Bruce Blakeman names Thomas Adams as Nassau County attorney
Nassau County-elect Bruce Blakeman has picked state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Adams, shown in 2016, as Nassau County attorney. Credit: Newsday File/Barry Sloan
Nassau County Executive-elect Bruce Blakeman has selected State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Adams to serve as Nassau County Attorney, installing a longtime Republican jurist in a key role in his administration.
Adams, 72, of Rockville Centre, is a former Nassau County administrative judge who oversaw more than 100 judges and 1,200 court employees.
Adams "not only has an excellent command of the law, but he has extremely good administrative skills," Blakeman told Newsday.
"In addition, when it comes to the law, he served as an associate justice of the appellate division, where you have to make determinations about issues concerning whether or not there was accordance with the law, and the decisions that judges made, whether there were errors," Blakeman said.
"So, he's got an extremely smart legal background and he also has superlative administrative skills, and basically he'll be running a law firm for the county," Blakeman said.
In a statement to Newsday, Adams said: "I thank County Executive-elect Blakeman for placing his trust in me to serve the residents of Nassau as County Attorney. I look forward to helping the County Executive-elect deliver on his pledges to move Nassau forward while protecting residents' wallets."
The County Attorney's office defends Nassau against lawsuits, including civil rights cases against police officers and property assessment challenges.
Adams's legal career spans four decades, beginning with a stint as an assistant district attorney in the Nassau County District Attorney's office.
He was elected subsequently to District Court and later to state Supreme Court.
In 2001, Republican Gov. George Pataki appointed Adams as an associate Justice of state Supreme Court's Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department.
Adams has presided over significant criminal and civil cases, including some involving Nassau County government.
In a 2018 ruling, Adams upheld an agreement with leaders of five county unions over millions of dollars in "longevity" pay.
Longevity pay rewards employees for their years of service, and some county employees said they were owed thousands of dollars in back pay.
The ruling upheld a "memorandum of agreement" that Rob Walker, the top aide to Republican County Executive Edward Mangano, made in 2017 with union leaders.
The administration of Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, a Democrat, challenged the ruling in 2018.
This year, an appellate court said an arbiter should decide the merit of the longevity pay cases, according to the county's 2021 financial document.
Asked about the longevity pay issue, Blakeman said he would seek Adams' advice on the subject before making a decision in the "best interest of the county … "
Scott Eidler covers Nassau County government and politics for Newsday. Scott has worked at Newsday since 2012 and previously covered municipal government and education.