Christopher Carini, a Port Authority police officer, has been named the Republican candidate for the Hempstead Town Board in the 5th District in November’s election. He is replacing Erin King Sweeney, who announced Sept. 12 that she was moving to North Carolina with her husband and dropping out of the race.
Nassau Democrats said that the choice to replace King Sweeney, who resigned the post, is a Republican “yes man” who has donated thousands of dollars in recent months to the Nassau County Republican Party.
Carini, a supporter of Donald Clavin’s Republican bid for town supervisor, said in a statement, “I am eager to continue my work on behalf of neighbors in the 5th Councilmanic District.”
He continued, “And, I am excited to join Don Clavin, Hempstead Town’s next Supervisor, in reducing government spending and taxes, slashing patronage and repairing the town’s roadway system.”
He set out an “aggressive” agenda to provide real tax relief to homeowners, accountability when it comes to municipal services, the elimination of government waste and the repair of the town’s roads. Carini said he has consulted with Clavin and is working on a taxpayer accountability plan that includes slashing patronage by $1 million on “day one” of his tenure on the Town Board.
The district includes Baldwin, a portion of Freeport, Merrick, Bellmore, Wantagh and Seaford.
Nassau Democrats called Carini a “machine cog” in a news release sent out by Hempstead Supervisor Laura Gillen’s re-election campaign manager, Michael Ousley, supporting Carini’s electoral opponent, Lora Webster.
“The Nassau GOP is flailing and unable to recruit anyone outside of their corrupt machine to run for office,” said Nassau Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs. “Lora Webster is a breath of fresh air in a town that is suffocating from corruption.”
Webster said that a Board of Election search will show that Carini has made more than $1,600 worth of donations to Nassau Republican Party leader Joseph Cairo and his running mates, including Clavin and Kate Murray, the Republican candidate for town clerk, since May 2019.
“I am running against the pay-to-play culture of corruption that has permeated Hempstead Town government for far too long,” Webster said in a statement. “I am proud to stand alongside Supervisor Gillen in her fight to clean up Town Hall.”
