One-on-one with Vincent Puleo, GOP and Conservative candidate for Suffolk County clerk

TBR News Media sat down with Vincent Puleo, town clerk of Smithtown. In our interview, he discussed his professional background, addressed his recent endorsements for Suffolk County clerk, and shared his expectations for the upcoming race.

Q: Before we go into the details of your upcoming race, can you provide an overview of your own professional background? How did you get to this point in your career?

I was in the private sector, in the bar and restaurant business, for 26 years. I spent most of my career in the private sector. I did some insurance business up until around 2005, when the previous town clerk was retiring. I’m also a volunteer. This month, I’ve been in the Nesconset Fire Department for 50 years. 

I had community ties. An active Conservative since ’92, before that I was a Republican. I knew [Smithtown] Supervisor [Pat] Vecchio [R] very well. I knew the chairman of the Conservative Party fairly well, and they were looking for somebody with a little bit of a profile. I started my 17th year here in January. 

I’m married. I have three step-boys, eight grandchildren, and I’ve been the president of my chamber of commerce for the last three years. I’m active in my local community of Nesconset, born and raised on the same block. That’s just what I do. It helps me here because I know a lot of people. I do like to help wherever I can. In terms of people having nowhere else to turn, they call me. 

My duty is to help my community and help my town. I’m a lifelong resident here and that’s what we do.

Q: For those who may not know, what are the responsibilities of a clerk?

Here in Smithtown, I’m first and foremost the secretary to the town board and to the supervisor [Ed Wehrheim (R)]. I maintain all the records of any vote that the town board makes, so I’m the secretary to the town board meetings. I’m also the records retention officer. I’m responsible for any records that are official. We continue to keep the records up to date here in Smithtown, so that’s
one facet. 

The other facet is that I’m a registrar. The registrar records birth and death. We have a record of every single birth and death in Smithtown. Certainly, we do permits. We maintain the marina list of all of the boat slips, and we keep a list of people who are on a waiting list to get a permit for their boat. We presently have a 26-year waiting list for boat slips, so people get a little antsy. We do garbage permits, dog licenses for our animal shelter and all the things of that nature.

The most important thing for me is to keep up with the times electronically. For the past 16 years, I have probably obtained $750,000 to $800,000 worth of grants in order to take paper and put it into an electronic format. My office is pretty much an electronic format. We very rarely have to go into our records retention room to retrieve any records because over the years, that’s been something that I thought could save time and it does. We are able to pick up records and get our constituents whatever they need much quicker than we ever have before.

Q: To move into your upcoming race for Suffolk County clerk, you have received the Republican and Conservative Party’s endorsements over incumbent Judy Pascale (R). From what I have read, you seemed a bit surprised about how this race has unfolded. Why?

I was asked in 2018 if I would be interested in running for that position. At that time, that was Judy’s spot and I said that as long as she’s going to retire, I would be amicable to run for that position. She, at that point, had a conference with the Republican and Conservative parties and she decided that she wanted to stay. From what I was told — and I wasn’t in the room, so I don’t know for sure — she said she wanted just four more years and then she would retire.

In early February of this year, the chairman of the Conservative Party called me and said he would like me to run for county clerk. I said I’m flattered that he asked me again and certainly would be honored to do that. A week later, I hear that she’s very upset and that she changed her mind and now there is a possible primary. That’s what surprised me. 

I’m surprised that she decided to not retire. Now, I already have both the Republican and Conservative endorsements and we will see what happens.

Q: Are you interested in a primary? 

I’m going to wait to answer that question until after the petitions are filed. 

Q: If elected, what is your vision for the Office of the Suffolk County Clerk?

Judy has done an outstanding job in making the office as transparent as possible. I’m going to continue that. I think that regardless of being two different worlds — where town stuff is town, and the county is a little bigger and has bigger roles — the thing that I want to continue is making sure our constituents get what they need as quickly as possible.

[Whether town or county clerk] it is still the same premise. I want to continue to go out there and get as many grants as I can to facilitate electronic filing. The scope of the work is different, not the intent of what you are looking to do. I really feel that constituent services are number one and that’s what I will continue doing. 

Q: Is there anything else that you would like to say to the local readers?

I just hope that everything moving forward goes smoothly. I would be happy to be in a race and compete. Hopefully, I won’t see a primary. That’s basically it.