HEMPSTEAD, NY –  With Election day one week away, Acting Nassau District Attorney Madeline Singas held a news conference outside Town Hall in Hempstead to shine a spotlight on Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray’s dealings with Dean and Adam Skelos. Murray is her opponent in the November 3 election for Nassau County District Attorney (DA).
Skelos, the former NY Senate Majority Leader, and his son are under federal indicted for bribery, extortion, and fraud.
“Madeline Singas Monday (Oct. 26) called on her opponent Kate Murray, the Hempstead Town supervisor, to disclose whether she or other town officials were asked to name state Sen. Dean Skelos’ daughter-in-law to the town’s zoning board….Last Friday, federal prosecutors sought a judge’s approval to introduce evidence in Skelos’ upcoming corruption trial which they say shows that Rockville Centre Republican tried to use his clout as then-Senate majority leader to get his daughter-in-law placed on a Nassau town zoning board, so his son, Adam, could “corruptly obtain zoning decisions favorable to real estate deals he brokered given his wife’s appointment,” Newsday reported.
The documents do not name the town in question, but Singas said it is Hempstead, and citing a state law that requires appointees to live in the municipality in which they are appointed.
Adam and Ann Marie Skelos are Rockville Centre residents and would thus be barred from serving on another town’s board.
“In light of Friday’s disturbing allegations by federal prosecutors, I’m calling on Kate Murray to fully disclose her dealings with both Dean and Adam Skelos, two men who have been federally indicted for bribery, extortion and fraud,” said Singas at the news conference.
Hempstead Town spokesman Mike Deery said: “We have no knowledge of any such attempt to place the person in question on a zoning board.”
According to Newsday, “Singas also criticized Murray for filling spots on the Hempstead Town Zoning Board of Appeals with Republicans who have contributed money to Murray’s previous campaigns — six of the seven board members are Republicans and one is a registered Conservative. Four of the appointees to the board have donated a combined $10,200 to Murray’s town supervisor campaign account from 2007 to 2014, according to state campaign finance records.”