Republican candidate Lisa Benjamin charged last week that Nassau County Legislator Ellen Birnbaum, her opponent in the race for the Legislature’s 10th District seat, has been unable to properly perform her duties as county legislator because of her removal from all county committees and the Democratic caucus.
“If you go on the main page of Nassau County Legislature, you see the mission statement is ‘our legislators serve on committees to serve you,’” Benjamin said. “She doesn’t serve on any committees to serve anybody. She’s not doing her job. She’s not allowed to do her job. She’s not permitted to do her job. So we’re paying her to do what?”
Nassau County Minority Leader Kevan Abrahams stripped Birnbaum last year of her committee assignments, banned her from the minority and Democratic caucus and removed one of her staff members from her office after she allegedly made racially offensive remarks about the Yes We Can Community Center in New Cassel. Abrahams was joined by a wide array of Democratic officials in his call for Birnbaum’s resignation, including North Hempstead Town Supervisor Judi Bosworth, Birnbaum’s predecessor in the 10th district.
In an interview with Blank Slate Media, Birnbaum said she was back in good standing with the Democratic party and was going to be restored to her committees as well as the caucus.
“The Minority Leader and I met and I am being restored to the caucus and committees,” Birnbaum said. “I’m being told it’s all back. I’m back in good graces with the party. Everything is fine and has passed.”
The Democratic party did not name the committees she would be on, but would announce them soon, she added.
Lauren Corcoran-Doolin, director of Communications for the Nassau County Democratic Legislature Minority, confirmed Birnbaum’s reinstatement to the Democratic caucus and committees.
Birnbaum was sworn in to her first term as a Nassau County Legislator of the 10th District, which includes Great Neck, Herricks, North Hills, North New Hyde Park and Searingtown/Albertson, by U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer in January 2014.
Benjamin, who is a retired technology director from the North Shore Hebrew Academy, said Birnbaum’s comments irked her knowing they came from a public official.
“Last year, she made an announcement at the New Cassel opening of the public center. She made derogatory comments about African-Americans and how she would never live in that neighborhood. That got me,” Benjamin said. “She’s a public official. She shouldn’t feel that way but she certainly shouldn’t speak that way.”
Robert Troiano, vice chair of the Town of North Hempstead Democratic Committee, said at a May 19 rally calling on Birnbaum to resign that “a collective recollection” of people who heard Birnbaum was that the freshman legislator said “Why would anyone want to go there? It’s a bad neighborhood. It’s a ghetto. It’s full of those black people.” And, later, “all [African-Americans] want to do is play basketball.”
Birnbaum denied using the word “ghetto” and said she was commenting on the financial situation on the center.
“It is a wonderful center. It has been utilized. Unfortunately at the time, I was commenting about the financial status of it,” Birnbaum said in an interview with Blank Slate Media. “I think the neighborhood is a very diverse community and a very important structure for the community. I believe that people really are using it and enjoying what it has.”
Benjamin said Birnbaum’s inability to perform her job was “igniting” her passions for running for the seat.
“Can she still go out and advocate? Absolutely. I’m not saying she doesn’t. I’m not saying she did a bad job. I think she did a lot of good things,” Benjamin said. “But I am saying in this regard, it is unfair for taxpayers to be paying for her to not be able to do her job which she is being paid to do.”
Birnbaum said although she lost her committee assignments and was barred from the Democratic caucus she was still heavily involved with what was going on in the county Legislature.
“I have sat in on every committee meeting since day one as a legislator. I wasn’t a member of a specific committee but I’ve been to every committee meeting and have listened and observed and spoken to people and now my committees are being restored,” said Birnbaum, adding that she worked full time as a legislator. “I did more than my share since I went to every committee meeting, even the ones I haven’t been on before.”
Prior to her election as county legislator, Birnbaum, a Great Neck resident, served as the director of the Office of Intermunicipal Coordination for the Town of North Hempstead where she worked for 17 years.
She said her experience and successes in government are strong reasons why she should be re-elected.
“My experience working in government is valuable. I was director of Intermunicipal Coordination for years at the Town of North Hempstead. I know how to work with other municipalities,” Birnbaum said. “In district 10, there are 10 villages, several water districts, several fire districts. I know how to deal with people to work with economies of scale to make government work more efficiently.”
Birnbaum added that she was able to get nine public use programs for districts in her jurisdiction approved by the county executive’s office for $300,000.
Contrary to Birnbaum’s extensive government experience, Benjamin has never served in any political office.
Her only experience was attending county Legislature meetings with her husband, Jeffrey Benjamin, a consumer fraud lawyer in Queens, when he was running for town councilman two years ago, she said.
Although she is a Republican, Benjamin criticized the handling of the county’s budget and said Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano’s proposal to raise property taxes is not the answer to balancing the budget, unless the only other option was to cut programs necessary to the public.
“I do not agree with the raising of taxes even though Mangano is in my party because there is a lot of money being wastefully spent,” she said. “One big example, patronage contracts under $25,000 do not have any oversight as of right now. They totaled over 9 million in money spent.”
Under current policy, the county Legislature is not required to vote for approval on checks under $25,000.
Acting District Attorney Madeline Singas has called for a reform of this policy to include background checks.
Birnbaum agreed with Singas’ call to reform.
“There has to be more scrutinization of it. I do think that $25,000 is not the right number, it should be lower than that,” Birnbaum said. “I am not sure what it should be because there are so many contracts that the county deals with but I think this was a warning signal that anybody who wants to do business with the county has to be forthcoming and disclose whether they used a lobbyist and what their backgrounds are.”
She added that the debt in the budget was due to projected revenues that never materialized, including revenue for a casino that was opposed by the Democratic Minority Caucus on Sept. 24.
“A lot of revenues that were counted on in the budget did not materialize,” Birnbaum said. “The sales tax revenue was not near projection, the casino revenue had been added in, a school zone speed cameras had been added. A lot of factors put in this budget that never came to fruition.”
Birnbaum suggested the county cut the use of outside council for the attorney’s office, as well as outside vendors, to help cut the budget deficit and create more jobs within the county.
“The whole key to revitalization is attracting new businesses, new technology, producing more jobs, more people staying on Long Island and spending here,” she said. “We have to look at ways to increase our revenues other than just through tactics such as a casino or a speed camera.”
Birnbaum said most voters that speak with her are happy with her job, but have issues with the high taxes in Nassau County, as well as local concerns like improving roads, street signs, and street lights.
She added that in her campaigns she’s doing “what it takes to win an election.”
During her five to six hours campaigning each week, Benjamin said the majority of what she’s hearing is that the public is not happy with roads, street signs, and street lights.
Because of her nonpartisan beliefs, Benjamin said, she feels like she is the better choice for county legislator.
“I’m an independent thinker and I believe in nonpartisan politics. I will do what’s best for the county. I have personal interest in what’s best,” she said. “I live in the county and raise my children in the county. I have elderly parents in the county. My interests represent all generations of the community, so I feel like I have a vested interested and I will do my best to do what’s best.”
Birnbaum said her work as county legislator of the 10th district leaves her more qualified and understanding of the issues in the county.
“I work diligently at my job and I read all the materials that come before me. I feel I am very well versed in all the proposed resolutions,” she said. “I want to build Nassau County into a stronger economy. So we could have more businesses, new jobs, improved housing and transportation, I think that is key to the future.”
