Long Island Association

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The Long Island Association is the largest and oldest group within the business lobby of Long Island, New York. Four archived New York Times stories from the 1920s preserve the LIA’s rhapsodic early efforts to promote business relocation from New York City. The LIA website’s history section states: “Incorporated on July 26, 1926 as the Long Island Chamber of Commerce, the LIA still today takes its mission very seriously: ‘Dedicated to protecting, strengthening and stimulating the regional economy while promoting Long Island as THE place to live, work and do business.’ ”[1] The LIA’s own headquarters remained in Manhattan until 1949. It is now based in Commack.[2]

From 1968, its seventeenth president was William J. Casey, later CIA Director under Reagan.[3].

In 1990-91, under the leadership of James Larocca, the LIA was involved in a controversial and unsuccessful effort to create a Long Island subsidiary of the Urban Development Corporation to promote regional economic growth.[4][5][6] The organization works closely with Newsday to promote Long Island’s economic interests; former Newsday publisher Robert M. Johnson was an active LIA board member. LIA President James Larocca strongly supported the operation of the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant long after most other Long Island business lobbyists had abandoned it as a lost cause. The LIA joined Newsday is promoting “WillyWorld.”

Since the early 1990s, the LIA has been led by Matthew Crosson.

The LIA plays host for visiting politicians, who sometimes announce important policy intitiatives at LIA-sponsored speeches. The LIA publishes coffee-table books every few years, with overviews of the island and its LIA member-businesses, and a glossy monthly magazine. For further information, see hundreds of archived articles online at Newsday.com, or visit the LIA’s own website: [7]