By Jeff Lipton
Incumbent Richard M. Mangone, who is running with fellow trustee Andrew J. Rubin on the same ticket, filed a challenge with the Board of Elections last Friday, claiming that challenger Victoria Simao was not a registered voter in the county before she collected her petitions to run for trustee. Those who run for office must be registered voters with the county. Simao is running with David Finkel, who would also be kicked off the ballot if the signatures are thrown out by the Nassau County Board of Elections.
Simao said that she registered on April 18, but the county received her application on May 9. She chalked up the delay to a clerical error, saying the registration application was mailed late by a clerk in another village where Simao got information about the petitions, because Atlantic Beach was not being helpful.
Atlantic Beach Mayor Stephen Mahler said he is supporting current trustees Rubin and Mangone, whom he appointed earlier this year to replace John McCrystal and Paul Gruskoff after they vacated their seats on the Board of Trustees.
I think they are afraid they will lose, Simao said of the two trustees. It's a complete ploy tactic. I think it's not letting the people have the right to choose who they want.
Finkel, who has lived in the village since 1968, added, We want to stay on the ballot.
I think it's time for a change in the
village.
Simao said the village clerk who mailed her registration application late has written to the Board of Elections trying to straighten out the error. Simao explained that she lived in Atlantic Beach as a child and then moved to California, where she was living until July 2002, when she moved back to the village. She said she did not register as a voter earlier because she is going through a divorce, which has taken up a lot of her time.
Simao and Rubin collected 132 signatures for an opportunity to be on the ballot, much more than the required 50. Most of their petitions, which had to be submitted by May 13, were signed at the end of April, Simao said.
Rubin and Mangone did not return phone calls, but Mayor Mahler said a viable challenge was filed by the incumbents and that it's now up to the Board of Elections to decide who is right.
She was not even registered, and she got signatures before she was registered, and that's not allowed, Mahler said.
He added that the two current trustees are fully capable of carrying out the job they were appointed to do. Mangone has served as the village's emergency-management coordinator and is active in the New York City teacher's union, and Rubin is a former trustee and treasurer for the
village.
They are excellent trustees and are able to do a much better job. Neither [Simao nor Finkel] has ever participated in the village one single second in the seven years I've been mayor, or come to our meetings, Mahler said. I'm always skeptical when people like that come out of the woodwork.
Simao and Finkel are running as a team under the Beach Party of Atlantic Beach. Simao said they are seeking election to the board because the village government has been generally unresponsive to citizen complaints.
Rubin, a former trustee who was unseated, and Mangone are running as a team under the Atlantic Beach Integrity Party.
If you are in that clique [of village government], you get what you want. If you're not in that clique, you don't get it, said Simao, who has lived on and off in Atlantic Beach for a total of 20 years and who has a master's degree in economics.
Our goal is to respond to citizens and hear their complaints, she said, explaining that the pair decided to run in March after talking to village residents and listening to the concerns they have about village government.
Simao said that when she grew up in Atlantic Beach, the village had many more things to keep children occupied. They tried to keep kids busy in a positive manner, Simao said. Now you see kids skateboarding on a street corner. When I was growing up there was much more to do all year-round. Now there's not many things to do.
Finkel said he believes the village spends money extravagantly and has too many petty rules.
The trustee seats carry two-year terms.
