Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017 was a bad one for Nassau County’s once invincible Grand Old Party.
The Republicans not only lost the county executive spot and a County legislative seat, they lost control of the crown jewel of their political patronage mill, the Town of Hempstead.
Most embarrassing, the GOP was brought down in Hempstead by one of their own, Bruce Blakeman — the leading political dolt in the county.
Blakeman broke with incumbent town supervisor Anthony Santino, defied Boss Joe Mondello and endorsed Santino’s Democratic challenger, Laura Gillen.
The result: the Republicans lost the town supervisor spot for the first time in one hundred years to a Democrat who spent only $31,000 versus Santino’s $1.1 million.
How pathetic is that!
There was a time, however, when the Nassau GOP was the most respected and powerful political organization in the nation.
During the post-World War II era, when the population of this suburban oasis swelled thanks to the G.I. Bill of Rights, F.H.A. housing loans and builders like William Levitt, Republicans organized the new communities block by block.
Republican committeemen endeared themselves to the new residents, by serving as the middle-man between the neighborhood and county government. The committeemen helped with day-to-day problems from garbage removal to road, park and sewage maintenance.
Working the neighborhoods paid off at the polling booth.
In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, Republicans held just about every elected post in the County.
The large GOP State Senate and Assembly delegations dominated the Legislature in Albany. Major committees were chaired by Nassau legislators and members of the delegation held top leadership posts.
Presidential and gubernatorial wannabees paid homage to the Nassau organization which could turn out more than three thousand party-faithful to its annual fundraising gala.
In 1972, President Richard Nixon, appearing before 15,000 at a Republican rally held at the Nassau Coliseum, turned to the then County boss, and said “This is the biggest and best rally, Joe Margiotta, I have ever seen.”
That year, Nixon received 63.3 percent of Nassau’s votes and Ronald Reagan received similar majorities in 1980 and 1984.
But over time, the GOP machine began to rust.
Efficiently servicing the taxpayers took a backseat to rewarding political cronies with patronage and contracts. Republicans utilized fiscal sleight-of-hand techniques to convince the public that County budgets were “responsibly balance”— all the while pandering to special interests and increasing spending, taxes, and pork.
The first major crack in the organization was in 1981, when the long-time boss, Joseph Margiotta, was convicted on federal extortion and mail-fraud charges.
“In essence,” Newsday reported, “a jury concluded that his patronage system, which was the foundation of his party’s power, had helped it win national prestige and had cheated taxpayers by usurping the authority of elected officials.”
Subsequently, the party under the leadership of Joe Mondello learned little from the Margiotta conviction. Continued political antics brought Nassau’s government to the edge of bankruptcy in 1999.
Admitting they could not trust themselves, Republicans went to Albany and begged for a bailout and creation of a fiscal control board to keep them on the path of righteousness.
These fiscal follies led to the election of Tom Suozzi as County Executive in 1999. He was only the second Democrat to be elected to the post in the 20th century.
Meanwhile, the aging political machine’s influence at the polling booth continued to decline. Barack Obama carried the county in 2008 and 2012 as did Hillary Clinton in 2016.
After the Republicans took back the county executive spot in 2010, it was business as usual.
Posts were filled with political hacks, NIFA seized control of the county’s finances, County Executive Ed Mangano was indicted by the U.S. Attorney, as were Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos and Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto.
The disastrous results on Election Day 2017 were the final nails in the coffin of the once mighty organization.
Political wags are whispering that Boss Joe Mondello, who has presided over this demise, may accept a minor ambassadorship to make a graceful exit.
Word is it’s Costa Rica. Elba or St. Helena might be more appropriate.
Nassau Republicans are finished because their arrogance, incompetence and indifference to voter concerns has caught up with them.
Sadly, current taxpayers and their children and grandchildren will be paying off the debt they leave behind for decades to come.
Nassau Republican Party, Requiescat In Pace.
Agree about good bye ? Republicans. Raise the heck out of lower middle class taxpayers taxes, and they (err the Republicans) need to go.
Very Bad for the Country.
Good riddance Republicans. Recession will coincide with their too late good bye. And they are bringing it on themselves, and the entire country.
Hasta la vista all Republicans that choose middle class tax hikes. Si. Gracias. But not to Republicans.
Good riddance Republicans. Kick the can down the road, jack up the deficit, and follow the path of casino stupidity type bankruptcies and people. Just not where you have to pay, but rather “cash in”. And everyone else not “in on it” get to pay for it! Lots and lots of good luck younger generations. ? You’ll need it. LOTS.
I think President Trump should relocate the U.S. Department of Justice and his buddy Mueller to Alaska, a few earthquakes and cold weather will definately help Mueller finish his great investigations and stop wasting our Federal Taxpayer money. And how did this Desrshowitz from Harvard ever become a scholar, there always referring to him as a scholar, I have never heard him say anything of importance or scholar yet. Mueller dosen’t have the American Citizens interest, he’s working on some other planet, he would make a great communist because basically his whole agenda for many years has been based on communist doctrine. He’s as useless as listening to Sean Hannity on Fox News. GOD BLESS AMERICA 2019 Frank P. Barrasso http://WWW.BARRASSOANDSONS.COM
To this voter and observer of Nassau politics, the Republican Party in these parts has been brain-dead for years. During Gary Ackerman’s tenure as our congressman, there were years when he ran unopposed for re-election. And in years that he had an opponent, the party’s campaign strategy seemed to consist of putting lawn signs along West Shore Rd in Port Washington. In nearly every election season my mailbox is stuffed daily with as many as six pieces of direct mail material from the Democratic candidates and usually zip from the Repubs. Sometimes the Democratic candidates actually ring my doorbell. In this year’s North Hempstead supervisor’s race, signs sprouted touting ‘Nasta for Supervisor.’ Nasta who? I had no idea who Nasta was, and it wasn’t from lack of following politics in the local papers. So, I didn’t know who he was, where he stood on any issue, what his experience or qualifications were until just before Election Day when profiles appeared in the local weeklies. I’m sure many others had the same view, so no wonder Judi Bosworth trounced him. Marlin cites the Town of Hempstead race where the Dem. with a shoe-string budget ousted the Repubs for the first time in 100 years. It wasn’t the defection of any particular party leader that did it. As Marlln says, it was the arrogance and utter incompetence of the incumbent Republicans.
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