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                                                                                Arrests in Nassau over the first three months of this year are down somewhat compared to the same period last year but are slightly higher than than the last quarter of 2021. In other words, arrests seem stable in Nassau even as crime surges throughout New York. In New York City, for example, major crimes increased 58 percent in February over the same month last year and 30 percent in March. Nassau's first quarter bail reform crime report indicates that more than 80 percent of suspects arrested (mostly on larceny and con...

                                                                              Matthew Bruderman (left) and Bruce Blakeman Nassau Democrats have been fighting over control of the Nassau University Medical Center ever since Republican Bruce Blakeman became county executive on Jan. 1. Democrats last month challenged Blakeman's appointment of new NUMC board chairman Matthew Bruderman to replace board member Ann Kayman, who was appointed by former Democratic County Executive Laura Curran in December. Though a court temporarily blocked Blakeman from replacing Kayman, the county executive did a workaround with the Republican-controlled legislature to put Bruderman back on the board as chairman. This week, according to Newsday, Blakeman filed notice of charges to remove the former hospital chairman, Ed...

                                                                             Blakeman campaign commercial During his successful campaign for county executive, Republican Bruce Blakeman made no secret of his disdain for Democratic incumbent Laura Curran's plan to distribute $375 in federal cares act money to homeowners and renters impacted by the pandemic. "Peanuts!" Blakeman declared in a campaign commercial. "Curran wants to fool you by giving back peanuts."  He also called it a political stunt and promised he would reduce taxes rather than hand out peanuts. So it should come as no surprise that Blakeman sent a letter to legislators last Friday saying he was ending the $375 Household Assistance Program after only 70,000 of some 400,000 eligible households applied for the money. "I have ma...

 Malverne Mayor Keith Corbett, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to Congress, scheduled a news conference this morning to "call upon the federal government to stop funding to the state of New York until the bail reform laws are changed." His notice says, "Crime is on the rise in New York City and if the Bail Reform laws are not changed it will infiltrate Nassau County and harm our suburban community." Bail reform is the catch-all phrase for a series of changes to the state's criminal justice law made by the new Progressive Democratic Albany majority in 2019 that eliminated cash bail for all but the most violent offenders; they denied judge's discretion to determine whether an accused lawbreaker is a danger to the community; they directed that names and addresses of victims and witnesses be released upon request to the alleged offender, who even could ask the court for permission to tour the home of the victim if the criminal act occurred there. D...

                                                                           Josh Lafazan Only a month after Nassau Legis. Josh Lafazan squeaked out a victory in his November bid for re-election, he changed his voter registration from blank to Democrat and announced he was running for the Democratic nomination to Congress -- for the seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi of Glen Cove. Since then,  Lafazan has rarely been seen at the county legislature. Instead, he has attended all of this year's twice-monthly meetings of the full legislature remotely. Remote attendance allows county lawmakers, who earn nearly $80,000 a year, to be almost anywhere to do county business, needing only to press the right key on their internet connection to say "Aye" or "Nay" when appropriate.   Lafazan...

                                                                            Rich Nicolello The Nassau Legislature's Presiding Officer Rich Nicolello yesterday said that the county's financial control board -- created by the state 22 years ago to oversee Nassau finances -- needs its own financial monitoring after he learned it had paid $925,000 over the past three years to a labor counsel rejected by the legislature. That's $925,000 from Nassau's sales tax collections. During questioning about a proposed settlement over union longevity payments, Nicolello, a New Hyde Park Republican, asked the legislature's Budget Review Director Maurice Chalmers if, in fact, lawyer Gary Dellaverson had racked up  $925,000 in legal fees since he was hired by the Nassau Interim Finance Authority. Chalmers confirm...

                                                                               With all the publicity Gov. Kathy Hochul gets every day, she should be rising in the polls,  not falling. But it seems the more people get to know New York's unelected Democratic governor,  the less voters like what she's doing --  except, perhaps, for some news columnists. The Siena College Research Institute is out today with a new poll of New York voters and its not good news for Hochul, the lieutenant governor from Buffalo who automatically became governor when Andrew Cuomo resigned in August. “Hochul’s over...

