Sposato returns to the jail

Daily Point

Back to Nassau jail 

The more things change ...

The Point has confirmed that Michael Sposato, former jail chef-turned-sheriff-turned corrections commissioner, who spent the last year and a half in a top spot at Nassau University Medical Center, has left the hospital and returned to the jail to again serve as corrections commissioner.

Sposato replaces former Commissioner Edward Corsini, who left suddenly to return to a Civil Service position as a lieutenant.

The move has drawn scorn and concern from the Correction Officers Benevolent Association and from Democrats, who point to Sposato’s past troubled tenure as county sheriff and as corrections commissioner.

Sposato’s departure from NUMC came as the hospital is undergoing a massive transition. As of June 1, all board members are expected to be replaced, and the majority of the board will be chosen by Gov. Kathy Hochul and the leaders of the State Senate and State Assembly. The board will in turn choose a new chief executive to replace CEO Megan Ryan. That’s led some allies of Ryan, including Sposato, a longtime Republican political donor, to look for a way out, sources told The Point.

In response to queries from The Point, Chris Boyle, the spokesman for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, confirmed Sposato’s move.

"Commissioner Corsini expressed a desire to return to uniform service and Commissioner Sposato agreed to return as Commissioner of Corrections," Boyle said in a statement.

Sposato’s past tenures as sheriff and as commissioner were controversial. Sposato started at the jail in 1994, as a chef, and then served as kitchen supervisor. By 2005, he became the county sheriff’s chief of staff and, from 2008 to 2018, he served as county sheriff. The Correction Officers Benevolent Association had long opposed his leadership, with former COBA President Brian Sullivan at one point calling his time in office "a reign of destruction." Under Sposato’s watch, there were four inmate suicides between January 2010 and January 2011 alone, and another four deaths between 2011 and 2014, in part due to inadequate medical care provided by Armor Correctional Health Services — which Sposato had brought in to replace NUMC as the jail’s medical care provider.

Sposato also was a key player in the federal corruption case involving former County Executive Ed Mangano and his wife, Linda. Restaurant owner Harendra Singh testified in 2018 that he won a bread and rolls contract with the Nassau County Jail after meeting with Sposato at an IHOP near the jail and that he gave Sposato an iPhone. He also testified that he provided Sposato and Mangano special food, including steak, shrimp and veal, in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy when Singh had a no-bid contract with the county to supply meals to workers, who would get chicken, pasta or sliced beef.

Despite all of that history, Blakeman appointed Sposato as commissioner of corrections in September 2022 — a position he held until December 2023 when Sposato moved to NUMC, serving as executive director of public safety and investigations, earning $275,000 annually.

Now, Sposato is back as corrections commissioner, with a salary of $170,000, according to Boyle. COBA’s attitude, however, hasn’t changed. In a stunning "Message from the President" released on May 9, current COBA President Pete Lilli told his members that Blakeman had told Lilli that Corsini had "abruptly submitted his resignation" and would return to civil service.

"Obviously, this took me by surprise, as only a couple of weeks ago, I was assured by the County Executive’s Office that they didn’t foresee any changes here at the jail in the near future," Lilli wrote. "However, we are not privileged to the decision-making process that occurs behind closed doors between the County Executive and his staff."

Lilli told his members that when he was told Sposato was again being considered for the commissioner job, he expressed concern.

"I immediately explained that months earlier when rumors were flying about his return, the County Executive himself assured me that Mike Sposato will never be back at the jail in any capacity whatsoever," Lilli wrote. "I also reiterated the multitude of reasons why this appointment would be one that would cause an extreme amount of stress and an undue burden on a staff that is currently undermanned, overworked and underappreciated."

Lilli said Sposato’s return represented "the old failed playbook" after an ongoing effort to change the culture at the Sheriff’s Department, calling the move "a direct slap in the face of every Officer here."

"It is very unfortunate that we find ourselves back in this situation, however, we will never allow anyone to derail the efforts this Union will take to protect our membership," Lilli wrote.

