Joe Scianablo, the Democrat running to be Hempstead supervisor, filed a lawsuit Monday morning against the town, former supervisor Don Clavin and recently appointed Republican supervisor John Ferretti, alleging Ferretti’s appointment breaks state law and should be overturned.
Clavin resigned from the seat, which then-candidate Ferretti was subsequently appointed to, at the Aug. 5 town meeting. The move was not announced by the town beforehand, which Scianablo’s lawsuit alleges is a violation of state law.
“The law is clear,” said Scianablo, a former NYPD officer and Queens assistant district attorney. “The law requires notice so that the public can be heard. Instead, the Nassau County GOP created this charade designed to silence 780,000 voters in America’s largest township. I filed this lawsuit to expose the sham, to hold the officials accountable and to protect the people’s right to open government.”
The town refuted Scianablo’s claim that the appointment broke the law, calling his lawsuit a “silly and disingenuous maneuver,” while Matthew Capp, a spokesman for Ferretti’s campaign, said the suit was a “political stunt” that costs taxpayers money.
Capp also claimed Scianablo has not always voted in Hempstead elections and that it was hypocritical of him to say he was committed to defending democracy with the lawsuit. Scianablo has voted in three of the past four Hempstead elections and called Ferretti’s claim a “distraction.”
“This publicity stunt by Joe Scianablo demonstrates a total lack of knowledge regarding local government,” said Brian Devine, communications director for the Town of Hempstead. “Supervisor Ferretti’s appointment was made in complete accordance with the law.”
Devine said the fact that Scianablo recently backed legislation to amend state law to make appointments of town officials illegal proves that Ferretti’s appointment was legal, as there isn’t yet a law against town appointments.
But Scianablo’s suit does not charge that the appointment itself was illegal, but the way it was done.
The lawsuit alleges the town, Ferretti, Clavin and all members of the town board except Council Member Dorothy Goosby, who abstained from the vote to appoint Ferretti, broke the New York Public Officer’s Law by not providing 24-hour notice for Ferretti’s appointment despite planning for the change in power to take place at the Aug. 5 meeting.
“The script was written well in advance, the stage was set, but the taxpayers were locked out of the room,” Scianablo said. “We all know Ferretti’s appointment wasn’t decided on Aug. 5. It was decided weeks, if not months, in advance.”
Scianablo cited the fact that Ferretti and his family were waiting in Hempstead Town Hall prior to his Aug. 5 appointment and the town had a Bible prepared for Ferretti to be sworn in, that the town had changed signs and created stages naming Ferretti the supervisor the same day of the appointment, Ferretti’s campaign’s quick rebranding of him as an incumbent and a report where Ferretti said the decision for him to be appointed to the supervisor seat was made “a couple of days” prior the meeting.
“He admitted to violating the law when he said he knew that this was going to happen,” Scianablo said.
Scianablo has consistently said Ferretti’s appointment to the seat provides him with an unfair advantage in the election by allowing him to run as an incumbent.
“This wasn’t about handing John Ferretti a title,” Scianablo said. “It was about handing him every unfair advantage of incumbency. Now he gets to plaster his name all over town, send out taxpayer-funded mailers, use public signage, get free media coverage for ribbon-cutting ceremonies and town events.”
Scianablo has also called the move anti-democratic and harmful to the town’s taxpayers. He said Ferretti’s new salary as supervisor and Clavin’s new position in Hempstead’s Department of Planning and Economic Development will cost the town more.
The town has not responded to questions on how much either Republican official makes in their new position.
However, Scianablo alleged Monday that Clavin’s new salary is $179,000, based on an agenda item at the Aug. 5 meeting for salaries in the Hempstead Department of Planning and Economic Development.
Though Scianablo said he wasn’t sure how far the suit would go before the November election, he said he believed it was critical to file it regardless to “preserve law and order.”
The Hempstead Town Supervisor election between Scianablo and Ferretti is on Nov. 4.
