Cleaning up Ferretti-Clavin mess is connected Suffolk lawyer

Automated narration.

Attorney Steven Losquadro was hired by the Hempstead Town Board... — Attorney Steven Losquadro was hired by the Hempstead Town Board to fight a lawsuit challenging the legitimacy of John Ferretti's appointment as supervisor. Credit: Tom Lambui

Updated September 8, 2025 5:31 pm

Daily Point

The many benefits of political ties

Newly appointed Hempstead Town Supervisor John Ferretti is benefiting from political connections in more ways than one, and so are some of the people he knows.

Ferretti, the grandnephew of the late Nassau GOP head Joseph Mondello, is running as the incumbent this fall despite not having won an election. Just a quick appointment by the town board about half an hour after his predecessor abruptly resigned Aug. 5. The former Nassau County legislator was fast-tracked to replace outgoing Supervisor Donald X. Clavin, who stepped aside and then stepped into the controversy of getting a mysterious replacement job at his supervisor's salary as he waits to ascend to the Nassau County Court bench in an election he is sure to win because he is unopposed.

Now Ferretti and town taxpayers are holding the bag for the public relations mess that includes hiring a well-connected GOP lawyer who donated to his campaign in July.

The GOP misstep gave the Democrats an issue and they are running with it hard. Ferretti and the town board recently voted to hire Suffolk County lawyer Steven Losquadro to fight a lawsuit about the legitimacy of the appointment process brought by Democrat Joe Scianablo, who is challenging Ferretti in November. The approved resolution doesn’t state a dollar amount Hempstead will pay Losquadro, just "the Town Comptroller shall pay any such fees related" to the lawsuit.

While the Losquadro name is more rooted in Suffolk County politics, there are deep Nassau connections as well.

According to campaign finance filings with the state Board of Elections, Steven Losquadro donated $500 on July 7 to Ferretti’s campaign. In 2025 so far, Losquadro donated $9,300 to the Nassau County Republican Committee. And since 2024, Losquadro gave $6,750 to Clavin. This year, Losquadro gave $1,000 to the Town of Hempstead Republican Committee and $500 to Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly’s reelection campaign.

Losquadro’s brother, Dan, the Brookhaven Town superintendent of highways, has been far more active with donations to GOP campaigns across Long Island. He has given money to candidates, clubs and committees, and the Nassau County GOP gave Dan Losquadro $8,250 since 2019. Dan Losquadro’s campaign account has received in total $3.97 million in contributions since 2006, and made about $1.17 million in contributions since 2002.

On Oct. 4, 2024, Dan Losquadro’s campaign made a $1,500 contribution to Clavin’s campaign. Since 2022, his campaign transferred $7,000 to the Nassau County GOP, including $1,500 in March.

The Point previously reported that "Friends of Dan Losquadro" made $30,250 in contributions to the Nassau County Police Benevolent Association’s political committee, where Steven Losquadro once served as its attorney.

Dean Losquadro, Steven’s cousin and a former Nassau PBA official, has given $7,525 since 2022 to the Nassau GOP, including $1,500 in March.

— Mark Nolan mark.nolan@newsday.com

Pencil Point

Grim troopers

Credit: PoliticalCartoons.com / Dave Whamond

For more cartoons, visit www.newsday.com/nationalcartoons

Quick Points

ICE raided an electric vehicle plant. Are wind farms next?

In what may be another attack on renewable energy, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stormed a Hyundai EV battery plant in Georgia, rounding up 475 people, including 300 South Korean nationals. Will ICE next roll up on Denmark company Orsted’s Long Island wind farms to deport Danes?
Yankees announcers are worried about mispronouncing pitcher Cam Schlittler’s name on air. There are quite a few names in baseball history that would make a listener blush, but some clean and funny ones are: Coco Crisp, Milton Bradley and Wonderful Terrific Monds.
As President Donald Trump continues to lobby for a much-coveted Nobel Peace Prize, will changing the name of the Department of Defense to Department of War really bolster his resume?
Garden City High School graduate and FBI Director Kash Patel’s investment of $50,000 in Krispy Kreme just before the FBI opened a data breach investigation into the company is not a conflict, just an "anecdoughtal" coincidence.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s announcement that the CDC has a Biothreat Radar that could "spot pathogens ... early enough to prevent catastrophe" might be more science fiction than science. Is RFK trying to be the next Orson Welles?
Trump hosted a party for D.C. insiders, calling it The Rose Garden Club for "senators, for congresspeople and for people in Washington, and frankly, people that can bring peace and success to our country." Or was it more like The Breakfast Club, for "a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal"?