Herricks hopefuls scuffle over letters

Richard Tedesco

The campaign between Jonai Singh and Jim Gounaris for a seat on the Herricks Board of Education took a nasty turn last week as Gounaris accused Singh’s camp of misrepresenting support for her candidacy from senior citizens and the Herricks Indo-US Community, a non-profit Indian American organizations.

“She’s trying to a make it appear as if she‘s getting all the support from the seniors in Herricks when she’s not,” Gounaris said. “The seniors don’t make an endorsement .”

Gounaris alleged that a letter sent to local newspapers this week by Herricks Senior Citizens, Inc., one of several senior citizens groups in the community, gave the impression that Herricks senior citizens were unified in their support for Singh for school board trustee. He said not all the people who signed the letter understood it was an endorsement of Singh.

Ann Forster, director of the Herricks Senior Citizens, said she had clearly explained to all those who signed that the letter was an endorsement for Singh’s school board candidacy.

Singh said the letters were signed by individual seniors and members of the Herricks Indo-US groups and did not purport to represent endorsements from any community groups.

Singh said she is “very pleased that a number of leaders and members of the Herricks Senior Center are supporting my candidacy and have written a letter to the community about my efforts on behalf of senior citizens in our school district. I would note that the letter was signed individually by every one of the seniors who endorsed me.”

Gounaris also alleged that a letter from 18 members of the Herricks Indo-US group printed recently in the New Hyde Park Herald Courier and the Williston Times gave the impression that the organization endorsed Singh.

Singh is a former co-president of the Herricks Indo-US Community.

“She is attempting to say that she has the support of the Herricks Indo-US members, and she does not,” Gounaris said.

Gounaris said that as a non-profit organization, the Herricks Indo-US would be in violation of its charter if it endorsed any candidates for public office. And he suggested that the Singh and her supporters are not running a fair campaign.

“I’m just telling you who’s trying to play by the rules and they are not,” Gounaris said.

Singh slammed Gounaris for running a negative campaign against her.

“Unfortunately this is the type of negativism that many in the community have come to expect from my opponent,” she said.

Singh dismissed the suggestion that there was anything underhanded about any representations of support for her.

“As former president of Herricks Indo US Community, it was yet another honor to receive an endorsement from most of the executive board members of that group, as individuals,” Singh said. “Anyone who has worked with Herricks Indo-US Community knows that it is a not-for-profit corporation and therefore has never made political endorsements as an organization.”

Both candidates are high profile community activitists who regularly attend school board meetings.

Singh is co-president of the Herricks Council of the PTAs and has been a liaison between the PTAs and the seniors over the past several years. She is running on a ticket with Christine Turner, Herricks school board president, who is running unopposed for her position.

Gounaris is a member of the Herricks Community Center Advisory Board.

Both candidates have children attending schools in the Herricks district.

The two are competing for the seat currently held by Williston Park Mayor Paul Ehrbar, who said he decided to not run because of scheduling conflicts with his mayoral responsibilities. Ehrbar encouraged Singh to run for the seat and has endorsed Singh as someone who would be an “independent voice” for the school district.

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