Blakeman commutes to the NYC limelight
Nassau County Executive Bruce A. Blakeman, veterans, first responders, and other elected officials hold a press conference and rally in support of U.S. Marine and Long Islander Daniel Penny, Wednesday, May 24, 2023, in New York. Credit: Corey Sipkin
More than three weeks have passed since Jordan Neely, a longtime street performer who had been sporadically violent for years, died on an F train after a chokehold by Daniel Penny, a Marine veteran from West Islip. On Wednesday, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman brought the trappings of his out-of-town office into the personal and partisan posturing that has followed.
As a political event, it was a strange slice of Mineola-in-Manhattan on a sunny spring day. Blakeman in blue pinstripes stepped up to his official Nassau County Executive podium — planted by county-paid aides in a paved area of Collect Pond Park, not far from the cluster of courthouses on Centre Street. He then delivered a speech full of adulation for a Suffolk County resident who’s charged with second-degree manslaughter in the New York City subway.
“Why am I here today as the Nassau County executive? I’m here because every day, tens of thousands of Nassau County residents commute to New York City, to do jobs, to explore entertainment … I’m worried about our Nassau County residents,” Blakeman said. “Here we have Daniel Penny, a good Samaritan being prosecuted for coming to the aid of his fellow Americans who were riding the subway in a peaceful manner.”
He said the deceased Neely had been arrested 42 times. Even before the road show began, a dozen or so counterdemonstrators, some with signs, called and chanted for “justice for Jordan Neely.” In one expletive-laden rant, someone essentially told Blakeman to return to Long Island.
Blakeman unloaded on Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for charging Penny with anything. Slamming Bragg from afar is a safe and tested position for any Long Island Republican. Another surefire way to score points with the base is to play up the veteran angle. With 35 or so rally participants behind him, Blakeman joined in a rendition of the Marine Corps hymn.
Back home, Blakeman has been in office less than a year-and-a-half with high-profile problems like unfixed property tax assessments to deal with. Still, you might get the impression he’s in a perpetual state of campaigning.
On Tuesday, he traveled to Albany — with the usual county police escort — for an event sponsored by Nassau GOP Chairman Joe Cairo known as “Nassau night” at the Renaissance Hotel, held annually before the pandemic. Legislators from Nassau and Suffolk and other regions were on hand, along with lobbyists, Town of Hempstead Supervisor Don Clavin, uniformed union representatives, and State Republican Chairman Ed Cox.
Blakeman might have gone in any case, but insiders wonder whether Blakeman might look to challenge Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand next year. That's all speculation at this point.
One interesting contrast at the rally Wednesday: New York City Council member Vickie Paladino of Queens, a Republican and former booster of fabulist Rep. George Santos — she’s since expressed regret for that — also spoke as an advocate for Penny. But she showed notably more grace and savvy — if only by not bashing the deceased.
“It’s sad for Mr. Neely to have been failed by the system who should have been gotten off the streets and gotten the mental services that he deserved and desperately needed,” she said. “The system failed Neely and the system better not fail Penny. He better get the trial he deserves. His instincts were to protect and defend.”
Paladino — unlike Blakeman — didn’t sound like she was giving an us-versus-them campaign speech.
Columnist Dan Janison's opinions are his own.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
