We’ve all heard the old story of a young George Washington uttering the famous phrase “I Cannot Tell a Lie.” Unfortunately, when it comes to North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jennifer DeSena, she cannot tell the truth. Even before taking office, she has notoriously reversed course on a number of positions and statements after getting caught in a lie. And at the Oct. 20 Town Board, she embarrassed herself once again after being exposed as a complete fraud.
Let’s backtrack to September. Supervisor DeSena released a tentative budget document with a modest 2% tax increase. It was what many would have called a reasonable budget. The document was unlikely to receive any criticism from her colleagues on the Town Board, and it was probably going to pass unanimously. Then came the newspapers. “Bad” headlines ran, highlighting her desire to hike taxes, and that’s when the calls starting flowing in.
Republican leadership, in North Hempstead and throughout Nassau County, berated DeSena for doing the unconscionable — raising taxes. It was against the Republican brand and infuriated her political masters. Marching orders were given, go back to the drawing board and lower those taxes. As usual, DeSena couldn’t simply be honest and admit a new-found desire to modify the budget based on political backlash. DeSena’s crack PR whiz instructed her to blame the urgent about face on a sudden discovery.
The Town’s fund balance policy had been withheld from her by the evil Democrats! Yeah, that’s the ticket. There’s just one problem. She had the policy all along. What’s more, there was tangible proof in the form of various documents produced by her office, dating back to at least March 1 — seven months before her feigned shock over a miraculous discovery.
So it was Robert Troiano, Peter Zuckerman, Veronica Lurvey, and Mariann Dalimonte – the Democratic contingent on the North Hempstead Town Board – who exposed yet another blatant lie from DeSena. After being called out at a public meeting, DeSena had yet another deer-in-the-headlights moment. Stunned silence for 10 painful seconds when called out. In the midst of her desperation, flailing around out of control, she scrambled by calling up her master of the filibuster, Shadow Supervisor Joe Scalero.
Sadly for the GOP, not even the glib Scalero could provide enough misdirection to divert anyone’s attention from what was just brought to light — DeSena’s latest whopper. No amount of jibber jabber about the mysterious “missing files” or her perpetual victim complex can overshadow what everybody knows.
DeSena is incompetent, and she’s failed as a leader. We’ve had enough of the inaction. We’ve had enough of the lies. DeSena basically has two choices: resign now, or be fired next November. –
Eric Lawrence
Manhasset