Can Laura Gillen skate past Sarah Hughes?

Daily Point

Political skating

Laura Gillen is getting ready for another bruising fight in CD4 as she tries again to win election to the House in a district that both parties are making a top priority in 2024. The former one-term Hempstead Town supervisor lost last year to Republican Anthony D’Esposito by just less than 10,000 votes in the red wave that swept Long Island.

Gillen has just released a video emphasizing her deep roots in the South Shore/central Island seat. “The Fourth District is my home and I care passionately about what happens here. I grew up in the district, as did my husband, and now I’m raising my four children here,” Gillen says in the video on her YouTube page.

But does the local experience really wash against D’Esposito of Island Park, a former New York City detective and Hempstead Town council member whose family has expansive roots in the district and on the town’s payroll?

Homegrown, however, just might resonate against a primary opponent. The Gillen video debuted May 24, about 10 days after Olympic gold medalist Sarah Hughes, who grew up on Nassau’s North Shore, filed the federal paperwork to run in CD4. 

But Hughes grew up in Kings Point and attended Great Neck schools when she wasn’t traveling to skating events. Her large family is well known in the community. And there are shared memories.

After her underdog win over Michelle Kwan in figure skating at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, a crowd Nassau Police estimated at 60,000, twice the size that was expected, cheered the winner in a March 10, 2002 parade down Middle Neck Road, renamed “Sarah Hughes Way.” The throng included then-Gov. George Pataki, U.S. Sens. Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer, and Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, along with 60 photographers from around the world.

And the current holder of the CD3 seat is the awaiting federal fraud trial incumbent George Santos, who is as close as it gets to a dead man walking. National Democrats are waiting to capture the seat in a special election, later this year, if Santos resigns in a plea deal or is expelled from Congress. It seems like a ripe opportunity for the political newcomer. So why is Hughes running in CD4 instead?

The Democrats have a plan, multiple political insiders told The Point.

The former county executive who paraded with Hughes on that chilly March day is expected to be a nominee for the seat he previously held. Taking back CD3 this year and Suozzi running as the 2024 nominee is a critical building block for national Democrats who want to take back control of the House. Suozzi is their best shot to win in the special election, according to multiple Democrats.

That’s why Hughes, who practiced law in Manhattan and graduates with an MBA from Stanford University next week, is now looking for a home on the South Shore in the Fourth District, and Gillen is bracing for a primary to get the Democratic nomination a second time.

— Rita Ciolli rita.ciolli@newsday.com

Talking Point

Blakeman “Coast to Coast”

It’s not the images of beaches or malls or restaurants or UBS Arena that bothered Legis. Josh Lafazan when he saw Nassau County’s new 30-second promotional campaign.

It was the name running along the bottom of it — and the image at the end — both of which belonged to County Executive Bruce Blakeman. 

Then there was the additional list at the close of the ad, in very small print, that featured the names of other county elected officials — including Lafazan.

Nassau spent $600,000 of federal COVID-19 relief money on the ad, which is running in the metropolitan area and upstate New York, along with Ohio, Pennsylvania and Arizona. It’s also running on Newsmax, a right-wing cable news company.

The episode prompted Lafazan to propose a bill that would prohibit elected officials from using their image or likeness in any taxpayer-funded county promotional advertisements or commercials. That would include just featuring a politician’s name.

“Show me the empirical data that shows that having a politician on an ad encourages people to go somewhere,” Lafazan told The Point. “Not one of them is more likely to visit a location because a politician — any politician — appears in a video. If there’s no statistical data backing up why a politician needs to appear, then the only reason is politics and that’s garbage.”

The new Nassau ad features Blakeman’s name at the bottom throughout most of the 30-second spot. At the end, Blakeman appears on video, complete with the county seal, to recite the county’s new slogan: “Nassau County: Golden Coast to Coast.”

The ad comes as the county is in the middle of a request for proposals to determine which agency will handle Nassau tourism and promotional efforts going forward. Until recently, Discover Long Island — the region’s tourism arm — handled tourism outreach for both Nassau and Suffolk, holding a contract with each county paid by a portion of that county's hotel/motel tax. 

But in 2021, under Laura Curran’s administration, Nassau seemed prepared to offer the tourism contract to another bidder — Niki Jones Agency in Port Jervis, according to a letter to the agency obtained by The Point. The negotiation, however, was never completed, and Curran lost her reelection bid. Discover Long Island’s contract with Nassau was temporarily extended, but expired late last year. Under Blakeman, Nassau began a new bidding process for a tourism contract, and bids were due last month. A committee is expected to begin the review process next week to determine the winning bidder. Discover Long Island did bid in the newest round.

But Discover Long Island takes a more regional approach, and it’s clear from Nassau’s latest ad that the county — and Blakeman — might prefer a more parochial, Nassau-focused promotional route, one that could include the county executive himself.

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

Pencil Point

A.I. 2024

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