Like others, Blakeman is all in with party spin
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman has been hurling complaints at Democrats in Albany, particularly Gov. Kathy Hochul, who faces his ally Rep. Lee Zeldin, in the November election. Credit: Danielle Silverman
If Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman has demonstrated anything since taking office in January, it is an adherence to partisan Republican messaging. One complaint after another is hurled from his domain at Democrats in Albany, particularly Gov. Kathy Hochul who faces Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Blakeman ally, in November.
That's typical stuff. All over America, campaigning and inch-deep self-promotion are like the news cycle — perpetual.
Across the country, incumbents of both parties build public images on signaling solidarity with their parties and fans rather than showing mastery of the tough details of governance. With “crossover” votes difficult to win in polarized times, playing to the party faithful becomes a convenient and fashionable path to follow.
From the outset, Blakeman boosted his public relations on the right-of-center by inveighing against Hochul's public-health approach on masks and vaccines. When a judge briefly struck down a state-ordered mask mandate, he called it “a tremendous victory for the people of New York State, especially the school kids.”
Also in his opening weeks, Blakeman called on the county’s police department to publish a daily report including the names of individuals arrested, their criminal case data and bail status — another messaging move aimed at sustaining the state bail-reform issue that helped him and county allies get elected last fall.
At the state Republican convention in Garden City in February, Blakeman got to play host, touting the convention favorite Zeldin, who last month won the primary. Blakeman accused Hochul of taking New York down an “extreme and dangerous path … which endangers our suburban way of life."
Predictably, Blakeman joined in what became a bipartisan Long Island opposition to a since-canceled Hochul plan to legalize what are called accessory dwelling units.
When three New Jersey teenagers were arrested after allegedly crashing a stolen car into several Long Island police vehicles, he posted: “It’s like NYS is inviting criminals from all around the region. We've got 16 and 17 year olds who know the difference between right and wrong who we now treat like they're little kids.”
A new kerfuffle involving his Metropolitan Transportation Authority board appointee, political contributor David Mack, led Blakeman to express “immense disappointment” at the “deliberate removal” of Mack as vice chair of the board’s Long Island Rail Road committee. Mack's MTA role is marginal at best.
While Blakeman's appointees are supposed to be wrestling with gaping deficits at the Nassau University Medical Center, he accuses the state of acting on "a plan that they have to close NUMC.” That's pure hyperbole.
Constant appeals to partisan adrenaline are the same across the county border.
Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams, also in his rookie year and backing Hochul, continually joins the condemnations of the GOP and gun makers for pushing the proliferation of lethal weapons.
Last month, Adams’ 1990s GOP predecessor Rudy Giuliani wailed of a violent assault when a heckler's hand made flippant contact with his back on Staten Island. Rather than withhold comment on the man’s arrest, Adams said it was a good thing for the accused that a security video exposed Giuliani’s “sensationalist” agenda. While sensible, Adams' take fits the party divide.
For decades, elected executives continually quoted the city's iconic Fusion Party Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia on how there's no Republican or Democratic way to pick up garbage. How many incumbents nowadays promote that credo?
Columnist Dan Janison's opinions are his own.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
