Republican Town of North Hempstead District 4 town council candidate Jeffrey Bass charged this week that a campaign mailing sent out by his opponent, Anna Kaplan, falsely states that she has been endorsed by incumbent Town Councilwoman Maria-Christina Poons and Village of Great Neck Mayor Ralph Kreitzman.
“In speaking with me, they [Poons and Kreitzman] have never given Kaplan or her campaign permission to use their names on any campaign piece,” said Bass, a Village of Great Neck trustee who serves with Kreitzman. “Both the mayor and Poons were very, very adamant in their protest in the misuse of their names. It demonstrates a lack of integrity and misrepresenting facts is not a good way to start a career in government.”
“What does this say about her integrity and her ethics?” Bass continued. “Is this how she and her party are representing themselves? The real question is that is if they use these types of tactics during a campaign, it leads one to wonder what type of leadership would be conducted by Kaplan.”
The 4th District includes the villages of Roslyn, Roslyn Estates, Munsey Park, North Hills, Great Neck, Great Neck Gardens, Kensington, Kings Point, Thomaston and unincorporated areas of Manhasset and Great Neck.
Kaplan, who also sits on the board of trustees for the Great Neck Library, declined to comment on the accusation following a library board meeting Tuesday night.
“I find it inappropriate to comment on a campaign issue while at a library board meeting,” Kaplan told the Great Neck News.
Kaplan said she or members of her campaign would contact the newspaper with a statement the following day. No call was received.
Kreitzman, a Democrat, declined to comment to the Great Neck News at a village trustee meeting Tuesday night. After the meeting, a reporter for the Great Neck News waited by Kreitzman’s car at the back of Village Hall for comment, but Kreitzman took an alternate route out of the building and was driven home by his assistant Dan Small.
During an executive session called during the village meeting, the Great Neck News overheard Kreitzman say he did not authorize his photo to be used in Kaplan’s mailer and did not endorse her.
In a statement issued Wednesday, Small called the Great Neck News to say that Kreitzman had asked him to say that “In my capacity as the Mayor of the Village of Great Neck, I do not endorse any political candidates.”
Efforts to reach Poons were unavailing.
Bass said he personally spoke to Poons, a Democrat, and she “vehemently” denied she ever gave authorization to use her photo or endorse Kaplan.
Last week an 8 1/2 by 11 campaign mailing went out to 4th District residents, displaying photos of various officials with captions underneath that described the officials endorsing Kaplan. The North Hempstead Democratic Committee was listed as having sent the flyer.
The flyer displayed a photo of Poons and Kaplan with a caption reading, “Retiring councilwoman Kitty Poons endorses Anna Kaplan to succeed her on the town board.”
Another photo included Kreitzman standing with Kaplan and a caption reading, “Hon. Ralph Kreitzman is pleased to support Anna Kaplan.”
Bass said that he believes the mailing could be potential harmful to his campaign, since it puts out the wrong message to voters.
“This is terribly, terribly embarrassing for the mayor and damaging to me,” Bass said. “It gives the false impression that my mayor and Poons are endorsing her [Kaplan]. People who get mailings typically toss them out, but not everyone. There may be people who put two and two together. Some of them will say that this can’t be. Others will say that Bass is a trustee of Great Neck and his mayor is not endorsing his own trustee and that must be bad.”
Bass said his campaign has also been targeted by vandals who have torn or damaged his signs. He said he has replaced more than 60 of his own posters that have been torn down or vandalized.
“I had to replace one poster 12 times at Nuclear Cleaners, Bass said. “I saw signs for my opponents there and decided that fair is fair and was told I could place mine there as well. I’ve decided to give up replacing the poster and wait until a day or two before the election to replace it.”
Bass said that the problem with his posters and lawn signs seems to only be affecting the Republicans and his team and has been ongoing since September
“Our posters and lawn signs are being stolen, destroyed, mutilated, and even having them stolen off of private properties where we had permission to place them on,” Bass said. “I just think it’s terribly coincidental, that only the signs of the Democrats are remaining and remained unmarred to our knowledge, but it appears that the signs of the republicans are being stolen at such a high level of frequency.
Steve Markowitz, president of the Great Neck Democratic Club, said Bass is not alone in having posters and lawn signs destroyed.
“Half the signs disappear every night,” Markowitz said. “This year is just a continuation of past years and we’ve given up on complaining because it has not done any good. The signs have been defaced, written on or taken down. We’ve gotten calls from the Republicans asking for it to stop and I have put the word out not to touch any of the signs.”
Reach reporter Timothy Meyer by e-mail at meyerj.tim@gmail.com.
