Hempstead Dems protest GOP practice of appointing candidates before an election

For months, Hempstead Democrats have been protesting the possibility of the outgoing supervisor resigning mid-year. Doing so, they've argued, would pave the way for the GOP-led town board to appoint the party's nominee in the general election to run the town for several months.

The Democrats have precedent to cite. For decades, Hempstead Republicans have appointed officeholders immediately after a vacancy — and months before the general election. The practice has given them a leg up in the November contest, contributing to their century-plus hold on the town, Democrats argue.

On Tuesday, Nassau GOP Chairman Joseph Cairo almost made it official when he told Newsday that Supervisor Donald X. Clavin Jr. is likely to step down before the election. Republicans, with a 5-1 board majority, could appoint their nominee, Nassau Legis. John Ferretti Jr. (R-Levittown), to serve the rest of the year. Appointing Ferretti, Democrats say, would give him an unfair edge against their pick, Joe Scianablo, a former prosecutor and police officer.

"Whether he decides to resign or not, and I think that he most likely will, there'll be a vacancy and the town board then would have the ability to appoint — as they have done in the past," Cairo said in an interview. He defended the appointment practice, saying it promotes continuity of government.

"Republicans have the majority," Cairo said, referring to the Hempstead Town Board. "When the Democrats have the majority, though not in Hempstead, they do the same thing." 

Jay Jacobs, chairman of the state and Nassau County Democratic Committees, said Hempstead Republicans have a fundraising advantage due to their years running the town.

"They always have a financial advantage. Now they want an incumbency advantage," Jacobs said in an interview. "I think it's time for the voters to get an advantage. And that would be an open seat that's fairly decided."

A longtime tradition

Craig M. Burnett, a professor and chair of political science at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, said there is some value in filling a vacancy. “You always want a representative there,” he said. But incumbents who are appointed have valuable advantages that can help them to later win general elections, he said.

“They're going to enjoy for whatever period of time they have, the trappings of the office, including the ability to reach out to voters directly, to have access to some tools that just would not be very accessible without money,” Burnett said.

Many of the Nassau County Republican Committee's nominees for board seats in Hempstead have been appointed to their offices months before the general election. Five of the six town board members were appointed after a vacancy. Clavin was appointed receiver of taxes in  2001, an office he held until 2020. Town Clerk Kate Murray, a Republican, was appointed town supervisor in January 2003 to succeed Richard Guardino Jr., who had resigned for another job. Murray won a full term later that year and held onto the office until 2015. In 2003, Newsday reported that seven of the town's elected Republican officials were originally appointed to their roles. 

Michael Dawidziak, a political consultant who works mostly with Republicans, said incumbency is only a benefit if voters feel positively about those in power.

“Usually the benefit to being an incumbent is if things are good, going well ... you get the credit whether you deserve it or not,” Dawidziak said in an interview. “When things are not, you get the blame whether you deserve it or not." 

Incumbents also have a political fundraising advantage, Dawidziak said.

“You've got a whole bunch of people who are out there looking and seeing who they should park their money with, and they are usually investing in people that have a better chance of winning,” Dawidziak said.

Scianablo, a former Queens County prosecutor and New York City police officer, said if Clavin resigns the board should select Dorothy Goosby, the longest-tenured member and its lone Democrat, acting supervisor.

Scianablo said at the July 1 meeting that the town council should not appoint "somebody who hasn't been elected to this board.

Clavin and Ferretti did not respond to requests for comment.

No edge, GOP says

Cairo, who himself was appointed to the Hempstead Town Board in 1975 following the death of a councilman, said appointments mean voters are represented in government. He downplayed criticism they are politically advantageous.

"Everyone in the town wants to be represented," Cairo said. "They don't want there to be a vacancy in office."

Cairo said voters are sophisticated and make decisions based on the candidates' merits. 

"They either vote for or against the person," Cairo said. "If you think that a name on a sign for a few months is going to sway the voters, well, you don't know the Nassau County voters very well."

Cairo noted that Nassau Democrats have made similar appointments ahead of an election, including in North Hempstead and Long Beach. In 2014, the North Hempstead Town Board selected Democrat Peter Zuckerman to fill a vacancy, he noted. Zuckerman won a special election later in the year. The town board also appointed Democrat Veronica Lurvey in January 2019, and she was elected to office in November. 

When former Babylon Supervisor Steve Bellone was elected Suffolk County executive in 2011, the town board appointed Richard Schaffer supervisor to replace him, Newsday reported at the time. He won a special election in November of that year.

In 2015, Democrats ran Madeline Singas for Nassau district attorney. Singas had been serving in the role on an acting basis that year after her predecessor, Kathleen Rice, was elected to Congress. Then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo never appointed her district attorney, so she held the acting title.

Schaffer, who is still Babylon supervisor and chairman of the Suffolk Democratic Committee, questioned whether a mid-year appointment would have an effect.

“I don’t think it's going to really benefit him [Ferretti] to be appointed now since it’s so late in the political season. They could have done this in January when it probably would have had more impact," Schaffer said. He added, "if they wanted to give him an edge, it should have been done in the beginning of the year.” 

On Friday, Democrats held a news conference to announce a state proposal that would effectively prohibit the appointment practice.

State legislators on Friday said they introduced a bill that would trigger special elections in towns with populations of 250,000 or more when the supervisor position becomes vacant before the end of the term. The proposal calls for a special election to be held on a Tuesday “as soon as practicable.”

The Nassau County Republican Committee said in a statement Friday that, “the timing of any such legislation is highly suspect and it appears to be nothing more than a costly political stunt by extreme Albany Democrats.”

Century of power

Republicans' grip on Hempstead Town stretches more than a century.

When three Democrats were elected to the town board in 1999, Newsday reported it was the first time Democrats had been elected to town government since 1905. Democrats' momentum faltered, however, when two Democrats elected at large lost to Republicans in a special election in 2000 after the town switched to representation by geographic council districts.

In 2017, Democrat Laura Gillen defeated Republican Supervisor Anthony Santino, while Democrat Sylvia A. Cabana defeated Republican Town Clerk Nasrin G. Ahmad. The party had been in the political wilderness for years, with Goosby serving as the only Democratic elected official in town government.

Republicans have tended to fare better when they ran as appointed incumbents.

In January 2015, Republican Erin King Sweeney was appointed to the town board’s 5th District seat, and when she faced Democrat Mike Reid that November, she won with 58.3% of the vote and a 16-point margin of victory.

When she dropped her re-election bid in September 2019, the board did not appoint a replacement. Republican Christopher Carini and Democrat Lora Webster faced off for the open seat in a race that was much closer than prior races. Carini won with 52.4% of the vote and 4.9-point margin of victory.

Four years later, as an incumbent, Carini defeated his Democratic challenger with 60.9% of the vote and a 21.9% margin. When Carini died unexpectedly in July 2024, the town board appointed a successor, Christopher Schneider, the following month, to serve the balance of his term. Schneider won a special election that fall.

Newsday's Denise M. Bonilla contributed to this story.