Suffolk County comptroller race

The Suffolk County comptroller seat is empty due to the current longtime incumbent, John M. Kennedy Jr. (R-Nesconset), being term-limited after serving three consecutive four-year terms.

The new comptroller will be chosen by voters in the upcoming general election on Nov. 3. The two major candidates vying to succeed him are Dan Losquadro (R), the current Brookhaven Town highway superintendent, and Jon Estreich (D), a private attorney, former prosecutor, and Army Reserve major.

Jon Estreich (D)

Jon Estreich is a native Long Islander, a Dix Hills dad of four, and a major in the U.S. Army Reserve, where he serves as a headquarters company commander. A former Suffolk County prosecutor and investigative attorney for the MTA Inspector General, Estreich now runs a Huntington-based law firm focused on immigration and criminal law.

He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from SUNY Albany and with honors from the University of Texas School of Law. He clerked for a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals and also served as an associate counsel to the governor and as a lawyer at a large law firm. In February, he resigned as an attorney with the Department of Homeland Security in protest because he could no longer serve under policies and conduct he believed violated the rule of law and contributed to the deaths of American citizens.

“Suffolk County residents deserve an independent watchdog they can trust to be on their side, not politicians and insiders. As a major in the U.S. Army Reserve, I learned to lead, solve problems, and get things done efficiently,” he said. “As a prosecutor, I learned to investigate wrongdoing and hold the powerful accountable. As your next county comptroller, I’ll put that experience to work on Day One—rooting out waste, exposing corruption, and protecting your tax dollars. Suffolk County government should work for the people, and I’ll fight every day to make sure it does.”

Estreich’s top priorities include:

• Be An Independent Watchdog: He said he will fight the corruption that raises our taxes. Residents and whistleblowers will have an open door and a watchdog on duty who will scrutinize county and town spending without fear or favor. He said he will look for pay-to-play in the usual places, including no-bid contracts, consultant contracts, and no-show jobs and will expose any corruption he finds to the public. He also said he will advocate for stronger contracting rules, vendor vetting, conflict-of-interest safeguards, and payment controls. Estreich  will serve as a check on one-party rule in Suffolk County—his only bosses will be the Suffolk County taxpayers.
• Follow Your Money: He said he will follow your money by will launching targeted audits against the waste, fraud, and inefficiencies that fail taxpayers. He will save and recover every possible dollar by preventing the next bad deal before taxpayers pay for it. He said he won’t stop until the county is a more affordable place to live, work, and raise a family.
• Make Every Cent Make Sense. He said he will open the books by ensuring taxpayers have a real-time online dashboard showing how their hard-earned tax dollars are spent. The dashboard will also help county officials focus on the cost of living and, by extension, on keeping our seniors in their homes and the young families on Long Island.

Daniel Losquadro (R)

A lifelong Suffolk County resident, Daniel Losquadro was raised in Wading River and attended Shoreham-Wading River schools. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in history from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Currently, Losquadro resides in Shoreham with his wife, Lynn, a math teacher in their local school district, and their children, Joseph and Meghan.

Losquadro first won election to represent Suffolk County’s 6th Legislative District in November 2003. During his seven years as a county legislator, he served as chairman of the Environment, Planning and Agriculture Committee, as well as the Veterans & Seniors Committee.

In 2010, he won election as the representative for the 1st Assembly District, where he served almost two terms before seeking the highway position. Before taking office, he worked as a senior property claims estimator for State Farm Insurance.

As Brookhaven Town superintendent of highways, Losquadro was sworn in for his fifth full term in 2023, and sixth time overall.

“I look forward to bringing my diverse experience on the town, county, and state levels to the Suffolk County Comptroller’s office,” he said. “Continuing to innovate and improve services has been the hallmark of my time as highway superintendent for the Town of Brookhaven, I promise the residents of this county that I will continue to do the same as your comptroller.”

Losquadro’s top priorities include:

• Accountability by increasing audit staff (CPAs & CFEs) (currently approx. 45) to investigate agencies and programs that receive county funds to root out waste, fraud and abuse. Also focus on monitoring sub-recipients of federal funds. Audit the county’s self-insured employee medical health plan and pharmacy benefit manager to recoup misspent medical costs borne by the taxpayer.
• Maximizing Returns by bolstering the sale of capital and cash flow borrowings (TANs and RAN’s) to reputable lenders at the highest interest rates possible to maximize interest revenue for taxpayers through both new offerings and refinancing. This revenue offsets county operating costs.
• Create transparency by enhancing and promoting the county’s fraud hotline to empower the public reporting of waste, fraud and abuse.
• Increase cybersecurity by investing in secure software applications to mitigate future cyberattacks to protect the county’s confidential financial information.
• Streamline Services with electronic review and payment of vouchers to county vendors to ensure payments are made timely and accurately. Also, process delinquent tax payments electronically.
• Enhance Revenue by aggressively bolstering the tax receipt office’s efforts to collect the hotel/motel tax (5.5 percent) to ensure that all eligible facilities are identified, registered and are complying with the quarterly payment schedule.
• Eliminating pipeline debt by increasing the review of unexpended bond proceeds on old deposits to close out completed or abandoned capital projects, which will reduce the county’s debt load and liability on the taxpayer.
• And adding a Medicare reimbursement audit program to ensure payments are appropriate and recipients are eligible and alive.