Laura Gillen for New York's 4th Congressional District

The 4th Congressional District lies almost entirely in the Town of Hempstead. The local geography is a potent decoder of a contest that could determine control of the House of Representatives. After all, all politics is local.

This swath of Nassau County captures the dominant political currents of 2024. Will protecting reproductive freedom be a catalyst for suburban women and independents? Are immigration and border security hitting hard because of New York City's struggle to handle an influx of migrants? Will Kamala Harris at the top of the Democratic ticket spur high turnout from the district's considerable concentration of minority and Asian voters? Do Orthodox and conservative Jewish voters further consolidate behind Donald Trump amid the reverberations from Oct. 7?

All are factors. But in the end, the race could be a barometer of voters' tolerance of the culture of brazen nepotism in Hempstead, the heart of the Nassau County Republican machine.

Republican incumbent Anthony P. D'Esposito, 42, of Island Park, is defending his seat in a rematch with attorney Laura A. Gillen, 55, of Rockville Centre. The race is also another chapter in Gillen's rage against the patronage and crony-contract machine, which led to her startling win in  2017 as town supervisor, the first Democrat to hold the job in more than century.

STAIN OF NEPOTISM

Gillen, who ran then on an anti-patronage, anti-corruption campaign, had good reason to go after nepotism. Earlier that year, D'Esposito was appointed to a seat on the town council while on unpaid leave as an NYPD detective. Soon, he garnered another gig, working full time at the honeypot of patronage, the Nassau County Board of Elections, specializing in security assessments of polling areas. The $100,000 salary for that job was in addition to the $71,000 he was collecting as a councilman.

Here is what the editorial board wrote at the time:

"This week in the Town of Hempstead, Councilman Anthony D’Esposito voted to give a raise to his mother, Carmen D’Esposito, a highway department secretary who will earn $88,939 a year. That’s nice work, and the D’Espositos get lots of it. Anthony’s brother, Timothy D’Esposito, got a salary of $92,411 in 2016 as a captain in the town Department of Conservation and Waterways. Anthony’s sister-in-law, Danielle D’Esposito, had a 2016 salary of $52,468 as a tax clerk. And Timothy and Anthony’s dad, Stephen D’Esposito, was chief of staff for Supervisor Anthony Santino, earning $169,000 a year."

The family members were all hired before D'Esposito joined the town board, which makes him the beneficiary of nepotism. After he won election to the House in 2022, D'Esposito took the Hempstead culture to the federal level, becoming a benefactor. As The New York Times revealed, D'Esposito put the daughter of someone described as his longtime fiancee on his congressional payroll as a staffer in his local district office a salary of $3,800 a month. Soon after, he hired part-time at $2,000 monthly another woman with whom he was in a relationship. Turns out she also had a full-time job with the town. Was the congressional position a no-show job? If not, D'Esposito had working in his district office both the daughter of the woman he was engaged to and the woman he was currently befriending.

It was an echo of 2017 when D'Esposito, newly on the town council, placed that same fiancee and her son on the Village of East Rockaway payroll.

In his editorial board endorsement interview, D'Esposito said he did nothing wrong: "There was absolutely no violation of ethics in either hiring."

Asked whether he would do it again, he replied, "If there's no ethics violations, there's absolutely no issue."

That's disqualifying.

Ironically, no matter the outcome of the House race, D'Esposito is considered the likely GOP candidate for Hempstead supervisor next year if three-term officeholder Don Clavin opts for a judgeship instead. Asked about his intentions, D'Esposito said, "My focus is on the job that I have."

POLICY GOALS

Unlike some GOP candidates, D'Esposito rightly acknowledges that mass deportation of migrants is unrealistic; he believes the focus should be on removing those who break the law. And he was part of a caucus of moderate Republicans who stopped some of their conference's more extreme ideas, like gutting Amtrak funding and ending the sale of mifepristone abortion pills via retail pharmacies or by mail.

To deal with flooding, a problem in his coastal district, D'Esposito has a creative idea about the federal government and town joining to create special taxing districts for those who live on canals to pay for improved bulkheads.

Gillen, who served one term as supervisor, is smart, tenacious and relentless in pursuit of her goals. She wants the southern border closed, a speedier determination of asylum claims, and an overhaul to the immigration system that would encourage people to apply in their home nations for legal status to come here. She wants the federal government to reimburse New York for the cost of its migrant relief program.

Gillen contends the federal government should get more involved with flood insurance programs and wants more funding for water quality improvements, especially in areas of the district with cancer clusters. She wants tougher negotiations with drug companies to lower prescription drugs. Gillen would be a fierce advocate for restoring the IRS deduction for state and local taxes.

We said two years ago that Gillen was the best choice in the 4th District and we stand by that recommendation.

Newsday's editorial board endorses Gillen.