L.I. officials protest a state bill—and win

ozens of Long Island county, town and village elected officials, as well as scores of concerned suburban residents, converged for a news conference at Tobay Beach in Massapequa on May 27 to protest a bill in the state legislature (S6917C). 

Present at the mews conference was a broad, bipartisan contingent of elected officials that included Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, Nassau County Legislature Majority Leader Rich Nicolello, Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin, Town of Hempstead Senior Councilwoman/Deputy Town Supervisor Dorothy Goosby, former Oyster Bay Town Supervisor Lew Yevoli, Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor Joe Saladino, several members of the Oyster Bay Town Board, Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jen DeSena, several members of the North Hempstead Town Board, City of Glen Cove Mayor Pam Panzenback, and Fran Murray, president of the Statewide Association of Mayors.

The legislation, which had progressed silently through the corridors of power in Albany, was scheduled for a vote during the legislative week beginning Tuesday, May 31.  Its intent was to change the pattern of local and national elections.

Supposedly, the motivation for the change was to increase voter turnout. 

The residents and officials at the Tobay Beach news conference weren’t buying it, as Hempstead Town Supervisor Clavin explained later in a phone interview.

“Traditionally, throughout New York State,” said  Clavin, “we’ve had national and state elections in November in even-numbered years, and for over 100 years we’ve had off-year elections for local races—county executive, county legislators, Town board, and so forth. Without telling anybody, the New York legislature intends to pass legislation to put all of these local elections on either a presidential or a governor’s year.” 

The outcome would be that issues that directly affect rural and suburban life—roads, local parks, property taxes for schools and services—would receive less citizen input, effectively silencing citizen voices on close-to-home issues.

The legislation was called anti-democratic by attendees of the press conference because the maneuver would cause county, town, and village matters to be totally eclipsed by the issues raised in multimillion-dollar campaigns for president and governor. 

The officials at the news conference also pointed out that the legislation would exempt New York City. 

 “This legislation is totally disingenuous,” said Clavin. “If the governor believed in the principle of combining local, state and federal elections, the legislation would not have excluded New York City.” 

“I am disgusted by attempts to defeat the voice of local officials in their town, village and county elections,” said Goosby. “I will add my voice to those who oppose this ill-conceived legislation.” 

Goosby said she felt insulted that not one state representative, neither her assemblywoman, Taylor Darling (D-Hempstead), nor her senator, Kevin Thomas (D-Levittown), called her to let her know about the legislation. 

The officials at the news conference leveled a variety of other criticisms. In particular, the officials noted that cramming county and town offices onto the ballot of overcrowded even-year elections would make the the ballots become so lengthy and confusing, it risked increased voter drop-off, which occurs when voters make their selections in the major races and then don’t finish filling out the rest of the ballot. 

The protest at Tobay Beach didn’t stop there. On Tuesday, Clavin, Blakeman, and local officials from all over New York State drove to Albany to voice their disagreement with the bill.

And they won, at least for now. By the end of the legislative day on Tuesday, the Democrats who were sponsoring the bill decided that more consultation with local officials, and possibly more public hearings, would be needed before the bill could move forward.