Blakeman, Hochul all elbows at breakfast

Daily Point

A preview of election battles to come at the LIA?

The Long Island Association’s annual State of the Region breakfast each January is usually a staid, nonpartisan moment of kumbaya between county executives and other elected officials.

But at what attendees called a “wild” and “surreal” breakfast on Friday, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and Gov. Kathy Hochul took off the gloves — in what might be a sign of political battles to come.

The first salvo came from Blakeman.

During a panel discussion with Blakeman, newly inaugurated Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine and former Rep. Pete King, LIA chief executive Matt Cohen asked Blakeman what was on his “Christmas and Hanukkah wish list” from New York State.

“Stay out of Long Island,” Blakeman said to some laughter and murmurs of surprise.

Cohen tried again, asking for a “positive” wish list.

“We can work on a lot of things together.. I would like to work with Gov. Hochul on those things,” Blakeman said. “But as I said, recent events indicate a hostility toward the suburbs.”

Blakeman’s comments fueled the already increasing speculation that Blakeman may be eyeing a higher office — perhaps to run against Hochul in 2026.

“Did Blakeman all but declare for governor today at the LIA?” one longtime Republican operative said. “Wow.”

That, said the guest, “sends a power message that [the] GOP is aligned against her. Not subtle.”

The Republican-filled panel was sandwiched between addresses from two Democrats: U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who kicked off the program emphasizing the need for bipartisanship, and Hochul, who closed the program.

“Two of my favorite county executives are in the room,” Hochul said to laughs. “Bruce Blakeman — I walked in, I hear somebody doesn’t want New York on Long Island, I was ready to walk off the stage right then. You don’t want me to take all the money with me, though, right?”

“No,” voices from the crowd shouted.

“Bruce, I’m with Long Island because New York cares about Long Island immensely,” Hochul added. “Nothing will keep me away from Long Island.”

But Blakeman had already left the room — walking out across the middle of the room before her speech began. Romaine stayed — but he too left — out a side exit — before Hochul finished.

Hochul, meanwhile, got political and wasn’t backing down, returning to a topic Blakeman had highlighted: Housing.

“Can we have an honest conversation about housing?” Hochul said. “What I mean is… no more silly ads and pictures showing skyscrapers next to a little, tiny house in the neighborhood. You know that’s not happening.”

The Blakeman-Hochul war of words came at the end of an event , in which the GOP county executives applauded party leaders Joe Cairo and Jesse Garcia — names you don’t usually hear in a room full of business executives — and where King gave a shout-out to Republican congressional candidate Mazi Melesa Pilip. Romaine took a moment to pitch the plans for Midway Crossing at the Ronkonkoma Hub; Blakeman took his time to pitch a casino resort at the Nassau Hub.

“I can’t see the state not approving our license because if it’s decided on the merits, we will have the best application in the state,” Blakeman said.

But if Blakeman’s wish is for the state to leave Long Island alone, perhaps a casino won’t be on Long Island’s gift list after all.

— Randi F. Marshall randi.marshall@newsday.com

Pencil Point

The Big One

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Final Point

An oddity to phase out odd-year races

A previously unheard-of three-year term for both of Long Island’s county executives is coming this decade. Both will mark unique one-time scenarios. Their purpose is to adjust election calendars to a new law mandating most local races — outside cities — take place in even years.

How it will affect the career plans of either Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine, who took office this week, or Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, 68, who’s halfway into his four-year term, is highly speculative.

If Blakeman, a Republican, seeks reelection he can still do so next year, but if he wants a third term, he’d be up again in 2028 rather than 2029 as would have been the case before Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the changeover last month.

That might not matter to Blakeman, especially if he has bigger plans and runs for governor in 2026 as GOP insiders expect. This even-year change, which state Democratic chairman Jay Jacobs pushed as a way to boost his party’s turnout in down-ballot races, was opposed by county officials across the state. Blakeman found the law a handy point of criticism as he slammed Hochul Friday during a Long Island Association gathering.

“They are interjecting themselves in our local elections by changing the local elections from odd years to even years,” Blakeman complained. “Now why are they doing that? It’s a cynical, political play to try and elect more Democrats rather than talk about issues that are local in nature that won’t get drowned out in the gubernatorial or presidential election with national and state issues.”

For Romaine, 77, who took office on New Year’s Day, it works this way: He serves through 2027. The following term for the county executive, whether he runs again or not, lasts only through 2030. The winner that year serves through 2034.

Romaine spokesman Michael Martino told The Point with due dryness when asked about it Friday: “The county executive is in his first week in office. He is not focused on 2030.”

Martino added that Romaine “does not support the law change. It negatively impacts local elections and drowns out the issues that are important to the quality of life of our communities.”

— Dan Janison dan.janison@newsday.com

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