NIFA board adds another Democratic overseer
Democrat Rory Lancman was appointed director and vice chairman of the NIFA board. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Daily Point
Lancman sees guarding Nassau taxpayers' interests as essential
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman has long suggested that the county no longer needs the Nassau Interim Finance Authority watching over the county’s finances.
And he has famously told Gov. Kathy Hochul to “stay out of Long Island.”
But with Hochul’s latest appointment to the NIFA board, it doesn’t seem Blakeman is going to get either of those requests filled anytime soon.
Hochul has appointed Democrat Rory Lancman as director and vice chairman of the NIFA board. Lancman fills a seat that’s been open since the end of 2022, when Sylvia Cabana resigned after being elected a Family Court judge.
Lancman, a former state assemblyman and New York City councilman, moved to Great Neck in late 2021 and now presides over the Great Neck Library board. He recently finished a stint as executive director of the state legislative commission on the future of the Long Island Power Authority and, under former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, served as special counsel for ratepayer protection.
Lancman participated in his first NIFA meeting Tuesday night. And while that gathering wasn’t controversial — the board was mostly approving contracts — Lancman told The Point he plans to bring a critical eye to Nassau County finances.
“I think all of us should be very concerned that some of the things that happened in the late '90s that prompted the establishment of NIFA might be coming back,” Lancman said, pointing to the Nassau University Medical Center as an example. “Nassau County requires serious governance … and the challenge of ensuring that our money is spent wisely and with an eye to the long term is something that I take very seriously.”
Lancman, who called NIFA “essential,” said he “absolutely” sees a continued role for NIFA and does not think it is time to end the county’s control period.
“It’s very easy for government to lose its way and become overly politicized,” Lancman said. “It can find itself very quickly in deep financial trouble if it doesn’t take governance seriously … NIFA is essential to Nassau County’s long-term well being and to guarding all of our interests as taxpayers.”
NIFA chairman Richard Kessel told The Point that Lancman would be a “great asset” to the board, citing Lancman’s previous government experience. And Lancman noted that he hopes to use that experience in his work with the authority.
“I don’t need to see my name on a ballot anymore to understand I could be contributing in a very significant way,” Lancman said. “But I definitely intend to be a very active member of the NIFA board — and ensure that NIFA very robustly exercises its responsibility.”
— Randi F. Marshall randi.marshall@newsday.com
Pencil Point
None of the above
Credit: Creators.com/Gary Markstein
For more cartoons, visit www.newsday.com/nationalcartoons
Final Point
Matt Davies makes the wall at 11 Downing
Left, Newsday cartoonist Matt Davies' cartoon of former British Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Sajid Javid, which hangs at 11 Downing St., London, the official residence of the chancellor, and right, Javid and his wife Laura below the cartoon, top right, on a stairwell at the chancellor's residence. Credit: Newsday / Matt Davies, Roselyne Renel
As a native of the U.K., historic land of storied public rituals, one of my favorite British political traditions is the one where the chancellor of the exchequer gets to hang a political cartoon in the grand stairwell of Number 11 Downing Street, the official residence of the chancellor, to commemorate time spent in the second-highest office in the United Kingdom.
Sir Sajid Javid, who was the chancellor of the exchequer under former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, is also a family friend. Not being enamored of the existing U.K. political cartoons drawn about his tenure, he asked me if I would create something acknowledging that he was, in his words, “the first chancellor that was of a humble, working-class immigrant background.”
Born in the U.K. to Pakistani parents, Javid grew up above the family’s shop in Bristol. While working under Johnson, he was assigned living quarters in the flat above the Number 10 offices, a touching irony that led him and me to create the cartoon depicted. The final framed piece was hung on the wall among the works of famous British political cartoonists last Wednesday, just in the nick of time, a day before the new Labour government arrived via a historic landslide election.
Now the cartoon will hang in perpetuity honoring its subject — no matter who holds the irascible reins of British power.
— Matt Davies matt.davies@newsday.com
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