Republicans on the Hempstead Town Board added a new chapter to their ongoing master class in how political machines operate and why they are bad for taxpayers.
First, they filed a notice of appeal to a court ruling that voided a no-layoff clause they had approved to the town’s collective bargaining agreement.
The court ruling was the result of a lawsuit filed by Laura Gillen, the first Democrat to be elected town supervisor in more than 100 years in 2017.
Gillen had filed suit against the no-layoff clause and 197 personnel transfers passed by the board in December 2017, one month before she took office.
In his last days in office, outgoing Town Supervisor Anthony Santino and the town board had handed out $4 million in raises to 197 employees and moved his top political allies to permanent positions in the next administration.
Gillen said the lame-duck board’s vote was meant to protect patronage employees and hamstring her authority. She was, of course, right.
A Nassau County Supreme Court Judge found in March that Santino and Councilman Antony D’Esposito should have recused themselves from the December 2017 vote on the no-layoff clause because – surprise, surprise – they have relatives who worked for the town.
And without their votes, the measure – which was approved 4-3 – would not have passed.
So after approving $4 million in raises the town could not afford two years ago and losing a court case that would have prevented employees from being laid off in a financial crisis, the Hempstead board threatened to spend taxpayer money to challenge the court ruling.
This is a perfect example of how political machines work.
Taxpayer money is used to give jobs to political supporters regardless of their qualifications. In turn, the political supporters and their families vote for the party’s candidates, hand out their campaign literature and man the phone banks.
Great for the party, bad for the taxpayer. Don’t think so? Time to check your next tax bill.
But the Republicans on the Hempstead Town Council were not done with serving their shaky political machine.
They also put forward a resolution last week to appoint Thomas Muscarella, a party insider and declared candidate to fill the 2nd Council District seat in the November election. On Tuesday, they swore him in.
Muscarella, 59, of Garden City, is vice president of the Plainview-based Archer Associates Insurance. One of his brothers, Joseph Muscarella, is an Oyster Bay Town councilman, while another brother, Vincent Muscarella, is a Nassau County legislator. Both are Republicans. Small world.
The seat Thomas Muscarella is seeking was recently vacated when the Republican incumbent, Edward Ambrosino, pleaded guilty to a single count of tax evasion on his personal federal income tax as part of a plea deal, in which he agreed to repay $250,000 in back federal taxes.
He was charged in April 2017 with what prosecutors said was a complex scheme in which he siphoned off money that his law firm was entitled to.
The charges were one count of wire fraud, four counts of federal tax evasion for the years 2011, 2012 and 2013; three counts of making and subscribing false corporate tax returns for the years 2011, 2012 and 2013; and one count of failing to file tax documents.
The appointment of Muscarella was standing operating procedure for Hempstead Republicans.
As Gillen pointed out, every Republican official in the town, including board members and the tax collector, was initially appointed – not elected – to their seat.
“This proposal is unquestionably a move to unfairly influence the outcome of the November election. It grants unearned incumbency to the Republican machine’s declared candidate and disenfranchises every resident in the district from choosing their own representative. It’s disgraceful and un-American,” Gillen said.
That sounds about right.
But the influence of the Hempstead Republican machine goes well beyond Hempstead.
As the largest of the three towns in Nassau County, with a greater population than North Hempstead and Oyster Bay combined, Hempstead has always played an outsized role in Nassau County politics.
The Hempstead machine helped elect Al D’Amato, a former Hempstead town supervisor, to the U.S. Senate.
The Hempstead machine also helped elect Dean Skelos, a Rockville Centre Republican, first to the state Assembly and then the state Senate, where he became majority leader.
Skelos and his son were convicted not once but twice of political corruption, in part, for his efforts to get a Nassau County contract for a company for which his son worked.
The man Skelos contacted for the business, former Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano, a Republican, was also recently convicted of political corruption along with his wife on separate charges.
Rob Walker, Mangano’s deputy, will go on trial later this year on still other political corruption charges.
Walker’s mother, Rose Marie Walker, continues to serve as a county legislator for District 17.
This apparently is what passes for family values among Republicans in Nassau and goes a long in explaining how one of the wealthiest counties in the state constantly struggles to balance its budget.
Whether legal or not, the behavior of Hempstead Republicans is corrupt.
It is up to voters to let them know that this is no longer acceptable anywhere in Nassau County.
