In the lead-up to the national 2010 mid-term elections, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said: “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”

Then White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs responded, saying “it’s a deeply disappointing message that, regardless of the outcome of this election, political gridlock and political gamesmanship is what the American people have to look forward to over the next two years.”

But that is just what the Republicans did and from a political point of view, it worked. The Republicans picked up 63 seats, taking control of the House for the first time since the 2006 elections.

It appears that Town of North Hempstead Democrats have now taken a page from O’Connell’s playbook following votes last week against three proposals made by Town Supervisor Jennifer DeSena, a Democrat who was elected running as a Republican.

Two of the proposals were legislation addressing the town’s long-troubled Building Department.

One would remove her authority and the power of council members to override the Building Department’s decisions on so-called “expedited” permits.

The second proposal would be to require the Building Department commissioner to make a decision on “expedited” permits within seven days.

DeSena’s proposals wouldn’t actually improve the performance of a Building Department that is greatly in need of repair. There are no allegations that supervisors or town board members have abused their authority in the past.

And the seven-day deadline on “expedited” permits deemed especially important doesn’t address the many other permits sought by businesses and residents.

But DeSena’s proposals would at least be a baby step forward in addressing the long delays often experienced by businesses and residents in obtaining building permits and approvals,

The answer from the four Democrats on the town council was to essentially do nothing.

In a recent press release of nearly 1,000 words that served as a response to DeSena’s State of the Town address, the Democrats said not one word about the Building Department.

This is odd since former Town Clerk Wayne Wink, the Democrat’s candidate for town supervisor, joined DeSena during the November campaign in saying the Building Department was the No. 1 issue. Wink offered a detailed list of changes he would seek if elected.

This may have worked against Wink since his plan may have served as an implicit criticism of the Democratic town board and former Town Supervisor Judi Bosworth, a popular Democrat who decided not to seek a sixth term. It may have also reminded voters that the Democratic-controlled town board had failed to fix the Building Department while in control for many years.

We would like to think that the town Democrats are not looking ahead to the next election by depriving DeSena of any legislative victories – no matter how small – and avoiding anything that might offend Bosworth’s supporters. But it is very difficult to think otherwise.

After DeSena explained her proposal to the board last week, Democrat council members Mariann Dalimonte, Veronica Lurvey and Peter Zuckerman each made statements saying DeSena’s proposal would not help the Building Department and suggested the formation of a task force, among other things. 

Dalimonte said the proposed task force would be composed of residents with expertise in residential and commercial construction and make recommendations to the board, which was backed by Lurvey and Zuckerman.

This is, to say it nicely, ludicrous. And an insult to voters’ intelligence.

The failings of the town Building Department have been front and center in every race for town seats for years.

Every person who has run for office has already heard the complaints about and solutions to the department’s woes, including the detailed, well-thought-out plan presented by Wink during his unsuccessful campaign.

The town cannot afford to wait another two years to fix chronic problems with the Building Department especially as local businesses try to recover from the impact of COVID-19 over the past two years.

Nor should homeowners have to endure the needless delays of the Building Department.

The third DeSena proposal rejected by Democrats was her picks to fill six seats on the town’s seven-member Board of Ethics for a second time.

DeSena in February had put forth the appointment of The Islamic Center of Long Island Chair Isma Chaudhry; Mineola Mayor Scott Strauss; Robert Reilly, former assistant dean at Fordham University’s School of Law; LIU associate professor Qiping Zhang; Chabad of Mineola Rabbi Anchelle Perl; Derek Chan, president of Greater Hudson Financial; and  Francisco Vazquez, senior counsel to Norton Rose Fullbright.

“It’s very important we have an independent Board of Ethics with appointed terms so they can render opinions and not worry that it could cause them to be dismissed,” DeSena said.

Democratic Town Council Member Robert Troiano said in February the selections were not representative of the town’s geographical diversity since they did not include someone from his district. Other Democrats said they did not receive the resumes on DeSena’s picks until shortly before the meeting in explaining their decision to abstain.

To provide the geographic diversity Troiano requested, DeSena withdrew the nominations of Strauss, a former New York City police officer who worked the pile after 9/11 and currently heads security at Northwell Health, and LIU Associate Professor Qiping Zhang.

In their place, she selected Westbury/New Cassel NAACP President Robin Bolling and Melissa Slobin, speech-language pathologist for Manhasset Public
Schools

That was still not enough for the Democrats.

This time they said they were not satisfied with DeSena’s selection process and complained that by nominating six picks at once the board needed to address how terms would be staggered.

The Yiddish word for this is chutzpah, which translates to gall with an extra twist.

The reason there are six openings on the Ethics Board is that when Democrats held a 6-1 advantage, the Town Board did not fill the six openings when they occurred.

The participation in this discussion by Troiano, who had previously served on the Town Board and as a deputy to Bosworth, further raised the question of whether town Democrats actually want a town Ethics Board.

In 2018, the town admitted that when serving as a town staffer Troiano failed to list federal tax liens on at least one financial disclosure statement.

Blank Slate Media had earlier reported that in the 2014 financial statement Troiano failed to list $81,533 in federal income tax liens and a $749,264 lien on a house he owned facing foreclosure.

Then town spokesperson Carol Trottere said the issues raised regarding Troiano’s undisclosed tax liens suggested that the town’s process needed to be tightened. This would include requiring that “senior appointees submit financial disclosures before starting their employment with the town,” she said.

Only a year earlier, the town announced it had strengthened its ethics codes following disclosures showing that Gerard Terry, the former head of the North Hempstead Democratic Committee who held two jobs in the town, had racked up nearly $1 million in unpaid state and federal taxes between 2000 and 2017. Terry later pleaded guilty to tax fraud and served time in prison.

Troiano had been tapped by then Nassau County Executive Laura Curran to serve as the county’s acting commissioner for traffic and parking violations at the time questions about his town disclosures were raised.

He stepped down when his tax issues came to light, although Troiano maintained he left for other reasons.

Presumably, the town Ethics Board would play a role should issues similar to that of Troiano and Terry arise with current town employees and council members.

Troiano voted against the Ethics Board picks. And fellow Democrats Peter Zuckerman, Veronica Luvey and Mariann Dalimonte used the Democrats’ latest tool in rejecting DeSena recommendations by abstaining on each of the seven recommendations. 

We would think Troiano and his fellow Town Board Democrats would not want to appear to be getting in the way of a town Ethics Board.

We would also think that Town Board Democrats would not get in the way of Building Department reforms.

But so far we would be wrong.