By Delia DeRiggi-Whitton
On March 9, we all heard a polished speech with a lot of promises from Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman. But Nassau County needs leaders that not only make promises – but keep them. Over and over again, he has failed to meet that goal.
When he first ran for County Executive in 2021, he promised to fix Nassau’s assessment system.
Fast forward five years, and it’s more broken than ever before. Why? Because Mr. Blakeman kept the assessment rolls frozen ever since he took office. Whether you challenge your assessment or not, this hurts all Nassau taxpayers. However, it benefits the tax grievance firms that fund his political campaigns.
Mr. Blakeman promised to deliver tax cuts – but there hasn’t been one. Rather than use $385 million in federal pandemic relief funds to directly help families and small businesses, he used it to cover budget deficits. And, instead of giving the people tax breaks, he wasted tens of millions of dollars on politically connected lawyers, parades, and galas. As families get crushed by soaring prices from the tariffs that Blakeman supported with his Rose Garden appearance, this is a critical failure.
That should make you ask - if he doesn’t keep his promises at home, why should we believe that he will do it for New York State?
During Mr. Blakeman’s last campaign, he promised that his only focus was serving the people of Nassau County. Literally the day after being re-elected, he began talking about running for Governor.
Now, we’re hearing new promises about working across the aisle to get things done. The truth is that Mr. Blakeman is one of the most partisan elected officials I have ever dealt with.
He ignores requests from the Democratic Caucus to meet on critical issues, like fixing aging roads and sewers, and improving our parks. While Democratic lawmakers waited for vital public safety grants, Mr. Blakeman handed out big prop checks for election photo ops. Our lifesaving first responders are still waiting for the actual money.
Mr. Blakeman sat on nearly $100 million in opioid settlement funds, intended to prevent addiction and save lives, just to make his budget look better. Ninety recent of these funds remain unspent – all while families continue to lose loved ones to addiction and overdoses.
These are not the actions of a bipartisan leader, or somebody who is focused on their job.
We are all very proud that, under County Executive Laura Curran, Nassau became the safest County in America – and we need to make sure that it stays that way for the future. Today, police staffing is below required levels. 911 operator positions are far below safe levels. This will only get worse as a wave of early retirements take effect.
Mr. Blakeman continues to divert Nassau County detectives to assist ICE – all while a critical detective shortage remains unaddressed. There has been no transparency from the Blakeman administration on why Nassau taxpayers should be covering the costs of an agency that just got $75 billion in new federal funding.
And, he has refused to shed light on his dangerous, illegal armed militia – likely because court records showed that he is related to at least one member, and several have criminal and arrest records. As a fiduciary of this County, I question why Mr. Blakeman would expose Nassau taxpayers to so much risk.
While all of this was happening, he has failed the basics. He promised billions of dollars in economic development at the Hub and at Nassau Community College but did not deliver a dime.
Nassau University Medical Center was so dysfunctional that the State was forced to take it over to save our only safety-net hospital. Routine tasks – such as filling potholes in County roads – are ignored.
Nassau County deserves better.
Campaign promises are easy, but governing requires focus to succeed. Compare his promises to what he has actually done. You will see the gap between rhetoric and reality, and how politics comes before public service. Nassau County residents deserve leadership that is focused on their needs - not personal ambition.
We, the members of the Democratic caucus, will continue trying to work with this administration to get our fair share of funding, especially for our first responders. Again, the future is best predicted by the past. I encourage everyone to keep that in mind – especially later this year.
Delia DeRiggi-Whitton, of Glen Cove, is the Democratic Minority Leader of the Nassau County Legislature. She represents the 11th Legislative District and has served since 2012.