Cronyism At Town Hall

As reported in the June 12, issue of Newsday, the Town of North Hempstead perpetrated another cronyism with a dash of nepotism thrown in for good measure.
Under the headline: “Dem Leader’s Wife Gets Town Post,” the Newsday article states in part, “The North Hempstead town board has appointed the wife of the town’s Democratic leader to the $78,000-a-year post of deputy town clerk, with nearly a $9,000 raise from her previous job.”
The article goes on to define the scope of this position by listing the following functions: The deputy town clerk prepares board agendas, manages records and posts legal notices.
It further states, “There was no public job posting for the position given that it is a ‘confidential’ job, town officials said.”
Will these “town officials” please explain what is “confidential” about the above mentioned job functions? More importantly, given their nature, these functions could easily be performed by one of the countless secretaries and/or assistants, who inhabit town hall, and save the taxpayers $78,000 plus benefits.
Now comes the dash of nepotism in this scenario. The article further states: “Gerard Terry (the husband of the appointee, his wife, Concetta Terry), has a contract to be paid as much as $66,000 this year as counsel to the zoning board of appeals.”
All of this on the heels of another cronyism appointment of Kim Kaiman, the wife of ex-supervisor Jon Kaiman, to a nebulous job at an annual salary of $90,000, plus benefits, of course—also on the backs of taxpayers.
These outrageous financial excesses in the guise of public service prove that the more things change in town hall, the more they remain the same.
To her credit, Republican Councilwoman Dina De Giorgio was the only one who voted against a series of personnel decisions, including Terry’s, according to the article.
Folks, the insane are running the asylum.
—Stanley L. Ronell