The Point: Blakeman not wrong with far right
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman signed multiple executive orders relating to mask mandates in the county on Jan. 6 in Mineola. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
Since Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman signed an executive order last week stating the state’s school-mask mandate would now be optional by district, he’s been ripped by prominent Democrats, as well as education leaders. Gov. Kathy Hochul, State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa, and a bevy of legal experts say Blakeman cannot force districts to take a vote on whether to bypass the mandate by month’s end, either.
The response from the Republican establishment, though, has been muted, and party insiders say that’s because mainstream GOP officeholders see no advantage in touting a legally impotent executive order, or in making enemies in the anti-mandate community by opposing one.
But on the far right, where much of the energy that pushed the GOP on Long Island to big gains in November’s elections, Blakeman’s order has quickly made him a hero … and made Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone a lobbying target.
The Facebook page of Suffolk County’s Moms For Liberty, a local chapter that’s garnered 5,000 followers since launching in May, is asking that residents "TELL BELLONE TO STAND WITH BLAKEMAN," and arguing that the state mandates on masking in schools, as well as the masking for county workers and in businesses that Blakeman also tried to stop in Nassau, should end in Suffolk.
Monday, Bellone told The Point his office has received dozens of emails and phone calls asking that he follow Blakeman’s lead, and some have been quite aggressive, and even profane. Bellone also said they’ve gotten calls opposing Blakeman’s move.
On the Facebook page of "Long Island Loud Majority," whose members and leaders have been central to Long Island rallies opposing mandates on vaccines and masks, they’re pushing a new hashtag, #IStandWithBruce. That post asks that members "flood social media accounts" with support for Blakeman because "special interests are mobilizing with smear & fear-mongering propaganda."
When Long Island school board seats and library trustee positions were won by conservative political newcomers angered by curricula they say focused on "critical race theory" and school policies relating to COVID-19 last year, the energy was coming from the grassroots "Patriot" wing of the GOP. Promotions for seminars led by locally elected Republicans on how to win school board seats are now a frequent fixture on the pages.
Whether the tightly controlled Republican Party will keep the reins or cede them to this amorphous group of activists is unclear. But Blakeman, a bulwark of that GOP establishment, is taking great pains to convince the newcomers he’s with them.
Lane Filler is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
