Corruption Leading Up to the Hempstead Town Supervisor Election Makes Voters Questions Who’s the Right Candidate

Justin Huntsman
Nov 5 · 3 min read
Hempstead Town Council as they prepare for elections on November 5th (Courtesy of Town of Hempstead)

The Hempstead Town Supervisor Election is a close one between Laura Gillen and Don Clavin heading into Tuesday, November 5th. Edward Ambrosino , Hempstead Town Councilman, was indicted on federal tax evasion earlier in 2019 has sparked citizens to question leadership. With all the recent corruption throughout the Hempstead council, both candidates set the record straight on the matter in a recent interview with the Patch.

Views on corruption

“Since day one, I have sought to and succeeded in exposing contracts to cronies, self dealing by commissioners and other corrupt practices that cheat residents and result in a corruption tax. Due to my efforts, there are multiple federal, state and district attorney investigations into the conduct I have exposed,” Gillen told Patch.

Clavin had different thoughts on the issue.

“Articles in The Herald Community Newspapers have reported that City Council members believed that the supervisor’s chief of staff was a part-time employee at the time of his departure from the City of Long Beach, which would have made him ineligible to take a payout. Sadly, the supervisor has refused to comment on the issue or take any action against her chief of staff,” Clavin told Patch.

Citizens thoughts on the candidates

With the two candidates going back and forth it’s not easy for Hempstead citizens to figure out who to vote for.

“It’s hard, it almost makes me not want to vote because you don’t know who’s clean and who’s dirty,” Vanessa Ioannidi said about the race.

Another citizen had a different view on the situation.

“I think you have to trust your gut, nobody is perfect, but you need to get behind a candidate that you believe can do the job,” Rose Johnson said.

When it came to the two Hempstead citizens, they were split on who they trust as well.

“I want to trust in Laura Gillen, and I believe she can do even more for this community than she has already done,” Ioannidi said.

“I think Don Clavin was right to go after Gillen and her background with Jim LaCarruba because she says she’s looking to uncover everything but she’s hiding this,” Johnson said.

Jim LaCarruba is the chief of staff to the Town Supervisor and has been accused of taking payouts from the City of Long Beach.

While both citizens differ in their views on candidates, they both feel the same way when it comes to their impacts.

“They say the same thing every election cycle and nothing has changed for us,” Ioannidi said.

“I think there can be small changes, but it’s also on us in the community to step up and fix the problems we have going on around us,” Johnson said.

https://soundcloud.com/justin-huntsman/political-story-audio

The vote will come down to whether or not the citizens of Hempstead believe one of these two candidates will make a difference in their community and actually stand by their word.

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