Legis. Seth Koslow, a Democrat who is running against Blakeman for county executive, also criticized the move.

"Sposato failed running the jail, failed again at NUMC, and now Bruce Blakeman is giving him a third shot at failure — right back at the jail," Koslow said in a statement to the Point. "This isn’t leadership. It’s cronyism at the expense of public safety."

— Randi F. Marshall randi.marshall@newsday.com

Pencil Point

Beats Newark

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Final Point

Cuomo courts an old ally, irritates an old foe

Even after tanking a fully developed prosecution against a new ally, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, President Donald Trump’s Justice Department is said to be probing challenger Andrew Cuomo for allegedly lying to congressional Republicans about COVID-19 during a closed-door congressional hearing in June 2024.

Plausibly, among Democrats, Cuomo through a spokesman called the shrouded leak of an investigation "lawfare and election interference plain and simple," in weeks leading up to the Democratic mayoral primary next month.

Last Saturday, while discussing city schools at a United Federation of Teachers mayoral forum, Cuomo tossed out a slice of that red meat. "I know they’re going to come to destroy public education. I have done battle with this guy — royale. Time and time again."

So, he said, "I don’t think he’ll be all that eager to come and go another round with us."

While throwing shade at Trump, Cuomo for the moment seemed more intent on keeping shade off UFT President Michael Mulgrew.

Mulgrew, who has led the union since 2009 and hosted the forum, finds himself in the electoral fight of his life in union elections. Members’ ballots, sent out three weeks ago, are due to be mailed back no later than May28. One year ago, an insurgent slate hostile to Mulgrew took over the UFT’s retiree chapter.

Cuomo made for a quick and very unusual headline over the weekend by arguing strenuously to roll back the Tier 6 pension reform — which he pushed for and signed as governor in 2012. The age for full benefits was increased from 55 to 63, and employee contribution rates were raised.

Cuomo's fiscal rationale for a rollback: "The state just gave away 2 billion in tax rebates by sending checks to people who didn’t need it, so the state has the funding. The pension threat is over. Roll back Tier 6, so you can compete, and get the best teachers and keep them."

That’s easier for him to say than it once might have been. As mayor, he won’t have to worry about the fiscal needs of the state or the political appeal of the governor.

Cuomo made other statements aimed at encouraging UFT members to see the two men’s long-term alliance as a good thing. "Let teachers teach, not teach to the test, keep the bureaucracy out of their hair, and the supervisors out of their hair, the Department of Education is a bureaucracy. Everyone says they can tame the bureaucracy, nobody does."

Mulgrew, as a leader of the multiunion Municipal Labor Committee, has been under internal fire for years for a fiasco involving retiree health benefits.

The Mulgrew-led MLC had agreed in 2014 to save the city hundreds of millions of dollars — by having hundreds of thousands of retirees join a less-expensive (for the city) Medicare Advantage plan, in exchange for wage hikes for current employees. Retirees objected in court to losing free health care, and so far, have won. Last Thursday, the state Court of Appeals heard final arguments in the case.

In this controversy, as with Tier 6, Cuomo aligns with other candidates jockeying for union support. Last month, Cuomo pledged "not to push retirees into a Medicare Advantage plan," a matter that sparked blowback against incumbent Mayor Eric Adams. If the whole plan is dropped, that could ease the urgency of UFT dissidents’ case against Mulgrew.

As governor, Cuomo championed charter schools, which UFT members resist as an effort to squelch the union. When Mulgrew asked about charters on Saturday, Cuomo sought to finesse it this way: "Charters are a fraction." Similarly, Cuomo called his creation of Tier 6 "ancient history."

Those interested in Cuomo’s current history must await the June 24 primary. For Mulgrew’s contest, the ballot count begins on May 29. Neither of these fall in Trump’s sphere of electoral influence.

— Dan Janison dan.janison@newsday.com

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