Blakeman's out-Landa-ish employee

Daily Point

LI nursing home big’s son on Blakeman payroll

On Long Island, the line between shrill, barbed national politics and local government roles sometimes can seem blurred to a casual observer.

Consider Sheya Landa, a staffer for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who maintains a highly active, partisan Twitter account in which he likened President Joe Biden this week to totalitarian dictators: “People who’ve had their political opponents arrested: Mao. Stalin. Mussolini. Castro. Hitler. Biden. Fact.”

In support of indicted former President Donald Trump, with whom Landa is pictured in a photo posted on his account profile, Landa tweeted Thursday: “I’m voting for the political prisoner because we need to restore justice in America!” (Trump is not being held.) Elsewhere, Landa labels as “Shameful!” a tweet by former Vice President Mike Pence who said Trump’s indictment reminds everyone that “anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be President of the United States.” And, Landa reposted a message from convicted-and-pardoned Trump adviser Roger Stone: “I predict that Michelle Obama will be the Democrat Party Nominee for President in 2024.”

When asked by The Point if Landa’s postings necessarily represent the views of Blakeman, who employs him, county spokesman Christopher Boyle texted only: “The administration supports the right of its employees to exercise free speech.”

Landa, 33, joined the Blakeman administration last year after it began. He’s a son of nursing home magnate Benjamin Landa, longtime chief executive of SentosaCare, who is among the subjects of a widely publicized lawsuit by the office of state Attorney General Tish James over allegedly negligent and deceptive administration of the Cold Spring Hills Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Woodbury.

State filings show Benjamin Landa of Lawrence — whose daughter Esther Farkovits is also a respondent in James’ civil action — contributed a combined total of $10,000 to Blakeman’s county campaign; the first $5,000 was listed on April 4, 2021, and the second $5,000 on Jan. 25, 2022. He also contributed $25,000 last year to the Nassau County Republican Committee. Benjamin Landa and his family members have contributed over the years to top Democrats as well, including former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, Sen. Chuck Schumer, and even Attorney General James — who received $2,500 from Sheya Landa on Dec. 3, 2019.

Asked about Landa’s duties, Blakeman spokesman Boyle said he is a part-time press assistant, paid $35 per hour. The total number of hours for which he’s filed this year and last was not immediately available. Landa’s Twitter account, however, lists him as “senior advisor” to Blakeman. And a business card describes Landa as “special assistant” in the county executive’s Mineola office.

Landa posted a photo of that card on Twitter on April 4 of last year. “I am happy to announce that it is now official that I am the special assistant to @NassauExec.,” he said at the time. “I can assure you that he is working tirelessly on behalf of all his residents to make this county the best county to live and work in!!” There was no immediate explanation for the reported differences in title.

Landa has even traded barbs with pro-Trump fabulist Rep. George Santos on Twitter. Santos in June said, “I personally can’t stand him or his family … Don’t get me started on his Boss,” to which Landa replied: “Good to know that you hate me and my family when you haven’t even had one conversation with me or my dad. Grow up dude!”

— Dan Janison dan.janison@newsday.com

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