Giuliani junior goes to school

Daily Point

Giuliani’s school board endorsements break new ground

It’s been clear for months that the school board election campaigns taking place across New York that culminate Tuesday are breaking new ground. Even so, Republican gubernatorial candidate Andrew Giuliani’s video endorsements of local candidates, including on Long Island, are a surprising development.

A 38-second video of Giuliani — son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani — endorsing two candidates in the Three Village school district race came to the attention of The Point Wednesday evening. The pair are also endorsed by Long Island Loud Majority. In the video, Giuliani introduces himself as a gubernatorial candidate, then says, “Before my race, on May 17, this coming Tuesday, you gotta get out there and vote for Evan Proios and Reanna Fulton for Three Village Central School District. As a new parent I can tell you how important it is that we get the kind of parents who are gonna be on the school board, that push for transparency, and Evan and Reanna will push for transparency every single day.”

According to Giuliani spokeswoman Heather McBride, Giuliani is living in Manhattan and has no abode on Long Island. So why is he so interested in Three Village?

He’s not.

McBride said he’s supporting about 100 candidates statewide and a dozen on Long Island, but the Three Village race is getting attention because it’s among the first to drop. Giuliani is posting the videos on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and sent The Point this quote to explain why: “Anyone running for school board who believes that the PARENTS are the primary stakeholder in their children's’ lives, I urge them to reach out to me before May 17th and I’m happy to lend my support!”

McBride said of this push, and the strategy, “Well, I think a huge part of Andrew Giuliani’s platform is parental rights in all areas of rights.”

McBride also said endorsements were coming for other Long Island districts, including Sachem, Bellmore, North Bellmore, North Merrick, Miller Place, Wantagh and Bethpage.

In many districts, this year's races have been roiled with uncommon controversy over how issues like race, gender and sexuality are taught or discussed in schools, or even addressed in libraries. However, Giuliani telling people whom to vote for in their own communities, potentially simply on the strength of candidates reaching out to tell him they believe “PARENTS are the primary stakeholders in their children's’ lives,” is quite a new turn.

And it seems, with the grassroots energy behind the parents’ rights movement in the GOP right now and Giuliani fighting with Rep. Lee Zeldin for that piece of the electorate on Long Island, that the association between these candidates and Giuliani is intended to elevate him by association.

— Lane Filler @lanefiller

Talking Point

Big thinking on the runway

The $2.8 billion proposal to develop the area between the Long Island Rail Road’s Ronkonkoma stop and Long Island MacArthur Airport took another step forward Thursday as the plan, known as Midway Crossing, was deemed a “project of regional significance” by the Long Island Regional Planning Council.

The Midway Crossing proposal includes a new airport terminal on the north side of the airport grounds, a link between that terminal and the LIRR station, a convention center, hotel, small arena, retail and a life sciences center.

And Thursday, it received unanimous support, with members of the council and other advocates backing the big thinking, even as they asked questions about the details, the funding and the necessary approvals and steps yet to come.

But one key voice on the council officially abstained from the body’s vote Thursday: council chairman John Cameron.

That’s because Cameron, who heads Cameron Engineering, is a significant player in the development itself. His firm is the project’s engineer and he’s been the central voice advocating for and explaining the project to potential supporters, elected officials and others across the region. And he spoke often in favor of the project during Thursday’s council meeting, too.

“Cameron Engineering has played a huge role,” said Derek Trulson, a vice chairman at Jones Lang LaSalle New York, Midway Crossing’s developer, during Thursday’s meeting. “We couldn’t do this without John …”

Nonetheless, in a news release about the announcement from Jones Lang LaSalle, Cameron’s name never appeared.

“I’m very sensitive to conflicts,” Cameron told The Point after the council meeting. “But I have a business to run here, too … And I am not afraid to speak on the record as the engineer of the project … But I was speaking as the engineer of the project, not as the chair of the council.”

Cameron said there have been a few other instances in his 15 years with the council when he’s had to recuse himself because he was involved in a project the council was considering.

“If I had to worry about any job we’ve ever discussed, I’d have no business or I couldn’t be on the council,” Cameron said, noting that many other members of the council have similar business interests and recuse themselves whenever there’s a potential conflict.

Cameron said he was particularly “passionate” about Midway Crossing, which he called a “game-changing project.”

“To the extent I can help move things forward … I am happy to do that,” Cameron said.

— Randi F. Marshall @RandiMarshall

Pencil Point

Supreme protection

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Reference Point

Equal pay?

One of the fascinations of trolling through the past is realizing that some issues have dogged Long Island — and America — across decades, if not longer.

Such is the case again with a look back at what Newsday’s editorial board was contemplating on this day in 1943, nearly 80 years ago. The nation and world were engaged in ferocious combat in World War II, and women had moved into the workforce as never before, filling jobs in factories and other places traditionally held by men. But they weren’t being paid like men.

“It is shocking and incredible that in a supposedly enlightened country the female of the species should be treated as non compos mentis — in other words, an inferior being not deserving of the same reward as the male,” the board wrote. “This in spite of the fact that war plants are in agreement that women workers have measured up to men in ability. Let’s forget about sex and have equal pay for equal work.”

That goal has not been met 79 years later. Women’s wages are still only about 83 cents to the dollar for men, based on 2020 data. This means a full-time working woman would have had to work this year until March 15 — the so-called annual Equal Pay Day — to equal her male counterpart’s wages earned in 2021.

Factor in pandemic-related changes in 2021 — such as more women being forced into part-time work — and the uncomfortable reality is that Equal Pay Day likely would have been a lot later this year.

Newsday’s words from 1943 — “shocking and incredible” — are just as apropos today.

— Michael Dobie @mwdobie and Amanda Fiscina @adfiscina