Leaders in the Village of Mineola have seen a lot of local pols make good recently. But is that good for Mineola, which loses the legislative clout that comes with longevity?
At last night’s Board of Trustees meeting, Mayor Jack Martins congratulated Assemb. Thomas DiNapoli, a former Mineola school board member, on being elected state comptroller earlier in the day by his legislative colleagues.
Last month, Martins had congratulated State Sen. Michael Balboni, whose district included Mineola, on being named the governor’s head of homeland security.
Bill Murphy
And, Martins noted Wednesday night, local Assemb. Maureen O’Connell had been elected Nassau County Clerk in 2005. O’Connell, a Republican, lost out to Democrat Craig Johnson earlier this week in a special election to replace Balboni.
That, Martins pointed out, meant the loss of three veteran local legislators who represented all or part of Mineola in a bit more than a year.
Martins said he would be meeting with Johnson next week to bring him up to speed on issues in the village, including, the LIRR’s proposed Third Track and the Hub development that he said would being congestion but little else to Mineola.