Readers Write: On Tweedy’s announced Democratic primary run

The Island Now

In your Feb. 15 issue, you reported that former Floral Park Mayor Thomas Tweedy had decided to seek the Democratic nomination for Hempstead town councilman representing the 2nd District.

Tweedy, a registered Republican, is apparently following in the footsteps of George Maragos, the former Nassau County comptroller, who left the GOP to run against Laura Curran in the Democratic primary for county executive in 2017.

I, for one, am sick of Republican politicians, like Tweedy and Maragos, who feel that they have a better chance of primarying their way onto the Democratic ballot line than competing in their own party’s primary.

Based on the Feb. 15 article, it’s not clear just what values Tweedy purports to share with rank-and-file Democratic voters in his town council district. 

Merely expressing dissatisfaction with the current state of the Republican party or promising to “restore integrity” to town government does not a Democrat make.

Further, his shortsighted, unyielding opposition to the Long Island Rail Road’s third-track project, while he served as Floral Park mayor, raises serious questions on how effective an advocate he’d actually be for residents of the 2nd District.

In the interests of full disclosure, I am not a resident of the Town of Hempstead, so who gets the Democratic nomination in this race is not up to me.  However, I do urge local Democrats with skin in the game to put forward a real Democrat to oppose Tweedy.

Don’t let your ballot line be hijacked.

Matthew Zeidman

New Hyde Park

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