PERSON: Bruce Blakeman

Bruce Blakeman is running for Nassau County Executive with a plan to immediately cut taxes and stop the County Executive Curran’s massive Reassessment Tax Hikes that are killing our American dream. Nassau County was once the top destination for people seeking affordable homes and safe neighborhoods. Sadly, things have taken a terrible turn.

During the worst economic crisis in our lifetime, Laura Curran hurt everyone by hiking property taxes on 65% of homeowners as unemployment and Covid-19 infections skyrocketed. She even vetoed $9 million in tax cuts that were approved by the County Legislature. She tried taxing little league children and scouts for use of County athletic fields, and increased “Toilet Taxes” (aka sewer taxes) by $5 million. We now pay the highest sewer fees ever. In pandering to extremists, Curran announced plans to kick law enforcement officers out of their headquarters at the County jail, which would prevent them from deporting dangerous drug dealers, murderers, and gang members. Laura Curran’s public policies are dangerous for Nassau families and our bank accounts.

Bruce Blakeman knows that we need to get Nassau County back on track and put money back into our resident’s wallets. As our next County Executive, Bruce Blakeman will immediately cut taxes and stop the County Executive’s massive tax hikes. He will always back our police and the policies needed to keep our communities safe. Active in law enforcement and homeland security for 20 years, Blakeman is Executive Director of the New York Police Chiefs Benevolent Association, serves on the Crime Stoppers Board, New York COPS Foundation, and is Deputy Counsel to the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Foundation.

A Hempstead Town Councilman, Bruce Blakeman voted to cut property taxes two years in a row and approved budgets that earned the Town of Hempstead among the highest Wall Street credit ratings available. To protect taxpayer money and safeguard against wrongdoing, Blakeman championed laws to create the Town’s first-ever Compliance Officer and hired a former Federal prosecutor to serve as Town Attorney. Bruce has led efforts to combat anti-Semitism and passed landmark legislation to ensure that the Town of Hempstead no longer does business with any entity that bans, divests, and/or sanctions the state of Israel. To prevent the spread of drugs in our neighborhoods, Bruce has strengthened local quality of life laws and serves on the board of a non-profit organization that offers drug and alcohol addiction counseling.

Former Presiding Officer of the County Legislature, Blakeman has never been afraid to stand up against politicians, even those in his own political party, to do what is best for taxpayers. In fact, Bruce slashed $40 million in excessive spending and reduced salaries of political appointees in the budget of a former Republican County Executive. While serving on the County Legislature, Blakeman also preserved open space, directed critical funding toward downtown business district improvements throughout Nassau County, and established a life-saving breast cancer resource center named Hewlett House.

Beyond elected office, Bruce Blakeman served as Commissioner for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from 2001 to 2009 where he oversaw major airports, bridges, tunnels, ports and facilities across the metropolitan area. He is an attorney who is admitted to practice law before the United States Supreme Court, New York and New Jersey courts, the United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit, and the United States District Courts, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. Mr. Blakeman is a graduate of California Western Law School and Arizona State University. Bruce was born in Oceanside, raised in Valley Stream and currently resides in Atlantic Beach with his wife, Segal.

Bruce Blakeman has the experience, knowledge and skills required to fix the fiscal mess created by the current County Executive, curtail her Reassessment Tax Hikes and reverse all of her high-tax policies. At the same time, Bruce Blakeman will restore Nassau County as an affordable suburb that will again be an emblem of the American Dream.

Source: https://www.cutnassautaxes.com/meet-bruce