Mitt Romney's weekend of Hamptons fundraising earned campaign infamy for an anonymous comment from a woman in a white Range Rover: "I don't think the common person is getting it. We've got the message, but my college kid, the baby sitters, the nails ladies — everybody who's got the right to vote — they don't understand what's going on. I just think if you're lower income — one, you're not as educated, two, they don't understand how it works, they don't understand how the systems work, they don't understand the impact."
The common folks of the Hamptons, however — and some do exist — were left furious to have, again, become caricature.
"Our community, like the nation, is divided along those lines. There’s a lot of wealth and also a lot of poverty," said Jay Schneiderman, an Republican-turned-Independent who represents Suffolk County in the New York State Assembly.
Indeed, Schneiderman said, Southampton the Hamptons are "really second to nowhere" when it comes to income inequality. Although the mean household income in Southampton Village was $228,411 as of the 2010 census, the median income of the village is $81,250. The East Hampton school district has struggled within the past few years to provide lunches to its student body, with 8.8% of studnets below the poverty line.
"Sure, you've got the 20 bedroom house with two people," Schneiderman said, "but there are also two bedroom houses with 20 people."
As for the woman in the Range Rover?
"There are always some crazy, wild responses — those people have no facts, they don’t have to. It’s no surprise they’re all coming from Rolls Royces," he said. "You’re not going to see many Hyundais at these things.”
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