Ex-GOP lawmaker on Hempstead Town payroll

Daily Point

The party is never over

Add another government hat to the collection of those Bob Barra, 63, has worn over several decades within the remunerative realm of the Nassau County Republican Party.

The GOP ex-Assembly member these days serves part-time as a clerical aide on the Town of Hempstead payroll, for which he earned about $27,000 last year, town officials confirmed. The ex-legislator’s hours can vary by the week, a town spokesperson told The Point.

He’s paid $33 per hour for his work, which is for the town’s Department of Parks and Recreation. While he is not assigned a car for take-home use, part-timers — depending on the task — might use pool cars, officials said.

Town Supervisor Donald Clavin currently rules the roost. But over the years, Barra has held jobs with the Nassau County Department of Commerce, the Nassau County Board of Elections, and as an aide to former Rep. David A. Levy and former State Sen. Dean Skelos.

His GOP elected roles also fill out his long resume. Barra was in the Assembly for a decade from 2001 to 2010, first in the 21st A.D. and after redistricting, in the 14th A.D. Before that, from 1991 until 1997, Barra served on the Lynbrook Village board of trustees. For a while he was an appointed at-large member of the Hempstead Town board of trustees before council districts were created.

Between 2011 and 2017, Barra served as the full-time village clerk in Valley Stream. His retirement happened to follow a public flap over a personal Facebook message he posted denigrating the Women’s March on Washington, the one after Donald Trump’s election. It was a snarky partisan response to a snarky political remark by the singer Madonna about how she’d thought about blowing up the Trump White House. Three years earlier, Newsday reported that while Valley Stream clerk, Barra earned $33,586 from Nassau County on the side as a part-time golf course attendant.

GOP patronage was a force in the county even before Barra was born during the heyday of Nassau boss and top state lawmaker Joe Carlino. In short, Barra’s been around — and clearly knows how to make a living in the ecosystem of one of the most powerful local party machines left in America, where public jobs are still currency and loyalty is assumed.

— Dan Janison @Danjanison

Pencil Point

Earth Day 2023

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Final Point

Gambling on 'when'

Sands New York is facing a lawsuit from Hofstra University filed against the Nassau County Planning Commission, protesters from Garden City and Uniondale, and a long process ahead before ever being able to potentially develop a casino resort at the Nassau Hub.

It might seem like an uphill climb fraught with political roadblocks.

Yet, on Thursday evening, it may have seemed like planning for the resort was already in full swing.

Sands partnered with the Nassau Council of Chambers of Commerce to host a “procurement academy,” where Sands executives instructed local business owners and entrepreneurs about the process of securing contracts and working with Sands.

Attended by more than 300 local small businesses, the event, held at Nassau Community College, included a broad discussion and industry-by-industry breakout sessions, dealing with everything from food and beverage to construction to technology to transportation.

Sands has said it hopes to utilize local vendors for many of its needs, which could include everything from baking to flowers to technology.

Besides the Nassau Council of Chambers, the event included the Farmingdale and Stony Brook Small Business Development Centers, Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce, Long Island Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, and Nassau County’s Office of Minority Affairs.

The gathering included a resource fair where small business owners could get information and guidance on other issues, such as certification for minority- and women-owned business enterprises, or MWBE.

The event came just days after Hofstra’s lawsuit was filed, claiming that the county planning commission had allegedly violated open meetings laws by not providing appropriate documentation or public notification about a recent meeting regarding Sands’ project. A Hofstra attorney said the planning commission had failed to allow for “a full airing to the public” of the proposed Nassau Coliseum lease transfer.

Meanwhile, protesters are encouraging those who oppose the project to show up to a Nassau County Legislature meeting next week to voice their concerns.

But all of the pushback is coming before a lease has even been finalized — and before any legislative hearings or votes have been scheduled.

And the news release for the procurement event is also preemptive, showing that the casino giant and its backers are prepared to act as if the project will definitely happen.

“The Procurement Academy provided a lot of useful tools and resources so that we can hit the ground running when approvals are issued,” Elizabeth Wellington, the deputy director of the Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce, said in the release.

When … not if.

— Randi F. Marshall @RandiMarshall