Saladino ‘unaware’ town workers removed Dems’ campaign signs

Republican Oyster Bay Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino on Tuesday responded to accusations that he and others took Democrats’ campaign flyers from utility poles by saying he was unaware of town employees removing political signs while working for the town.

“I don’t know of any town employees as part of their employment . . . removing signs from poles,” Saladino said at a town board meeting.

The supervisor faced questions Tuesday over the reported incident in Sea Cliff. Sea Cliff village administrator Bruce Kennedy said on Monday that Saladino had removed signs in front of him. Democratic candidate for town board James Versocki on Tuesday filed a complaint about the signs’ removal by town employees in a separate incident with Nassau County police.

In a statement, Versocki said Saladino and his campaign had violated a federal court settlement that arose from 2013 allegations that town employees had torn down signs of former candidate Christopher Briggs.

“It is clear that these high-ranking town employees, apparently including Saladino himself, have no regard for the law,” Versocki said.

Saladino did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday and did not say during the meeting whether he had removed signs.

When Robert Freier, another Democratic candidate, questioned him about it, Saladino said, “I’m not going to go back and forth with you.”

Saladino, who faces Democrat Marc Herman in the November election, later said that a Nassau County law made posting political signs on utility poles illegal.

“Those who place signs on utility poles are breaking the law,” he said.

Oyster Bay spokesman Brian Nevin on Tuesday provided a 2001 letter containing a 1994 amendment to a 1984 Nassau County ordinance regarding the posting of printed materials on county-owned or -operated property. The amendment contains language that prohibits posting written notices and posters on utility poles in the county.

“We are completely unaware of any county law that supercedes village law,” Kennedy said Tuesday regarding the signs. “The sign that Supervisor Saladino tore down was on a village road, not a county road.”

After reviewing the material provided by Nevin, Kennedy said in an email that “this unsubstantiated county ordinance does not impact the village’s authority to exercise its police power under the [New York State] Constitution in relation to regulating signs on public property.”

On Tuesday, Kennedy said that the signs had been hung legally under village code and that their removal by Saladino and others was illegal.

“Counsel informs me that county ordinances apply to towns and villages with equal force,” Nevin responded in an email.