                                                                        County Executive Bruce Blakeman signs longevity deal alongside union chiefs                                                                         A longevity deal negotiated by Nassau Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman and the county's five major labor unions will cost about $3 million more than the administration estimates, a financial watchdog reported Friday.  The Office of Legislative Budget Review projects the deal will cost $106.7 million to fund retroactive and future longevity pay increases through 2025, compared to $103.3 million estimate...

                                                                                  Nassau GOP truck parked outside Butch Yamali's Peter Clam House restaurant on Friday afternoon Nassau's inspector general reported Friday that Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman's proposed legal settlement with concessionaire Butch Yamali "could erode public confidence in the county's commitment to the competitive process," lead to future litigation by upending existing vendors and omits required disclosure forms adopted after a major contracting scandal. But Inspector General Jodi Franzese tread carefully through a political minefield in her eight-page report (which includes more than 100 pages of appendixes) about the deal that would give Yamali's Dover Gourmet Corp. a five-to-ten year license ...

                                                                                   For some time, political pundits have speculated that  U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi, a conservative Democrat from Glen Cove, and Jumaane Williams, New York City's progressive public advocate, had a deal in the coming Democratic primary for governor. Suozzi, who is giving up his Congressional seat to run for governor,  would capture the Democratic conservative vote. Williams, who has the Working Families party line in the general elections, would win the progressive vote. That leaves little support for...

                                                                                 Laura Gillen The fight over former Democratic Hempstead Town Supervisor Laura Gillen's Congressional nominating petitions, which are being challenged by Democrats Jason Abelove, a former candidate for Hempstead Town and current NUMC member, and Howard Colton, counsel to Freeport village, has now moved into state Supreme Court. The law firm of Abrams Fensterman, headed by Howard Fensterman, the firm's managing partner and co-founder, filed suit against Abelove and Colton as well as the county Board of Elections commissioners, asking the court to validate Gillen's petitions and place her name on the June primary ballot for the 4th District congressional seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Garden...

                                                                             Ed Mangano                                                              A federal judge yesterday ordered former Republican Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano to pay more than a half million dollars in fines and forfeitures after sentencing him...

                                                                                 Laura Gillen The Congressional race to replace U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City) is getting even more heated -- among Nassau party Democrats. Multiple sources say that Jason Abelove, the Democratic attorney from Oceanside who made a suicide run against Republican Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin last year and was one of Democrat County Executive Laura Curran's last recommendations to become a member of the board at NUMC before she left office in December, has filed specific objections to nominating petitions collected by former Hempstead Town Supervisor Laura Gillen. Howard Colton, village attorney for Freeport, also filed objections to Gillen's nominating petitions, sources say. Malverne Mayor ...

                                                                             Hempstead Town officials celebrate Easter at Camp Anchor event sponsored by Butch Yamali U.S. District Court judge Joan Azrack last week cited testimony from the corruption trial of former  County Executive Ed Mangano when explaining why she believed the Republican elected official  steered emergency food orders after Hurricane Sandy to his friend Harendra Singh -- even though Mangano was aquitted of that charge. "Butch gets enough," she quoted a Mangano aide as saying when asked why Singh was providing meals instead of the coun...

                            The arrest and resignation of Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin this week should serve as a warning to all state elected Democrats: Be careful who you endorse. It seems like every Nassau Democratic senator and most Assembly members happily supported Benjamin,  who was selected to be lieutenant governor by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul when she ascended to the state's top job after former Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned in August. Hochul chose Benjamin even though published reports already said he was under investigation for questionable campaign fundraising practices. And Nassau Democrats endorsed him despite his progressive support for positions contrary to a majority of Long Islanders: Defund the police and bail reform. He was a leading advocate for "defund the police" -- not a good look now, particularly after a gunman shot multiple people in the subway Tuesday without a police officer anywhere in...