At first glance, Ryan Cronin might not seem like the right candidate for Nassau County comptroller – a lawyer and business litigator.
But when you drill down just a little, you come away with a very different opinion of someone whose job is to audit government agencies and country contracts to uncover waste, fraud and abuse as well as monitor Nassau’s budget and financial operations.
We did and strongly endorse Cronin.
Cronin, a Democrat who lives in Garden City and twice ran unsuccessfully for state Senate, touts his experience with complex contract disputes, fraud claims and breach of fiduciary duty claims.
This includes defending numerous clawback defendants victimized by fraudster Bernard Madoff.
Cronin said this experience would make him an ideal taxpayer watchdog.
He said he would seek to bring in people from the private sector to aid him regardless of party affiliation. He has already selected a moderate Republican to be his top deputy.
One of the first jobs, he said, would be to restore trust in office – an apparent reference to current Nassau County Comptroller Jack Schnirman, a Democrat.
Schnirman, who served as Long Beach City manager before his election as comptroller in 2017, faced criticism after coming under investigation for taking a payout from the city that was larger than city code permitted.
Cronin also said he would help modernize Nassau’s “antiquated” system of keeping financial records and ensure that the county pays its bills, a failing that he called a hidden tax on the county.
Cronin is opposed by Elaine Phillips, a Republican who served as a Munsey Park trustee, mayor of Flower Hill and state senator for District. 7.
Phillips has an MBA in finance and is a former financial analyst for Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Securities and a financial adviser for the New York State Volunteer Fire Departments’ Pension Funds.
And while this sounds like a good background for a county comptroller, her investment skills would not be used in her role since, unlike the state comptroller who invests pension fund money, the county comptroller does not.
Her experience prepares her to understand budgets and prepare financial reports.
But we have concerns about Phillips’ performance as a state senator where she opposed the Reproductive Health Act, which Democrats say would codify abortion rights protected under Roe v. Wade.
Republicans said the legislation went beyond Roe v. Wade by allowing medical professionals licensed by the state, not only doctors, to perform abortions and providing two additional exemptions to the ban on abortions beyond 24 weeks.
More troubling was Phillips’ taxpayer-funded mailer claiming she was “Standing Up for Child Sex Abuse Victims.”
This was not true. She declined to support the Child Victims Act that eventually was approved after she left office. And it was only one of several pieces of taxpayer-funded disinformation.
That’s hardly the kind of taxpayer watchdog we need.
We strongly endorse Ryan Cronin for Nassau County comptroller.
