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Two new district judges and a Surrogate Court switch

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Two new District Court judges are expected to be appointed by the Nassau legislature this month while  a new Nassau Surrogate will take office next January. All are considered competent lawyers, but of course politics play a part in the moves. James Saladino, a Suffolk District Court judge, has been recommended by Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman to be appointed a judge in Nassau's 4th District Court, which covers Oyster Bay and Glen Cove. James Saladino is the brother of Republican Oyster Bay Supervisor Joe Saladino and is the son of a late Republican Supreme Court Justice Joseph J. Saladino. James Saladino, who served in various Suffolk legal position, must have moved into Nassau. Also recommended for appointment is Maria Boultadakis to Nassau's 2nd District Court in Hempstead. A law clerk for three successive Republican Supreme Court justices,  Boudtadakis is the daughter of Nick Boudtakakis, owner of the Sands Castle in Franklin Square. The restaurant and caterin...

Wink county race announced before secret Suozzi-Gillen meeting

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Former Nassau legislator, former North Hempstead Town Board member  and former North Hempstead Town Clerk Wayne Wink is the choice of Nassau Democrats  to run for county comptroller against incumbent Republican Elaine Phillips this fall. Wayne Wink Wink's candidacy was announced at a local Port Washington political event Saturday morning. Currently minority counsel for Nassau's Democratic legislators, Wink, of Rosyln, has been involved in Nassau politics seemingly forever...before and after Democrats won and lost a majority on the county legislature  He started as a legislative aide to the late legis. Barbara Johnson, a Demoratic member of the first legislature to take office in 1996 after the former Board of Supervisors was abolished as unconstitutional. He ran for North Hempstead Town Supervisor in 2021 but lost to Jennifer DeSena, a registered Democrat running as a Republican. The Wink announcement came before U.S. Reps. Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen, both Nassau Democra...

Blakeman kick-off rally

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Bruce Blakeman It looks like Repubican President Donald Trump did not make a good enough job offer to Nassau Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman.  Sources said Blakeman had been hoping for a significant appointment in the new Trump administration in return for his strong support of the now re-elected president. As well as a job for his wife, Segal, who is a Nassau family court judge. But apparently it didn't happen. Because Blakeman, whose county executive term ends this December, is having a kick-off re-election rally at noon today at the American Legion Post 1066 in Massapequa. And it sound like a traditional Nassau GOP event. "Blakeman will be joined by over 1,000 supporters from every corner of the county and will speak about his 3.5 years in  office in addition to his vision for the future,"  the press alert says. It adds,"This will be one of the closest watched races in the nation in 2025" --  which actually sounds a bit hyperbolic. Blakeman will be...

Despite Democrats' complaint, Trump threat apparently was real

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                                                                                       Donald Trump at Nassau Coliseum in September Remember when Nassau Democrats indignantly complained about the costs of security at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign rally at the Coliseum in September? The rally drew thousands -- many more than the Coliseum's 16,000-person in-house capacity -  and snarled traffic for miles round the Uniondale arena. A day after the Sept. 18 rally, Nassau legislative Democrats filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission, contending that taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for security at a campaign event, calculating that the use of county police and public works employees at the rally likely cost $1 million. "Yesterd...

Big Boost for Tom Suozzi

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                                                                                    Tom Suozzi Congressman Tom Suozzi must be over the moon. A host of January's most watched cable news program -- The Five -- suggested the Glen Cove Democrat for president in four years. Host Dana Perino on Jan. 8 said, "Who do the Democrats have to run in four years? John Fetterman? Tom Suozzi ?”  Tom Suozzi? Ever since Suozzi was Glen Cove mayor, through his eight years as Nassau County Executive in the 2000's, he acknowledged that his ultimate goal is president of the United States. General...

Meet your next Nassau legislator: Olena Nicks (with reference to NUMC wars)

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  Olena Nicks is the Democrat running in the Nassau Legis. District 2 election Feb. 25 to replace former county legislator Siela Bynoe. A Westbury Democrat, Bynoe was elected to the state senate last November. But the outcome really isn't in doubt. District 2 is a solid Democratic district. It includes Westbury, Uniondate and portions of Hempstead Village. So far, no Republican candidate has been announced. Undoubtedly Nassau Republicans will nominate someone to run, someone who will take on the hopeless race to accumulate goodwill points toward some future GOP post. Nicks has performed her own suicide missions in the past, running and losing to then-Republican Hempstead Town clerk Kate Murray* and Republican Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin. She is owed an easy race. Nicks, of Unondale, has been active in her community and is a longtime member of the Uniondale Fire Department. But will she concentrate on the same issues as Bynoe? Bynoe was the county legislature's most per...

No Mystery: Blakeman is running again

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                                                                                          Emailed Blakeman fundraiser invitation Why are there so many questions about whether Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman is running for re-election this year? It was clear months ago. After Republican President Donald Trump announced in mid-November that he was appointing former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to be his ambassador to Israel -- a post Blakeman had hoped to get -- Blakeman declared at a fundraiser that he would be running for re-election...