North Hempstead Republicans halt bill limiting what can be said in official communications

North Hempstead Republicans have declined to advance a Democratic bill to constrain official government mailings, social media posts and other notices to topics within the town's purview.

A vote to hold a public hearing on the bill limiting "official town communications" such as publications, news releases and posts on social media accounts failed Wednesday night in a 3-3 vote. The legislation would restrict the communications to "information relating to municipal governance, programs, services and matters with the Town's jurisdiction," according to a copy shared with Newsday by Democrats.

The vote failed along party lines. Republicans hold a 4-3 advantage on the board, but Councilman Edward Scott was absent. In North Hempstead, resolutions require a majority vote to pass. 

Town Supervisor Jennifer DeSena, a registered Democrat who caucuses with Republicans and opposed the measure, said the bill would "restrict our ability to speak."

"Restricting speech is not something that we should vote on," DeSena said.

Councilman Robert Troiano Jr., a Democrat, said Wednesday it was hypocritical for DeSena to block a hearing for a proposal to restrict government communications to town business.

"This is to set a date for a hearing, where we could discuss your thoughts, other council members' thoughts and other members of the greater North Hempstead communities' thoughts," Troiano said. "What you're saying is you want to restrict speech of anybody to speak about this. You don't want to have the hearing."

DeSena countered that "we should not be restricting each other's speech."

The Democratic proposal came after DeSena on Feb. 28 made a post on her government Facebook page that read: "We stand in firm support of the United States Armed Forces and the Israeli military as they take necessary, decisive action to defend our nations and restore stability to the Middle East."

DeSena tagged the town's Facebook account in the post, which appeared in a stream of posts from her celebrating the Lunar New Year, a local wedding and a garden swap. 

The parties have quarreled over national political issues in the past.

Troiano said in a statement Thursday that DeSena’s Facebook post was “inconsistent with the resolution she introduced last year prohibiting legislation on matters outside the Town’s jurisdiction such as national affairs."

In February of last year, after Democrats on the board proposed a resolution condemning President Donald Trump's pardons of about 1,500 people convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, Republicans countered with a resolution precluding future resolutions "on matters and issues outside the jurisdiction of the Town."

DeSena told Newsday in an interview at the time that the resolution was designed to "make sure town board takes care of town business."

Troiano on Thursday said, “My proposal would have extended that prohibition to the Town’s official communications. It would not prohibit the expression of individual opinions in non-official publications.”

Asked the reason for the post expressing support for military action in Iran, DeSena said in an emailed statement Thursday that "there seems to be a deliberate effort to misrepresent what our earlier resolution actually does."

"We passed a number of policies to improve meeting efficiency and that resolution applied only to the formal introduction and voting on non-town-business during board meetings," DeSena said. "What their proposal is suggesting would limit public expression and restrict speech outside of that in other forums, and I’m disappointed we’re even debating that."

In November, Republicans on the town board rejected a Democrat-backed bill to bar the town from funding town mailers featuring candidates' names, images and likeness to 60 days before an election. The measure was voted down 4-3 along party lines. 

Other town governments in the region have taken steps to limit outside political discussion during board meetings. In Riverhead, officials last year limited public comment to topics "substantively relevant to issues concerning the Town of Riverhead" and have banned residents from holding signs and posters during meetings.

By Joshua Needelman

joshua.needelman@newsday.com

Joshua Needelman covers the Town of North Hempstead for Newsday. A Long Island native and University of Maryland graduate, his work has appeared in publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post.