No "transparency" in secret NUMC appointments

                                                                              

Jason Abelove (from Newsday "LI PEOPLE ON THE MOVE" Jan.17)

Ever notice that the more a politician or government agency asserts transparency, the less transparent they are?

Now we know, weeks later, that Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, a Democrat who lost her bid for a second term,  recommended Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul make at least two new appointments to the board of the Nassau Health Care Corp. before Curran left office at the end of December.

Curran nominated two Democrats who also lost their bids for public office last year: Jason Abelove who challenged incumbent Republican Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin, and Lisa Daniels, who made her second run against Legis. Howard Kopel (R-Lawrence). Both Abelove and Daniels are attorneys.

                                                                                   

Lisa Daniels (from LIHerald.com)

Hochul appointed the two to the NuHealth board at the end of December.

By making the appointments before Jan. 1, Curran and Hochul made sure that incoming Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman could not nominate his own choices for appointment, and thus ensured that the hospital will remain under Democratic control for a while at least. 

According to state law, board members have five-year terms.

The NUMC website currently lists 16 members of the board of directors. State law requires 15 voting members but also allows a few non-voting members.

But here's the complaint.

Curran campaigned on being transparent, even claimed that transparency was "the cornerstone" of her administration. But she didn't mention these board recommendations and subsequent appointments before she left office; there were no press releases, posts or tweets about them.

Hochul, who also has given lip service to transparency. did not announce the appointments, according to a search of her office press releases. Governors generally announce their appointments to state agencies.

NuHealth, the corporation that runs the Nassau University Medical Center and associated health facilities, also did not announce the appointments. To be fair, however, NuHealth has never claimed to be transparent or to act transparently.

The new appointees, who were appointed in December, did not appear on the NuHealth website as members of the board of directors until Tuesday Jan. 18, nearly three weeks after appointment. Their names were posted only after Newsday on Jan. 17 published a small blurb about Abelove's appointment and questions began to be asked.

A Freedom of Information request on Jan. 11 for copies of executive chamber appointments to the board and submitted to NuHealth has yet to be acknowledged, despite state law requiring, at least, acknowledgement of the request in five days.

The Nassau County Clerk's office --the usual repository for all government appointments in Nassau -- directed inquires for the letters of appointment to the governor's office.

You might think that Blakeman would raise a fuss. He has already made national news by pushing back against Hochul's coronavirus mask mandates. Yesterday, in a fight against the state's bail reform laws, Blakeman signed an executive order requiring every notice about a police arrest in Nassau to indicate whether the suspect was a re-offender who had been released without bail.

But Blakeman has said nothing publicly about the NuHealth appointments.

So much for transparency.