Village of Great Neck Trustee Jeffrey Bass has a message for Democrats who currently dominate politics in the Town of North Hempstead: “We mean business.”
Bass is the Republican candidate for the town board’s 4th District seat being vacated by Councilwoman Maria-Christina Poons. He will go head to head Nov. 8 against fellow Great Neck resident Anna Kaplan, a member of the Town of North Hempstead Board of Zoning Appeals and Great Neck Library Board of Trustees.
The 62-year-old chief executive officer of Executive Strategies, a strategic advisor to business owners and executive management, is convinced that the time is ripe for big Republican wins in the Town of North Hempstead.
“These people are incapable of running the town government in an effective, efficient matter, without causing what could be tremendous financial hardship for the residents today and in the future,” Bass said, of the Town Board. “It’s time to put the right people in the right seats on the bus, and I believe that’s who we have running.”
The 4th District includes the villages of Roslyn, Roslyn Estates, Munsey Park, North Hills, Great Neck Gardens, Kensington, Kings Point, Thomaston, and the unincorporated areas of Manhasset and Great Neck, including Great Neck Gardens and Allenwood.
Bass served on both the Village of Great Neck’s Planning Board and Board of Zoning Appeals before being elected trustee four years ago. He is the chairman of the Long Island Capital Alliance, a member of the Manhasset Bay Protection Committee, and on the Board of Governors for the American Jewish Committee.
He was previously executive vice president of the Great Neck Community Fund, is a founder of the Great Neck Arts Center and was a member of its executive board, and worked for the New York City Mayor Ed Koch administration.
A father of two and grandfather of one, Bass has been married for 38 years.
A lifelong “very fiscally conservative” Democrat, he jumped ship last year, joining the Republicans in an unsuccessful bid for receiver of taxes. The receiver is responsible for sending property tax notices on behalf of the town, collecting and distributing money. Bass ran on a platform of transforming the position into one that is “much more robust.”
If elected to the town board, he said he would increase transparency, reduce indebtedness, and inspire intelligent debate within the town board.
“The Town of North Hempstead is the most indebted town in the entire state,” he said. “If I am elected, of course I will work as a professional with my colleagues. However, I am not going to be a rubber stamp. I am not someone who will vote for something without thoroughly questioning it, without being a devil’s advocate, and without looking at whatever is before me.
He said he “questions the wisdom” of purchasing the Roslyn Country Club, fighting County Comptroller George Maragos over a proposed audit of the Clinton G. Martin Park District, and “bonding every single project, almost every single program, for years and years.”
Great Neck Democratic Club President Steven Markowitz, who knows Bass as a friend and neighbor, made light of the Republican’s chances. He said the building department is “above reproach right now” and promised the park audit would come to nothing.
“There have not been any significant tax increases over the last couple of years, not are there any tax increases planned,” Markowitz said. “The programs are very well run. I struggle to figure out what Republicans are going to be running on. What issues does Jeff Bass have to run against Anna Kaplan?”
A source within the Democratic party said Kaplan’s success in November will depend on Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman.
“This election is all about Jon Kaiman versus [Republican candidate] Lee Tu,” the source said. “The Republicans are going to throw everything they can at Jon Kaiman to try and throw him off.”
Town of North Hempstead Republican Chair Frank Moroney puts Bass’ chances at “better than good,” due to the Democrat’s record of “economic arrogance” and “economic incompetence.”
“The current administration and its predecessors have been in power for 20 years. The tax rate and debt rate has ballooned and skyrocketed,” he said. “The debt that has just been run up on the last year or so is $300 million. These people need their credit cards cut up.”
