need to clean up accumulating messes or detritus from trees or other vegetative growth. Residents can, and should, dispose of their own trash. Landlords should also take responsibility for the space outside their residences.

As for those public places the village, town or county oversees, those responsible for upkeep on those properties should step up their game. 

We appreciate the work the municipalities do, particularly under difficult circumstances and, at times, with limited resources. We are also grateful to the go-getters whose efforts enhance the beauty of the communities we share.

At the same time, we need our elected officials and people with authority to take action to remove these dead trees, fix dim lights and remove garbage by the side of the road. The effort they put in now will save money and aggravation later, as well as improve the local environment.

Interior view of Fort Moultrie, Charleston, South Carolina, April 1861, where Scanlan served during the attack on Fort Sumter. Photo from a stereograph; Library of Congress

Cedar Hill Cemetery is located in Port Jefferson on a commanding site high above the village’s downtown and harbor.

Among those at rest in the cemetery, there are over 40 soldiers and sailors who served with the North during the Civil War.

Capt. C. A. Scanlan is also buried in the cemetery, but he fought against the Union forces in the South’s Lost Cause. His tombstone is inscribed with “C.S.A.,” the initials representing the Confederate States of America.

Who was this former Rebel officer and how did he become one of Port Jefferson’s permanent residents?

Charles Anthony Scanlan was born in Beaufort, South Carolina, in 1825. Married twice, he had a daughter with his first wife.

Scanlan worked as a shipsmith on the docks in Charleston, South Carolina, worshipped at the city’s First Baptist Church, was a Freemason, and belonged to the local militia.

Scanlan’s tombstone at Port Jefferson’s Cedar Hill Cemetery.
Photo by Kenneth C. Brady

After South Carolina seceded from the Union, Federal troops transferred from the garrison at Fort Moultrie to the stronger Fort Sumter, both part of Charleston’s harbor defenses. Scanlan was among the Carolinians who then occupied the abandoned Fort Moultrie.

Scanlan began his duties at the emplacement on Jan. 1, 1861, served as an acting military storekeeper and readied the stronghold’s guns and ordinance for what would become the bombardment of Fort Sumter.

The action began on April 12, 1861, when a ring of Confederate batteries around Charleston Harbor hammered Fort Sumter, the barrage announcing the start of the Civil War. Described as a “sergeant” in a later account of the assault, Scanlan led a detachment of six men in Fort Moultrie’s magazine, one of the emplacements blasting the Union forces

Following the evacuation of the Federal garrison at Fort Sumter, Scanlan was assigned to Fort Walker on South Carolina’s Hilton Head Island. In official accounts of the battle, Scanlan was identified as a “lieutenant” and commended for his work in the citadel’s magazine.

After tours at South Carolina’s Castle Pinckney and Fort Beauregard, Scanlan was assigned to Fort Sumter, where he was wounded in August 1863 during the Union’s bombardment of the Confederate stronghold.

Scanlan ended his days in the military as a captain. He returned to Charleston where he resumed his work as a shipsmith, later pursuing an entirely new career.

Phosphate rocks, which existed in large quantities near Charleston, were used in the manufacture of commercial fertilizer. Scanlan fabricated machinery that improved the dredging of the valuable rock from South Carolina’s riverbeds. Securing patents on his inventions in 1877 and 1883, Scanlan profited handsomely from the extensive phosphate digging in the Ashley River region.

During the mining operations, fossils were found in the phosphate deposits. Fascinated with natural history, Scanlan began gathering the specimens, amassing the largest private collection of fossils in South Carolina and among the largest in the nation.

Following the death of his second wife Eliza in 1890, Scanlan moved to Port Jefferson to live with his daughter Mary Estelle who had married Henry Randall, a prominent Port Jefferson businessman and banker.

The Randalls spent summers at their house on Port Jefferson’s Myrtle Avenue and winters at their home in Brooklyn, with the elder Scanlan joining in the seasonal move.

