LI lawyer sets up an Adams-Blakeman schmooze
Anyone who walked into the elegant Cipollini restaurant in Manhasset on Tuesday night might have recognized indicted Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams and GOP Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman seated at a table with one other man.
Many in political and legal circles would have easily recognized the third man, Howard Fensterman, 71, of Sands Point. His longtime law firm Abrams Fensterman LLP, with offices in Lake Success, is a major presence with a bipartisan mix of the politically connected on the payroll.
"Howard thought it would be a good idea for Bruce and the mayor to discuss public safety issues surrounding the issues of migrants and gangs. It was a very productive meeting," said a Fensterman spokesman.
Photos from the dinner date were published late Tuesday. They stirred rumors that the talk involved incoming President Donald Trump, who has denounced Adams’ federal prosecution on corruption charges. The speculation is that Trump might pardon Adams or have his nominee for U.S. attorney for the Eastern District, Joseph Nocella Jr., end the case. Meantime, Trump could need Adams’ help with his deportation program in New York.
Fensterman’s prominence is especially worth noting. Blakeman worked with the Abrams Fensterman firm for seven years and the two are reportedly close friends.
Fensterman has long specialized in health care law and has represented health facilities which sometimes set him on the opposing side of state regulators. He’s been on the state’s health planning council, and was chairman of the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency from 2004 to 2009.
Is Fensterman, a Democrat, relevant to current county politics? In a way.
He’s been one of the vice chairs of the judicial screening committee for the Nassau County Democrats. Also, an official said, the firm has done work for the Nassau University Medical Center, where the Blakeman-backed management is fighting with the Hochul administration over finances and corporate structure.
Last year, Fensterman penned an opinion piece for the Long Island Press that said, "It is time for the state to step up and provide the hospital the funds it requires to service those on Long Island who most need the medical care it provides." And, the law firm posts on its website a published piece by NUMC chief executive Meg Ryan boasting of the job her team has done and attacking those who criticize her stewardship as inadequate to turn around the hospital’s troubled finances. On this topic, Blakeman and Fensterman appear aligned.
On Tuesday night, a text message to Blakeman’s spokesman inviting comment on the dinner meeting went unreturned.
Sources said Fensterman is connected to Adams through an alum of his firm, Frank Carone, who served for a year as Adams' chief of staff at City Hall. Carone returned to Abrams Fensterman and then founded a consulting firm called Oaktree Solutions.
In the past, Fensterman served as finance chair for Andrew M. Cuomo when the latter was state attorney general and for Sen. Chuck Schumer. Fensterman also has been involved in a long list of philanthropies.
Fensterman has multiple links to Brooklyn. He’s the former counsel to the borough’s large Democratic organization. And Frank Seddio, its former chairman, worked for the firm as well.
At a time of partisan polarization, this little Brooklyn-Nassau cross-party tie remains. In America, even now, no visas are required to do business in multiple counties.
Columnist Dan Janison's opinions are his own.