Will Romaine hire that kid from seventh grade?
Then-Suffolk County Legislators Jay Schneiderman, left, and Ed Romaine, center, along with Five Town Rural Transit board member Vince Taldone wave at an S92 bus as they kick off Sunday and holiday bus service on the East End, something residents had requested, in July 2011. Credit: Steve Pfost
Daily Point
Suffolk job for Schneiderman might be a lesson in bipartisanship
Fresh off his resounding Republican victory in a campaign that vilified Democratic Party leadership, Suffolk County Executive-elect Ed Romaine will soon put together a new governmental administration in Hauppauge. And one of Romaine’s first choices for a top job looks like it may go to — a Democrat.
Jay Schneiderman, the 61-year-old Democratic Southampton Town supervisor, who seriously considered running this year for county executive himself, is being eyed for the role of a deputy county executive in Romaine’s new regime, The Point has learned.
During the campaign, those close to both men told The Point that Schneiderman and Romaine had talked about working together. And on Tuesday, while votes were being tallied, Schneiderman confirmed on the record that he had talked with Romaine specifically about a deputy role. Ostensibly, Schneiderman would deal with several East End matters, but he would also help the new 76-year-old county executive with other issues, including the environment.
“I would certainly consider it,” said Schneiderman, who underlined he had yet to receive a formal offer from Romaine. “It would be a great show of bipartisanship. I could help on all government issues countywide.”
On Tuesday night, shortly before Romaine won a double-digit victory against Democrat Dave Calone, GOP chairman Jesse Garcia told The Point he would have no problem if Romaine picked a Democrat for a prominent role in his new government.
“My job is to elect Ed Romaine county executive — once that is done, it is his job to run county government,” said Garcia, who oversaw all of Romaine’s campaign strategy against Calone, including sharply negative ads linking him to New York’s Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul. “And I will support him in any way he deems I can be helpful.”
Garcia said there is no party litmus test for getting a job in Romaine’s administration. “It’s the qualifications,” Garcia said. “If you’re the best person for the job, have it.”
Sources said that Romaine, as Brookhaven Town supervisor, also appointed Democrats to his administration without requiring them to change their party registration. But during their talks about a future job, Schneiderman said, Romaine did indeed inquire whether he could change his party affiliation to the Republican Party. It wouldn't be the first time Schneiderman changed parties. He's made several switches in his long career — from unaffiliated to Republican and then to the Independence Party, before finally becoming a Democrat in 2017 after facing a primary challenge as the sitting Southampton Town supervisor. But Schneiderman told Romaine he couldn’t do so this time, despite their long friendship. Schneiderman said he also resisted Romaine’s urging to publicly endorse him against Calone.
“It [changing registration] would hurt me in my own party,” Schneiderman explained. “Ed is not the enemy. It’s about the county” in deciding to serve with him.
The Romaine-Schneiderman ties go back to a Hauppauge middle school in the 1970s, when Schneiderman was a seventh-grade student and Romaine was his social studies teacher. “I’ve known him for 50 years,” Schneiderman said fondly. In recent weeks, Romaine has also spoken admiringly about Schneiderman in conversations with The Point, without mentioning specific future job possibilities.
When both men served in the county legislature, they usually sat together and often shared the same opinions on matters, particularly environmental and labor issues, despite their different party affiliations. “We voted almost identically together,” said Schneiderman.
Election Day was one of mixed emotions for Schneiderman. After serving eight years in Southampton, Schneiderman was term-limited from running for reelection. But more significantly, he saw the Democrats lose in the race for the county executive job he once coveted.
About a year ago, Schneiderman said he expressed interest in running for the county’s top position, but Suffolk Democratic Party chairman Rich Schaffer indicated that Calone was already in place to be the party’s candidate and that he was well-funded. Calone, a wealthy private investor who has never held public office, eventually would loan at least $750,000 to his own campaign.
To make his own case, Schneiderman commissioned a private poll that showed the Southampton supervisor was far better known than Calone and that he could beat Romaine in a head-to-head contest. According to the January survey by Power Play Strategies, 42% of respondents said they were likely to vote for Schneiderman and only 36% for Romaine. But the same survey showed that voters were more likely to vote for Romaine over Calone, by a 42% to 37% margin.
Nonetheless, the private poll had little effect because, Schneiderman said, it would have meant an interparty primary battle with Calone and he felt that would be too late and too destructive overall. So instead, Schneiderman sat out this election and will now wait for the call from his old social studies teacher — if it ever comes — and help him with the top job Schneiderman had wanted for himself.
— Thomas Maier thomas.maier@newsday.com
Did you miss our special edition newsletter this morning about the Island’s red wave and 2024?
Pencil Point
Where's Tommy?
Credit: CQ Roll Call/R.J. Matson
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Final Point
North Hempstead GOP wins remove some hurdles for DeSena
North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jennifer DeSena got more than just a solid victory Tuesday night, when she beat former Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman by more than 10 percentage points.
DeSena, a registered Democrat who ran on the Republican line and caucuses with the Republicans, seems to have gotten a majority on the town board, too.
The race between Democrat incumbent Peter Zuckerman and Republican Edward Scott for the town’s 2nd District — which covers Albertson, East Hills, East Williston and more — was tight all night but with all precincts reporting, Scott held onto a narrow 128-vote lead.
By Wednesday morning, multiple sources on both sides of the aisle told The Point that outstanding absentee ballots wouldn’t overcome the difference. Which means the town board, which would have four Republicans and three Democrats, would have turned red for the first time in more than three decades.
It was, sources said, the continuation of a red wave that first hit North Hempstead two years ago but reached further this year, and a reflection of the focus and big money Nassau GOP chairman Joe Cairo put on the town.
The result, officials said, opens the door for DeSena to move some of her priorities forward, rather than running up against the roadblock of an unfriendly majority. Among her first tasks: Filling jobs in the town that have long been occupied by Democrats. That might be tough, observers said, as Republicans might feel more comfortable in Oyster Bay or Hempstead than in North Hempstead, where the possibility of another flip always looms.
Nonetheless, some insiders noted that the extent of DeSena’s victory showed that the move to red might not be short-lived.
Beyond the hiring, DeSena has made it clear that she’s hoping to use surplus funds to push a tax cut forward. But now she’ll have space to govern without a contentious town board that she said stopped her every move.
— Randi F. Marshall randi.marshall@newsday.com
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