Scanlan quickly became well-known in Port Jefferson. In 1893, he exhibited portions of his fossil collection at the village’s Athena Hall (Theatre Three) and later in many of Port Jefferson’s storefronts.

But two events brought Scanlan even wider acclaim. His fossils were displayed at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences and at the Agricultural Palace during the Charleston Exposition, both shows earning Scanlan rave reviews for his superb collection.

Interior view of Fort Moultrie, Charleston, South Carolina, April 1861, where Scanlan served during the attack on Fort Sumter. Photo from a stereograph; Library of Congress

Besides providing his fossils for public viewing, Scanlan donated items from his collection to universities and museums in the United States and abroad, where paleontologists used the specimens in their studies of early forms of life.

Growing older, Scanlan reflected on his years in the military, thinking that at the time of the Civil War he had been “in the right” to support disunion, but later coming to believe he had fought in a “mistaken cause.”

Although he had once worn Confederate Gray, Scanlan was treated respectfully in Port Jefferson by his former foes. During Decoration Day ceremonies at Cedar Hill Cemetery in May 1905, he was among those honored by Lewis O. Conklin Post 627, Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), a Union veteran organization with a “camp” in the village.

Scanlan died in Brooklyn in 1907. Following Baptist services held at his son-in-law’s Port Jefferson home, Scanlan was buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery.

In 1913, Scanlan’s massive collection of fossils, amounting to over nine barrels of diggings, was sold by his estate to Connecticut’s Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History where Scanlan’s legacy lives on.

Kenneth Brady has served as the Port Jefferson Village Historian and president of the Port Jefferson Conservancy, as s well as on the boards of the Suffolk County Historical Society, Greater Port Jefferson Arts Council and Port Jefferson Historical Society. He is a longtime resident of Port Jefferson.

Photos from Larry Hohler
Leg. Kara Hahn. Photo from Larry Hohler

Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) is a daily runner who has participated in many local races, but her effort on the Port Jefferson/Setauket Greenway on Saturday, Oct. 16 in the Annual Kenya/USA Bi-Continental race was special.  

For the last 17 years, Hope Children’s Fund, a local not-for-profit, has held a 5K fundraiser in support of the Jerusha Mwiraria Hope Children’s Home for AIDS-affected former street children in Meru, Kenya.  

Hahn came in first among the female competitors in this year’s event with a time of 28:52. The overall winner was Setauket resident Donald Dodge, with his time of 24:28.  

The Kenyan times were inconclusive, but in all of the competitions since 2005, the Kenyans have won 16 times.

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Photo by Julianne Mosher

After missing out in 2020, the Historical Society of Greater Port Jefferson was finally able to host their annual Outdoor Country Auction.

On Saturday, Oct. 16, dozens of interested buyers came together outside the Mather House Museum at 115 Prospect St. to bid on more than 200 unique items. 

Nick Acampora, president of the historical society, said that they were “so happy” to hold the event after COVID-19 canceled last year’s auction.

“We love doing the auction because it’s a part of the community,” he said. “It’s so important to us because it’s a great time for everyone, while providing the funds to keep the historical society going.”

Acampora said that everything from costumes to furniture was available for auction, many of the items being donated or sold on consignment. Some of them dated as far back as the 1800s, as well as coins from the Greek and Roman empires. 

While the final figures of money raised for the historical society wasn’t immediately available, Acampora said he thinks the organization did extremely well — but what was most important was bringing the community back for a fun-filled and interesting get-together. 

“It was wonderful to welcome everyone back,” he said. 

Steve Bellone. Stock photo by Rita J. Egan

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D) tested positive for COVID-19.

The County Executive, who is vaccinated and has been observing mask mandates, is unsure of how he contracted the virus.

Bellone has mild symptoms and is currently not receiving any medical treatment.

“I hope this serves as a reminder to all residents that while we are making incredible progress in the war against COVID-19, we are not done just yet,” Bellone said in a statement. “I encourage anyone who is eligible to receive their booster shot to do so.”

At this point, no other members of his office staff or his family has tested positive.

