The race for North Hempstead town supervisor pits the current occupant of the office, Jennifer DeSena, against a former occupant, Jon Kaiman.
We strongly endorse Kaiman.
Kaiman brings a deep knowledge of government at the town, county and state level.
He served as district court judge, followed by 10 years as town supervisor where he served for 10 years, from 2004 to 2013.
In 2013, he was appointed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to lead New York State’s clean-up and recovery efforts following Superstorm Sandy and to oversee Nassau County’s finances as the chairman of the Nassau Interim Finance Authority.
Since 2017, Kaiman has served as deputy county executive of Suffolk County.
As North Hempstead supervisor, Kaiman developed innovative ideas to improve residents’ quality of life, including the 311 universal call center and Project Independence to help seniors stay in their homes with a wide variety of services.
Kaiman’s administration was marred by a bribery scandal in the Building Department that he says was uncovered by changes he initiated and that he reported the crimes immediately to the Nassau County district attorney.
The Building Department was later plagued by excessive delays in issuing permits that in Kaiman’s remaining years was not corrected – and continues to this day.
He now offers specific plans to correct the problem – including the obvious solution of hiring more inspectors and not letting problems uncovered during new construction get in the way of approvals on the new work.
He also touts his success in obtaining grants to help finance new projects.
Kaiman on occasion could lack a good bedside manner in dealing with the town Council members and residents – something he says he has learned to do better since he last served.
He also correctly points out that whatever the dust-ups that took place on the Town Council don’t compare to the dysfunction of the current council with its Democratic majority and DeSena, who won office on the Republican line.
Some of this dysfunction can be attributed to bad state law, which gives the Town Council’s majority executive authority and the supervisor, with just one vote, the responsibility to carry out its direction. And some can be applied to DeSena for having no prior experience in government.
But while town council Democrats could have been more accommodating, DeSena has appeared not to recognize the limitations of her role or work more closely with the majority.
This includes her announcement of major capital projects using federal money provided by the Biden administration – without informing Democrats, let alone getting their approval. No matter that the projects included the much-needed installation of sewers on Plandome Road in Manhasset.
Or the more recent hiring of a lawyer who has donated generously to county Republicans to hear a harassment charge filed by one of her staff members without consulting with Democrats.
The town also lost to resignation several high-ranking staff members in the finance and purchasing departments amid this rancor, including the town comptroller, who resigned without notice while preparation of the budget was taking place.
DeSena has proposed a politically attractive 10% tax cut in next year’s budget on Sept. 30, citing a large town surplus fueled by a spike in town revenues over the past two years.
Democrats and Kaiman said that this budget includes cuts in funding for needed services and fails to account for a new contract she has approved for most town workers. The Democratic council members promise amendments to the budget before it comes to a vote shortly before Election Day.
DeSena also failed to address the ongoing problems with the Building Department after pledging to fix them during the 2021 race.
Instead, once elected, she asked the Nassau County comptroller to audit the problem more than a year ago. The county comptroller has yet to issue the audit and the delays continue.
Even more troubling has been the slash-and-burn campaign that DeSena has run – or the campaign that the Nassau County Republican Party has run for her – against Kaiman.
While political campaigns often are not Tiddlywinks, this campaign has relied on half-truths and lies not seen before in a race for town posts presented in an avalanche of cable television ads and direct mail pieces.
The most recent mailer is a picture of Kaiman holding two large handfuls of cash in his hands under the headline “HIGH TAXES & CORRUPTION…with JON KAIMAN.”
The ad is very similar to a pattern identified five years ago by the Washington Post of Republican mailers playing on stereotypes by showing Jewish candidates holding money.
At a time of rising antisemitism, this is very insensitive if not worse.
It is consistent with the scare-mongering campaigns run by Republicans in Nassau County and statewide. But in this case, DeSena has ownership of at least the message.
Another direct mail piece appears to be appealing to racial fears, quoting a local newspaper saying the last time he was supervisor Kaiman “tried to ram through Bronx-style multi-family housing, for his developer cronies” with a picture of Kaiman in front of high-rises.
This refers to Kaiman’s proposal for accessory dwelling units – not high rises – that he quickly withdrew after heated opposition as supervisor.
Kaiman now rejects any major changes to a town housing policy that seems intent on discouraging significant new housing.
The DeSena campaign has also charged that under Kaiman taxes went up 44%. Kaiman said the total increase over 10 years amounted to an average of $44.50 per household.
The DeSena campaign also claimed that Kaiman approved a $31 million tax hike as Nassau Finance Board chairman. The tax hike was actually approved by the Republican County executive and Republican-controlled Legislature. Kaiman and NIFA merely said the budget was fiscally sound.
DeSena, who says she is a registered Democrat, also does not accept any blame for endorsing George Santos and then campaigning with him in his run for Congress.
In a press release announcing her endorsement, she said “George is a friend and a true leader…I formally endorse him for Congress.”
DeSena has since blamed the Democratic candidates for Congress for not uncovering the many lies Santos had told during his two campaigns, and said she quickly called for his resignation when the lies came out after the election.
But at the time of DeSena’s endorsement, it had been reported that Santos said the Mueller report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election was a hoax and he supported a national abortion ban and doctors who perform them should be prosecuted criminally.
Santos also said he attended the Stop the Steal rally on Sept. 6 and he gave money to defend insurrectionists who attacked the U.S. Capitol that day.
This is not the kind of judgment – or beliefs – needed by the North Hempstead supervisor.
Jon Kaiman does have this judgment, along with a deep experience that makes him an excellent choice for town supervisor now.
Blank Slate Media strongly endorses Jon Kaiman for Town of North Hempstead supervisor.