GOP musical chairs at the Nassau BOE?
Pay attention. This is complicated.
Talk around political circles this week is that Nassau Republican Elections Commissioner Louis Savinetti will be leaving his county post and moving back to a commissioner's job in Oyster Bay Town.
Under this scenario, Nassau Republican Deputy Elections Commissioner Joseph Kearney, a close friend of Nassau GOP chairman Joseph Cairo, would take Savinetti's place as acting commissioner.
Kearney, who served as executive director of the Nassau Industrial Development Agency for eight years while Republican Ed Mangano was county executive, would make some personnel shuffles on the Republican side of the elections board.
Then Cairo would then appoint a Hempstead Town leader to the $180,300-year Republican elections post -- allegedly Joseph Ra, the Hempstead Town attorney and longtime Franklin Square GOP leader.
Newly elected Republican Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin reportedly has wanted to replace Ra, a close ally of Cairo, with his own choice for town attorney, but Clavin needs approval from the Republican-controlled town board to do that.
Ra, a former town board member, retired as town attorney and began taking his pension in 2016. But the town board reappointed him the town attorney position at a salary of $184,000, making Ra a so-called "double dipper" when Republican Anthony Santino was the Hempstead supervisor.
If Ra is appointed elections commissioner, Santino would then being working for Ra. Santino, who lost his bid for re-election in 2017, was hired as an administrative assistant to the Republican commissions commissioner before he left office in Dec. 31, 2017.
One of Kearney's tasks, if Joe Ra is appointed, would be to find another job for Ra's son, Joseph Jr. who now works at the elections board. Sons working for fathers on the taxpayers' dime generally is frowned upon.
There's more.
While Savinetti, a former Oyster Bay town board member and commissioner, would move back to the town payroll, former Oyster Bay town board member Joseph Muscarella. who did not run for re-election this past November, has joined the election board payroll, working for the Republicans.
Former Nassau GOP chairman Joseph Mondello first nominated Savinetti for the elections commissioner job in late 2010, to replace John DeGrace, the Valley Stream Republican leader who retired earlier that year. Savinetti, a former Glen Head GOP leader was then the Oyster Bay town commissioner of divisions and programs.
State law says Republican and Democratic elections commissioners must be nominated by their party chairmen. The law also requires Republicans and Democrats to have equal representation at the elections board, which has an annual budget of about $22.5 million and 156 fulltime employees.
In 2018, Mondello renominated Savinetti to another two- year term as elections commissioner even though Mondello had already been selected by President Donald Trump to become the U.S. Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago. Mondello effectively took the elections board nomination away from Cairo, who succeeded Mondello as Nassau GOP chairman and could have put his own choice into the job in January, 2019.
It is not clear why Savinetti would leave the comissioner's post before his term is up at the end of this year.
But that's the current scenario under discussion.
Talk around political circles this week is that Nassau Republican Elections Commissioner Louis Savinetti will be leaving his county post and moving back to a commissioner's job in Oyster Bay Town.
Under this scenario, Nassau Republican Deputy Elections Commissioner Joseph Kearney, a close friend of Nassau GOP chairman Joseph Cairo, would take Savinetti's place as acting commissioner.
Kearney, who served as executive director of the Nassau Industrial Development Agency for eight years while Republican Ed Mangano was county executive, would make some personnel shuffles on the Republican side of the elections board.
Then Cairo would then appoint a Hempstead Town leader to the $180,300-year Republican elections post -- allegedly Joseph Ra, the Hempstead Town attorney and longtime Franklin Square GOP leader.
Newly elected Republican Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin reportedly has wanted to replace Ra, a close ally of Cairo, with his own choice for town attorney, but Clavin needs approval from the Republican-controlled town board to do that.
Ra, a former town board member, retired as town attorney and began taking his pension in 2016. But the town board reappointed him the town attorney position at a salary of $184,000, making Ra a so-called "double dipper" when Republican Anthony Santino was the Hempstead supervisor.
If Ra is appointed elections commissioner, Santino would then being working for Ra. Santino, who lost his bid for re-election in 2017, was hired as an administrative assistant to the Republican commissions commissioner before he left office in Dec. 31, 2017.
One of Kearney's tasks, if Joe Ra is appointed, would be to find another job for Ra's son, Joseph Jr. who now works at the elections board. Sons working for fathers on the taxpayers' dime generally is frowned upon.
There's more.
While Savinetti, a former Oyster Bay town board member and commissioner, would move back to the town payroll, former Oyster Bay town board member Joseph Muscarella. who did not run for re-election this past November, has joined the election board payroll, working for the Republicans.
Former Nassau GOP chairman Joseph Mondello first nominated Savinetti for the elections commissioner job in late 2010, to replace John DeGrace, the Valley Stream Republican leader who retired earlier that year. Savinetti, a former Glen Head GOP leader was then the Oyster Bay town commissioner of divisions and programs.
State law says Republican and Democratic elections commissioners must be nominated by their party chairmen. The law also requires Republicans and Democrats to have equal representation at the elections board, which has an annual budget of about $22.5 million and 156 fulltime employees.
In 2018, Mondello renominated Savinetti to another two- year term as elections commissioner even though Mondello had already been selected by President Donald Trump to become the U.S. Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago. Mondello effectively took the elections board nomination away from Cairo, who succeeded Mondello as Nassau GOP chairman and could have put his own choice into the job in January, 2019.
It is not clear why Savinetti would leave the comissioner's post before his term is up at the end of this year.
But that's the current scenario under discussion.
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