Endorsement: Laverne Tennenberg

Incumbent Republican Assessor Laverne Tennenberg was first elected in 1989 and has served the people of Riverhead well ever since. She’s a smart and dedicated public servant who, as chairperson, has worked to keep office technology up-to-date. She’s also well-liked and personable, and she steers clear of controversy.

On the other hand, her Democratic challenger, Greg Fischer, seems to enjoy stirring the pot as much as he enjoys running for office. (He last ran for town supervisor on his own Riverhead First line in 2011.) He has made no clear, coherent case for why a change is needed in the assessors’ office. Even at the Democratic nominating convention he continued to carry on about instituting an elected board of trustees to run LIPA, something well beyond the scope of any office at the town level. The results of this latest campaign, we hope, will signal to Mr. Fischer that his 15 minutes are over.