Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, with Jon Schneider, a former...

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, with Jon Schneider, a former political aide, outside the Suffolk County Legislature in Hauppauge on Jan. 3, 2012. Credit: Ed Betz

Jon Schneider, a former top political aide to Democratic Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, has become a communications strategist for the county’s largest union, the 6,000-member Association of Municipal Employees.

Schneider, who started Sept. 1, will work part time for AME, consulting as well as taking on other private clients and continuing part-time work for Long Island University’s Global Institute, headed by former Democratic Rep. Steve Israel.

Dan Levler, Suffolk AME president, said Schneider’s “extensive experience ... brings a unique skill set that will help drive our communication goals.” The union declined to say how much Schneider is being paid.

Schneider’s hiring comes as the union has been without a contract for nearly 20 months.

The AME has boosted its political coffers in recent months, and its political action committee has $577,000. Its People for Political Responsibility committee, which can make unlimited direct political expenditures as long as it does not coordinate with candidates, has $361,000.

Schneider, 40, worked for Bellone from 2012 to 2017 as a deputy county executive. Earlier, he worked as an aide to former Rep. Tim Bishop (D-Southampton), and in 2012 served as Brookhaven Democratic chairman.

Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled the name of Dan Levler, president of the Suffolk County Association of Municipal Employees.

Suffolk Police Officer David Mascarella is back on the job after causing a 2020 crash that severely injured Riordan Cavooris, then 2. NewsdayTV's Andrew Ehinger and Newsday investigative reporter Paul LaRocco have the story. Credit: Newsday/Kendall Rodriguez; Jeffrey Basinger, Ed Quinn, Barry Sloan; File Footage; Photo Credit: Joseph C. Sperber; Patrick McMullan via Getty Image; SCPD; Stony Brook University Hospital

'It's disappointing and it's unfortunate' Suffolk Police Officer David Mascarella is back on the job after causing a 2020 crash that severely injured Riordan Cavooris, then 2. NewsdayTV's Andrew Ehinger and Newsday investigative reporter Paul LaRocco have the story.

Suffolk Police Officer David Mascarella is back on the job after causing a 2020 crash that severely injured Riordan Cavooris, then 2. NewsdayTV's Andrew Ehinger and Newsday investigative reporter Paul LaRocco have the story. Credit: Newsday/Kendall Rodriguez; Jeffrey Basinger, Ed Quinn, Barry Sloan; File Footage; Photo Credit: Joseph C. Sperber; Patrick McMullan via Getty Image; SCPD; Stony Brook University Hospital

'It's disappointing and it's unfortunate' Suffolk Police Officer David Mascarella is back on the job after causing a 2020 crash that severely injured Riordan Cavooris, then 2. NewsdayTV's Andrew Ehinger and Newsday investigative reporter Paul LaRocco have the story.

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