Candidates for Nassau county executive, district attorney make final push
Nassau County Executive Laura Curran and Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman on Sunday closed out an expensive and often contentious campaign, attacking each other's records on taxes, public safety, and truthfulness.
In making one of her final appeals to voters, Curran, a first-term Democrat, stood Sunday in a Valley Stream field office with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, and State Attorney General Letitia James.
The appearance in Valley Stream marked the first to feature Hochul and James since James' announcement Friday of a run for governor in 2022. Hochul, who become governor in August after former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo resigned, is running for a full term.
Blakeman, 66, of Atlantic Beach, is a member of the Hempstead Town Council and former presiding officer of the Nassau County Legislature. On Sunday, he repeated the primary message of his campaign by denouncing Curran's program to reassess more than 385,000 residential homes as burdensome to many taxpayers.
Curran, 53, of Baldwin, touted herself as the sole candidate with law enforcement backing and said she helped keep Nassau residents safe during her term.
"What does Democratic leadership look like? I'll tell you what it looks like. It means that we are the safest community in America for two years in a row," she said, referring to a designation in 2020 and 2021 by U.S. News & World Report.
"Don't believe the fake news from my opponent. I will just remind you I am the only candidate in my race with law enforcement endorsement," she told supporters.
Republican candidates held a Zoom call Sunday from Freeport with about 800 supporters before campaigning in a nearby church.
Blakeman said: "Take a look at your tax bill, your school tax bill, if your taxes went up you need me to fix the broken reassessment." He added, "My message is that we will fix the broken reassessment, cut county taxes and we will work with our new District Attorney Anne Donnelly to make this a safer neighborhood."
Blakeman referred to the Republican candidate for the open Nassau District Attorney seat, Anne Donnelly. The 32-year veteran of the office is running against State Sen. Todd Kaminsky (D-Long Beach), a former federal prosecutor who oversaw high-profile corruption cases with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Curran has also run on her record of helping residents navigate through the coronavirus pandemic, Nassau's high vaccination rate, low crime rates, and successive budget surpluses.
Blakeman has attempted to make Curran's reassessment program the sole focus of his campaign and has tried to paint the county as having a crime problem.
Nassau GOP Chairman Joseph Cairo pushed voters to elect Blakeman and Donnelly, referencing the reassessment and state bail reform law that went into effect in 2020.
Donnelly, a former deputy bureau chief of the organized crime and rackets bureau in the Nassau district attorney's office, said: "I hope people realize that being a career prosecutor gives you a different insight into the district attorney’s office.
The State Legislature enacted bail reform in 2019 as part of the state budget. The reforms went into effect in 2020 and eliminated cash bail for most misdemeanors and nonviolent crimes.
Kaminsky sat on the legislative committee that reported the bail bill to the full Senate. He voted for the state budget.
But he has since spoken out against the bill and pushed for stricter reforms.
"It’s all about reassessment, the Democrats increasing taxes and of course the absurd get-out-of-jail free law that was authored by Todd Kaminsky," Cairo said on why voters should vote for Blakeman and Donnelly.
Kaminsky has accused Donnelly of misrepresenting his record. Donnelly and Republicans have referenced a video of Deputy Majority Leader, State Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) thanking Kaminsky after the bail reform law passed, saying Kaminsky was putting "words on the paper to get this bail law done."
Kaminsky on Sunday said: "The choice Tuesday is clear."
"We have to pick between honesty, integrity, justice and fairness [versus] dishonesty and somebody who does not have the record to do this job," he said. "I will work hard for you every day and keep you safe to protect your tax dollars and make sure that we have a fair justice system."
Scott Eidler is a deputy editor for the towns department at Newsday. Scott has worked at Newsday since 2012 and previously covered municipal government and education.
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