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Friday, September 14, 2018
Vol. 93, No. 37
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GUIDE TO STREET FAIRS
TOXIC PLUME RAISES CONCERNS
STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL INVESTIGATING DIOCESES
PAGES 35-62
PAGE 2
PAGE 6
$100K salaries, patronage jobs at county board
WE REMEMBER
Dems, GOP get high pay, nearly 200 jobs at Nassau election board BY R E B ECC A K L A R Nearly two months after his shocking loss to a Democrat, and just two days shy of the end of his term, Anthony Santino resigned as Hempstead town supervisor upon his appointment to the Nassau County Board of Elections. Democrat Robert Troiano, a former senior policy adviser to North Hempstead Town Supervisor Judi Bosworth and Nassau County Executive Laura Curran’s pick for traffic and parking violations commissioner, was appointed to a position at the Board of Elections after it was discovered that he had racked up more than $80,000 in federal income tax liens. Former North Hempstead Democratic Party Chairman Gerard Terry, currently serving time for state tax fraud, also had a job at the county agency before stepping down when he faced charges. It was one of six politically appointed taxpayer-funded jobs Ter-
ry once simultaneously held. Appointing fallen political players to jobs at the Board of Elections isn’t uncommon. The board is the only agency intentionally and legally set up to be a patronage organization – “whether we like it or not,” according to Lawrence Levy, executive dean of the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University. “You know the expression that politics is like sausage making and you don’t want to spend a lot" of time looking at what goes on in the kitchen,” Levy said. " “This is the ultimate example of sausage making in politics. It’s also one of the legal ones.” Nearly 80 percent of last year’s county Board of Elections budget went toward salaries, wages and fees, with the commissioners of both major parties getting paid more than $180,000 in taxpayer funds for the politically appointed Continued on Page 81
PHOTO BY JANELLE CLAUSEN
A statue of Jonathan L. Ielpi, a New York City firefighter from Great Neck, looms over Vigilant Fire Chief Joshua Charry as he addresses attendees at 911 memorial ceremony with his father Rabbi Marim Charry by his side. See story on page 3.
Great Neck Park District adopts $19.65M budget BY JA N E LL E CL AUSEN
in programming and revenue last Thursday night, setting the stage for its final approval by The Great Neck Park Dis- the Town of North Hempstead trict adopted a $19.65 mil- later this year. The 2019 budget is about lion budget featuring a boost
3.5 percent higher than the current budget, which is about $18.99 million – or a difference of $656,389. The Great Neck Park DisContinued on Page 71
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