The Village of Munsey Park has refused to release the names of any residents who have filed petitions to run in the March 20 election for two trustee seats and one village justice spot.
A woman in the village clerk’s office told Blank Slate Media on Friday, three days after the village’s filing deadline of 5 p.m. Tuesday, that a Freedom of Information Law request would be required to get the list of candidates who have filed to run.
In an email to Blank Slate Media on Saturday, Village Clerk Tara Gibbons, who said she was out of state on Thursday and Friday, said that acceptance-or-declination letters had been sent to the people who filed petitions and that once the petitions were received by the village she believed the names of the candidates would be released “probably on Tuesday” since Monday was a holiday.
She said the acceptance-or-declination letters were sent on Wednesday morning to be signed and returned by close of business Friday.
Attorney Brian Dunning, who said he filed a petition to run, said he received his letter around 1 p.m. in the mail on Friday and sought to return it to the village prior to a phone interview with the Manhasset Times at 3:30 p.m. But, he said, Village Hall was closed.
Another attorney, Nathy Yakaitis, said she had filed a petition to run.
Robert Freeman, executive director of the Committee on Open Government, said in an interview Friday that while denying to disclose to the identity of candidates for elected office is legal, many government agencies will waive the paperwork when the records are public and easy to gather, such as campaign filings.
“FOIL contains a statement of intent. Among other things, it says that government is supposed to make records available ‘wherever and whenever feasible,'” Freeman said. “Now, in my mind, that means that if the record is clearly public, which would be so in this instance, and it’s really easy to find, there’s no good reason for delaying disclosure.
“In a context like this, where we’re talking about candidates for public office who have filed petitions with a government agency, generally speaking, there is little in the way of resistance.”
Across Manhasset, Plandome Village Clerk Elizabeth Kaye, Plandome Heights Village Clerk Arlene Drucker and Plandome Manor Village Clerk Randi Malman responded to requests for candidates’ names within 24 hours.
In Munsey Park, the seats of trustees John Lippmann and Jennifer Noone are up for election this year as well as Judge John Turano’s seat as Village Justice.
Dunning and Yakaitis said after the village’s Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday that they had filed petitions to run.
Noone said she also filed to keep her seat along with Anthony Sabino, a member of the village’s Building Advisory Committee. Lippmann, she said, had decided not to seek re-election.
Munsey Park trustees serve two years and are unpaid.
Noone also said the village is waiting for the receipt of acceptance or declination letters from the candidates who filed petitions before releasing names to the public.
Attempts to reach Mayor Frank DeMento, Trustee Lawrence Ceriello, Trustee Antonio D’Angelo, Village Attorney Robert Morici, Sabino and Lippmann were all unavailing.
In the Village of Plandome, Deputy Mayor Ray Herbert and Trustee Andrew Bartels, both running on the Citizens Party Line, have filed to run for re-election.
Bartels was appointed to the board in 2011 to finish the term of late Trustee Peter Kenny and was re-elected to a full two-year term in 2012.
Herbert was first elected in 2002.
Efforts to reach Herbert and Bartels were unavailing.
Voting will take place at Village Hall at 65 South Drive.
Plandome Heights will host the only mayoral election in Manhasset with Mayor Ken Riscica running for re-election as well as Trustees Alvin Solomon, Dianne Sheehan and Silva Ferman.
Riscica was first elected in 2012 after serving a two-year term as trustee.
Solomon was first elected in 2006, and Ferman was elected in 2004.
Sheehan was elected to her first term in 2016 when former Trustee Lynee Aloia decided against re-election.
In Plandome Manor, Trustees Tony DeSousa and Patricia O’Neill are running unopposed in the March elections.
Efforts to reach DeSousa and O’Neill were unavailing.
Residents can cast their ballot at Village Hall at 55 Manhasset Ave.
This story has been updated. A previous version said Tara Gibbons had declined to release the names of those who had filed petitions and said a Freedom of Information Law request would be needed to obtain them.
