Timothy Rodgers, of Hempstead, files suit alleging town fired him after speaking at redistricting hearing

An anti-gun violence coordinator, in a federal lawsuit against Hempstead Town, alleges his job was terminated and his free speech rights violated after he spoke at a Nassau County redistricting hearing, where he was critical of the redistricting process.

Timothy Rodgers, 67, of Hempstead, alleges that at an Aug. 31 redistricting hearing in Mineola, he told the Nassau County Temporary Districting Advisory Commission that gerrymandering has left the county's communities of color with unequal representation. The next morning, Rodgers was fired from his $50,000-a-year job working for a town program run by one of the redistricting commissioners.

"The Town of Hempstead chose retribution over gun safety and free speech," said Jason Abelove, the Garden City attorney representing Rodgers in the complaint filed Oct. 3 in the Eastern District Court of New York. The lawsuit, which names the Town of Hempstead and Department of Occupational Resources Commissioner Eric Mallette as defendants, seeks $6 million in damages for violations of Rodgers' free speech rights under federal laws. 

Rodgers was one of two employees hired last November by EAC Inc., a nonprofit contracted by the town, to work on a New York State gun violence prevention grant administered by the Department of Occupational Resources at the HempsteadWorks Career Center, according to the complaint. While Rodgers said he was told weeks earlier that grant funding had been extended until March 2023, he was fired when he arrived for work at 9 a.m. Sept. 1. Abelove said his client was told by EAC's vocational services program director that the position was no longer being funded. In the complaint, Rodgers said the other anti-gun violence coordinator was allowed to remain in her job.

Rodgers, who identified himself as a member of the New Hempstead Democratic Club before he spoke at the redistricting hearing, said in the complaint his termination was political retaliation for his remarks. Mallette is one of five commissioners appointed by county Republicans to the bipartisan redistricting commission, which helps redraw the county's 19 legislative districts every decade.

At the hearing, Rodgers asked the commission to be "fair and equitable to those Nassau County citizens who historically have been disenfranchised of services and resources" in poorer and minority communities, according to a transcript. He noted that just two of the commissioners overseeing redistricting are Black, Mallette being one of them.

"The residents of Hempstead, Uniondale, Roosevelt, Freeport and Lakeview are being taxed at the same rate as their other Nassau neighbors, but because of past practices of packing and cracking these continue to decay," Rodgers told the commission, adding that the disparity is apparent when driving into those communities from neighboring white hamlets.

The complaint also alleges that the Village of Hempstead, a mostly Black and Hispanic community, has been intentionally split into three legislative districts.

Abelove, a former Democratic candidate for Hempstead Town supervisor, told Newsday that Mallette was not present when Rodgers' employment was terminated, but that he was his supervisor and they interacted regularly. He said Rodgers was never given any indication of poor job performance.

Greg Blower, a spokesperson for Hempstead Town, declined to comment on the allegations, saying the town has not yet received a notice of claim from Rodgers.

Mallette did not respond to telephone messages seeking comment.