By Nick Buglione
The candidates deny making or distributing the literature and say no one was given permission to produce it.
Both separately said, however, that civic activist Charles Carter, a school board candidate last year, recently approached them about putting together a campaign against Daly's opponent, Goldberg, who is running alongside Goldenberg's adversary, Brian O'Flaherty.
"Charlie [Carter] had told me he wanted to put my name on joint literature, and I told him no," said Goldenberg, a 45-year-old hospital administrator and father of two. "I was told that he was previously told to not put my name on it without asking."
Yet one leaflet, which spotlighted Goldberg's alleged inadequacies as a board trustee and urged East Meadow constituents to vote for Daly and Goldenberg, was mailed to the Herald recently, and a different flier, similar in content, was circulated in the community.
"I have produced one piece of literature for candidate Bob Daly, which, when presented to him, was rejected," said Carter, stressing that he did not include Goldenberg's name on it. "To my knowledge, it has not been reproduced or distributed in the community."
A copy of that flier, containing both candidates' names, was sent to the Herald in a letter with no name or return address. It read, "Charles Goldberg has voted to award 11 percent in pay raises to the superintendent of schools, after voting to adopt the 2002-03 budget which cut instructional programs and dozens of teachers. The board of education, along with Charles Goldberg, enjoyed meals every Thursday night before their meetings at taxpayer expense."
Goldenberg expressed anger when he learned of the flier. "I disagree with the whole thing; I'm not here to bash Charles Goldberg," he said. "I'm not here to bash anything."
Daly was equally upset. "I'm not interested in blasting any candidate; I'm just running for the board," said the 43-year-old father of four, who works for the Nassau County Board of Elections. "I wouldn't be attacking him because I don't know anything about him."
Still, another similar leaflet has been distributed around East Meadow. Containing a photocopy of an item from another community newspaper about the recent audit of the East Meadow School District, the flier established that the state comptroller had found "inappropriate spending -- lack of controls under present school board administration of board President Charles Goldberg."
It also read, "Vote for Robert Daly and Jonathan Goldenberg for responsible leadership, honesty and integrity."
The flier was placed on car windshields outside the April 28 East Meadow Civic Association meeting at McVey Elementary School. Carter, who was at the meeting, denied making or distributing that flier, as did East Meadow Civic Association President Robert Zafonte.
"I'm not involved in campaigning. I'm not taking an active role," said Zafonte, although he admitted he's not fond of Charles Goldberg. "I have been asked to stay out of it. I don't want my civic group tainted with any school board politics."
But Zafonte did indeed broach the idea of starting a negative campaign against Goldberg with Daly, according to the candidate. Zafonte claims he doesn't "remember having a discussion with Daly on that."
Even before the mysterious literature was circulated, Daly and Goldenberg's bid for school board got off to a rocky start. Just days after they were submitted, a current board member questioned the validity of both candidates' petition signatures, citing stark similarities in handwriting.
The board ultimately voted against protesting the signatures, since it would have required hiring an outside agency to investigate.
