By Hank Russell
A candidate for Hempstead Town Supervisor is calling on his opponent to admit wrongdoing after he claimed the latter did not answer a subpoena to explain how he was “illegally appointed” to the post.
During a Zoom press conference that was held on October 8, Joe Scianablo alleged that the current supervisor, John Ferretti, and the Hempstead Town Board broke the Open Meetings Law when he immediately became the town’s leader. According to Scianablo, Ferretti and the Town Board members were subpoenaed to appear before a judge, but disregarded the judge’s order.
“They violated the Open Meetings Law without giving proper notice on your backroom, backdoor power grab,” Scianablo, a Democrat, said, addressing Ferretti, a Republican. “[Ferretti and the Town Board] violated and eroded the public trust.”
Court documents obtained by Long Island Life & Politics showed that, based on evidence and testimony, Ferretti and the Town Board made a secret arrangement to have Ferretti step down from his post as Nassau County legislator and become town supervisor by arranging to have the previous supervisor, Don Clavin, resign at the start of the August 5 board meeting.
“The Court’s attention will be directed to those defendants that continue to state publicly that there was no open meetings violation,” said Nassau County Supreme Court Justice Gary M. Carlton. “It belies all credibility to find that what happen as stated above was spontaneous.”
As previously reported by LILP, Scianablo filed a lawsuit to invalidate Ferretti’s “illegal” appointment, charging that the board willfully violated New York’s Open Meetings Law by secretly orchestrating Clavin’s resignation, installing Ferretti as his hand-picked successor without public notice, and quietly awarding Clavin a new six-figure taxpayer-funded job. The suit named Ferretti, Town Council Members Melissa L. Miller, Dennis Dunne Sr., Thomas A. Muscarella, Laura A. Ryder and Christopher R. Schneider, former Town Supervisor Donald X. Clavin and Town Clerk Kate Murray as the defendants.
Scianablo — a former NYPD officer, Queens Assistant District Attorney, and U.S. Marine — said Ferretti and the town board were issued subpoenas to show up to court, but, “willfully and knowingly, they disregarded the court’s subpoenas to turn over the documents” from the August 5 board meeting.
“They continued to to have their elitist, entitled mentality that puts themselves above the law, before the taxpayers of this town,” Scianablo said, adding that the town board voted for a 12% tax hike earlier this year while giving themselves pay raises “under the cloak of darkness.”
“They put themselves first and they put themselves above the law,” Scianablo said. “It’s just not right.”
LILP reached out to the Nassau County GOP for comment. “Joe Scianablo is a woke, out-of-touch politician who is aligned with [Governor] Kathy Hochul and [New York City mayoral candidate] Zohran Mamdani,” said a spokesperson for Friends of John Ferretti. “At the same time, it would be inappropriate to comment on a matter of ongoing litigation.”