LIuncoverednews

                                                                       Bruce Blakeman For the first time since the Nassau legislature was created in 1996, lawmakers have approved a secret contract without disclosing the identify of the vendor, the cost or any of the terms of the deal. At least the administration of Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman admitted the secret contract is to provide cybersecurity to the county -- something that had only been whispered before. After the legislature's Rules Committee met in executive session today -- without providing a legal reason as to why they could shut out the public -- Deputy County Attorney Brian Libert explained: The contract, he said, "supports Nassau County's ongoing efforts in boosting Nassau’s cybersecurity protocols, as well as protective and preve...

                                                                                         Nassau County legislature Will the Nassau legislature today give away it's power to publicly approve and debate contracts of $1,000 or more, ceding its voter-granted authority to County Executive Bruce Blakeman and the county IT commissioner? The Republican-controlled legislative Rules Committee is scheduled to consider a one-page resolution that would ratify an unnamed personal services agreement awarded by the "Shared Services" Commissioner and executed by Blakeman. It gives no details about the purpose of the personal services agreement, who it is with, how much it costs or its length. The resolution also authorizes Blakeman to execute "any and all" related agreements, again...

                                                                                  After years of governments at all levels instituting tighter ethical restrictions in response to angry taxpayers, Hempstead Town is moving to relax standards. On Tuesday the Republican-controlled town board will consider amending their ban against taxpayer-funded mass mailings before an election from 45 days to 15 days. 15 days? Why have a ban at all? The proposed amendment would prohibit any mailing of 1,000 pieces or more of identical mail that is postmarked fewer than 15 days before the date of any general election in which an elected town official is a candidate. But early voting starts ten days before an election. Given how the post office often slow-walks mail delivery, those pieces could land in r...

                                                                                   Bruce Blakeman Nassau insiders at the county legislature are whispering that Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman intends to hire a cybersecurity consultant without public disclosure of the contract, terms or even identity of the consultant. It's a matter of security, they contend. Blakeman lawyers allegedly say they found a loophole that allows the county executive to bypass the law that requires public disclosure and legislative approval of all contracts of $1,000 or more. Again, all in the name of security. Every county administration since the legislature began in 1996 -- Republican and Democrat alike --has claimed to find hidden county executive powers in the county charter, administrati...

                                                                                                                                                                      Sometimes, when appointments seem to come out of the blue, campaign finance disclosure reports may yield some answers. Today it was announced in Newsday that Sheldon L. Shrenkel, 80, an independent financial co...

                                                                                      Mike Sposato On Monday, Nassau's corrections officers demanded the ouster of Corrections Commissioner Mike Sposato, warning that his  alleged mismanagement of day-to-day operations at the East Meadow jail was raising safety risks for officers and inmates alike. On Wednesday, an inmate died after a "medical episode" that County Executive Bruce Blakeman said was an apparent drug overdose, Newsday reported. Nobody can say that Brian Sullivan, president of the Corrections Officers Benevolent Association, didn't warn them. Brian Sullivan Sullivan brought his executive board and entire board of delegates to the county legislative meeting Monday to say collectively that Sposato, a former Nass...

The commission tasked with redrawing the boundaries of Nassau's 19 legislative districts will vote on proposed new lines Monday night after holding 12 public hearings throughout the county.  Redistricting occurs every ten years after the U.S. Census. But Nassau's Temporary Districting Advisory Commission,  composed of five Democrats and five Republicans, is expected to deadlock: Republicans will vote for their proposed legislative map; Democrats will vote for their proposed map. Then the decision goes to the county legislature, which has 12 Republicans and 7 Democrats. It seems pretty obvious how that will go. Next, presumably, will be court challenges to whatever map is adopted. Meanwhile, a $140,000 contract for special counsel to the Republican members of the commission has been submitted to the legislature's Rules committee for approval on Monday -- four months after the special counsel law firm started work on July 29, according to the contract papers filed with the le...