NY-01 Candidate Figliola calls for Child Protective Services Investigation. Video shows second man follows, replaces Figliola’s sign with opponent’s sign
U.S. Congressional District 1 candidate Anthony Figliola on Wednesday called for Suffolk County Child Protective Services to investigate whether children were in a school bus after a man emerged from the bus to steal a campaign sign from the candidate’s lawn.
Figliola (R- East Setauket) also is demanding the owner of Huntington Coach Corporation explain the bizarre recent incident involving a marked company bus. Home security footage shows an individual, wearing an unidentified company lanyard, emerge from the bus and steal a sign before the bus executes a three-point turn in Figliola’s East Setauket driveway and flees.
Moments later, the candidate’s security system captures a second man walking onto Figliola’s lawn and inserting a campaign sign for Michelle Bond, one of Figliola’s opponents in a three-way Republican primary election set for Aug. 23. It also is unclear whether the second man, who walked onto Figliola’s lawn and placed a Bond sign, worked for Huntington Coach Corporation.
Figliola publicly released raw video footage and screen shots of the two men, while offering a cash reward for information leading to the arrest of those individuals responsible. The candidate has already filed a report with the Suffolk County Police Department.
Figliola, his wife Christine, a registered nurse, and their three children, ages 3, 7 and 9, were not at their residence during the theft at their home. Christine Figliola called the police after returning home, noticing the missing sign, and reviewing the security footage. The theft of the sign was the second to occur in two weeks on Figliola’s property.
The sign theft came just as Figliola’s campaign has received more than a dozen recent requests for new signs from supporters across the Eastern Suffolk County district. They’ve complained that Figliola campaign signs have been stolen from their lawns, including in Commack, Kings Park and Smithtown.
“Ordinarily, I would say this campaign sign thief ‘is not the sharpest marble,’ given that he slowly walked on and off a Congressional candidate’s lawn, stealing a sign in broad daylight in the middle of a summer day, before the vehicle he was in did a three-point turn in the driveway,” Figliola said. “But the fact that a school bus was involved, and children may have been on board, is especially concerning. A short yellow bus in late July can have any number of passengers on it, from youths with special needs to summer school students and children attending camp.”
“I’m running with integrity, not stealing campaign signs or engaging in political trickery,” Figliola added. “I’m the only candidate who lives in this district and has a proven track record of job creation. I’m a working-class guy running to lower New Yorkers’ absurdly high living costs and to reduce the endless government mandates and regulations that are driving people out of New York.”
Figliola, an economic development consultant who’s lived his whole life in the district, is squaring off against two carpetbagging candidates for the seat being vacated by Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-Shirley, who’s running for New York governor.
Bond is a Washington D.C. resident and lobbyist for the crypto currency industry, and Nick LaLota is a resident of Amityville, which is not in the district. LaLota is well known for his attempts to defund his hometown police force while serving as an Amityville trustee in 2017 and as a failed local candidate, including in 2020.
That year, a New York State Court of Appeals voted 4-0 to toss him from a ballot for blatantly attempting to defy New York Election Law. LaLota refused to step down as Suffolk County elections commissioner, while trying to run against state Sen. John Brooks (D-Seaford), in violation of state law forbidding an official who’s overseeing a race from running in it.
Figliola worked in the Town of Brookhaven from 2006 to 2008, rising to deputy town supervisor in charge of economic development. Since then, Figliola has run Empire Government Strategies, a consulting firm that advises businesses and local governments on how to create jobs and develop their economies.
