Nassau awards $730G in new contracts to firm of Howard Fensterman, Blakeman's campaign finance chair

Nassau lawmakers approved $730,000 in taxpayer-funded contracts to a law firm co-founded by one of County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s top gubernatorial campaign aides.

The county Legislature voted last week to award the contracts to Abrams Fensterman LLP, the firm co-founded by Howard Fensterman, Blakeman’s volunteer campaign finance chair. The contracts — hiring the private firm to represent the county in two separate lawsuits — were given after top partners at Fensterman's firm donated $43,000 to Blakeman’s gubernatorial campaign, Newsday found.

The awards mark the first time Fensterman's firm received taxpayer-funded contracts since Fensterman joined Blakeman’s campaign. The practice of hiring private lawyers to do county work has expanded dramatically under Blakeman. Since he took office, Nassau has tripled its spending on private counsel — doling out at least $20 million in 2024 — more than six times what Suffolk County spends. Officials at times hand-select specific firms and bypass legally mandated bidding processes, according to an audit commissioned last year by Nassau's financial watchdog group.

You want a system in which taxpayers are convinced their money is being spent well. - Zilvinas Silenas, president of the Empire Center for Public Policy

The Nassau County Attorney's Office, which employs about 100 lawyers, has routinely hired Fensterman to do legal work. One of its latest contracts totaled $510,000 to defend Nassau, Blakeman and Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder in a lawsuit claiming Blakeman's law making it illegal to protest outside religious sites violated the U.S. Constitution. The county chose Fensterman because of its "satisfactory reputation" handling federal civil rights cases, records show.

The second contract, totaling $220,000, went to Fensterman’s firm to defend Nassau County, Ryder and 10 police officers in a lawsuit filed by a man alleging police unlawfully seized his guns during a contentious divorce.

While Blakeman and his allies defended the recent contracts, municipal government experts said the overlapping political and financial relationships — while not necessarily improper — create an appearance problem.

"It doesn't look good, and that in itself is already not good," Zilvinas Silenas, president of the Empire Center for Public Policy, told Newsday of the contracts. "You want a system in which taxpayers are convinced their money is being spent well. So even if everything here is fine, this could be explained better — especially considering [Blakeman] is running for governor."

David Schleicher, a professor at Yale Law School specializing in local public finance, said it was not unusual for local government officials to hire political allies.

But he said Nassau's track record of an “infinite number of local corruption scandals” should encourage public officials to be more transparent.

Backing the firm

Abrams Fensterman LLP has long worked for Nassau, according to County Attorney Thomas Adams, whose wife previously served as campaign treasurer for Blakeman’s gubernatorial race.

"The firm was retained under the administrations of former Democratic County Executives Tom Suozzi and Laura Curran," Adams, who oversaw Fensterman's hiring, wrote in a statement.

Todd Shapiro, a spokesman for the firm, defended its reputation, saying the legal practice was "built on experience, qualifications, and results — not politics."

"Abrams Fensterman represents clients across the political spectrum," Shapiro wrote in a statement.

Just as Howard Fensterman has reaped financial benefits working with Republicans, he’s done just as much — if not more — for Democrats. He previously served as the Long Island finance chair for Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and former Democratic governors David Paterson and Andrew M. Cuomo. Fensterman, his firm, his son and his wife have given more than than $63,000 to Gov. Kathy Hochul and more than half a million dollars — $535,000 — to Nassau’s Democratic Party over the last two decades.

My Democratic predecessors and I don't agree on much, but we do agree on the same qualified firms to protect taxpayers from frivolous lawsuits. -- Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman

Madison Spanodemos, a spokeswoman for Blakeman’s campaign, said Fensterman’s recent support was a welcome shift from his longtime allegiance to Democrats.

Blakeman wrote in a statement: "My Democratic predecessors and I don't agree on much, but we do agree on the same qualified firms to protect taxpayers from frivolous lawsuits."

Longtime relationship

Blakeman's and Fensterman’s relationship dates back years.

In 2007, Fensterman recruited Blakeman to be a partner at his politically connected law firm. Last fall, Blakeman tapped Fensterman as his campaign finance chair.

Fensterman has personally contributed to Blakeman’s various political campaigns. Last summer, he donated $7,500 to Blakeman’s campaign for county executive. His firm contributed $27,000 to Blakeman’s campaign coffers from 2022 to 2025, and another $10,000 in December 2025 after Blakeman announced his run for governor.

Over the last two decades, Fensterman and his firm also have given more than $146,000 to Nassau's Republican Party and its local chapters.

In the six months before the recent contracts were awarded, Fensterman's son, five other partners at the firm and the firm itself donated more than $43,000 to Blakeman's campaign for governor, a Newsday analysis of campaign finance data found. Shapiro, the firm’s spokesman, did not answer questions about those contributions.

"Bruce Blakeman would rather cut shady deals with his inner circle than lower costs for families," Addison Dick, a spokesman for the New York Democratic Party, wrote in a statement to Newsday.

'Completely appropriate'

In a July 27 legislature meeting, Nassau lawmakers voted 4-3 to award the contracts to Fensterman, with Republicans voting "yes" and Democrats voting "no."

Democratic Minority Leader Legis. Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (D-Glen Cove) questioned Brian Libert, Nassau’s deputy county attorney, about how Fensterman’s firm was chosen. Libert gave few details and described the process as "completely appropriate."

Months before the legislative vote, Fensterman’s firm was awarded the contracts in a "mini-bid" process where the county is required to pick the best value or lowest price vendor from a list of prequalified vendors. For these two contracts, the county identified 52 law firms deemed qualified for the job, the contract shows. For one case, seven law firms responded and officials chose Fensterman. In the other, only Fensterman responded to the request, records show.

Work for both contracts, signed by Fensterman himself, began on May 5 — well before the contracts were approved. Abrams Fensterman attorneys made their first court appearance on May 11, court records show.

Private firms starting legal work before their contracts are approved, a violation of Nassau County's charter, has been common practice for years. The final stages of the county's lengthy approvals process requires sign-off from the Nassau Interim Finance Authority. NIFA had not received either Fensterman contract as of August, spokesman David Chauvin said.

DeRiggi-Whitton told Newsday she was calling on the Nassau Inspector General’s Office to investigate the contracts, adding that Blakeman’s administration had a "heightened responsibility to prove the selection was based on merit — not political relationships."

DeRiggi-Whitton wrote in a statement to Newsday: "We’re told to accept a so-called ‘mini-bid’ process with no public scoring, no published evaluation criteria, and no explanation of why this firm was selected over six others. That’s exactly the kind of opaque process that can create opportunities for corruption and undermine public confidence."

She added, "It's timing of the fact that these two contracts are now being given to someone actively working in the county executive's campaign as his campaign finance chair. It's a half a million dollars going to this person at this time."

The IG did not respond to questions about whether the office would investigate.