Bellone said he feels in “good health and spirits,” according to the statement. He will continue to carry out the duties of the County Executive.

Meanwhile, the percentage of positive tests on a seven-day average in Suffolk County fell below 3% on Oct. 20, dropping to 2.9%, according to the Suffolk County Department of Health.

Local health care providers have been encouraged by the overall decline in positive tests, which they attribute in part to ongoing vaccination efforts.

The Food and Drug Administration provided emergency use authorization for the Moderna booster for a specific groups of people who were fully vaccinated at least six months ago. Those groups include: people 65 years and older; people 18 through 64 who are considered at high risk; and people 18 through 64 with occupational exposure.

The FDA also approved the use of a single booster dose for people who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at least two months ago.

The FDA also allowed a mix and match approach to boosters, authorizing those who received one type of vaccination to choose a different booster. Local health care providers said studies have shown that people who received the J&J vaccine had a higher antibody response after receiving a Moderna booster.

“The available data suggest waning immunity in some populations who are fully vaccinated,” Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodccock said in a statement. “The availability of those authorized boosters is important for continued protection against COVID-19 disease.”

Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research said the FDA would gather additional data as quickly as possible to assess the benefits and risks of the us of booster doses in additional populations and plans to update the healthcare community and the public in the coming weeks.

For more information on vaccines in the area, residents can go to the web site: suffolkcountyny.gov/vaccine.

The web site also includes answers to frequently asked questions, such as: what are the side effects after I get the COVID-19 vaccine, is it safe to get a COVID-19 vaccine if I have an underlying medical condition, and what should I do if I am exposed to COVID-19 after being vaccinated.

Early in the pandemic, Bellone remained in quarantine and managed his responsibilities from home after Deputy County Executive Peter Scully tested positive for the virus. Bellone didn’t test positive at that point, although he, like so many others in the early days of the disease, waited days for the results of his COVID test.

Stock photo

TBR News Media is preparing for our special election coverage editions that will be out Oct. 28. Our articles are based on debates with candidates to help voters make informed decisions when they choose their representatives.

With everyone’s busy lives, it’s difficult to find a mutual day and time for competing candidates to sit down and discuss the issues and challenges that affect the office they seek. What’s even more frustrating is when we discover a candidate is just a placeholder, in other words, they’re not actively campaigning. Too many times in the past, we’ve spoken with a candidate for a one-on-one interview instead of in a debate, and it will happen again this year.

Both political parties have been guilty of nominating someone to run for office and putting their name on the ballot, even though the person has no intention of knocking on doors or engaging in the democratic process to discuss their ideas.

This happens often when the office has a strong incumbent where a party has a feeling their candidate has no chance of winning. However, at the same time, they know the person will get a good number of votes because they understand some people just vote down their party line.

During divisive times, the Democrat and Republican committees owe the public much more. Whether an election involves federal, state, county, town or village levels, it is important for the entire process to be credible. Some may say our local elections are even more important as the decisions made by elected officials have more of an impact on our everyday lives, such as how often our garbage is picked up and whether or not our roads will be repaired.  

We suggest both parties take every election seriously and produce candidates who will actively campaign instead of providing a random name for those voting for a D or an R. One of the most important things an elected official can do is show up for the election from start to finish.

Anyone whose name goes on a ballot should be a bona fide candidate seeking office, and not merely a token way for a party to remain visible. Before checking off whom you want to represent you for any office, do your research. Find out the races that affect your area. Read up on the candidates, and don’t vote for any candidate who places so little value on your vote and can’t bother to campaign. When you are at the polls, you don’t have to choose someone in every race. If you are not familiar with the candidates, or if you don’t like them for whatever reason, you can skip that row.

Simply voting for someone just because they belong to the same political party as you is a reflection on your belief in a party or even a machine — and not in the individual. That’s like choosing a partner based on his or her last name or heritage without considering whether that person is right for you. We need candidates who are ready to represent us and our districts, and who are willing to listen to our concerns, values and priorities. Choose wisely, and in doing so, you’ll send a message that people count more than parties.