By: Fern Sidman
The Jewish Voice was recently granted the distinct privilege and tremendous honor of interviewing the newly elected Nassau County Executive. The Honorable Bruce Blakeman is a no stranger to public service and his illustrious record is testament to the fact that he is a highly effective legislator and staunch advocate for the issues that directly affect his constituents.
A formidable politician, Mr. Blakeman is an impressive chap who exudes confidence that is predicated upon his vast knowledge of the issues effecting all Long Island residents. In 2021, Blakeman defeated Democratic incumbent Laura Curran. He previously served as the Commissioner for the New York-New Jersey Port Authority as well as a Nassau County legislator and Hempstead Town Councilman.
As the 10th Nassau County executive, his extraordinary election marks the very first time that a Jewish person has held this office.
Upon greeting the Jewish Voice editorial team in his office in Mineola, Mr. Blakeman discussed his lifelong commitment to his country and to the Jewish faith that he was raised in. Recalling memories of his beloved grandfather, of blessed memory who helped to inculcate him with the values that he lives with until this day, he said: “It is an honor to be in a position to spearhead Jewish causes. I am fulfilling a promise I made to my grandfather. When I was about nine years old, two weeks before he died, my grandfather brought me into the kitchen and asked me to sit next to him. He said he wanted to talk about something serious. And my grandfather was never serious. He was the grandfather with the candy in his pocket for us and took us to play Ski-Ball on the boardwalk and put us on the rides.”
Blakeman added, “He never had a serious conversation with me but he told me to promise him two things. He said promise me that you’ll always remember that you’re an American and that you’re a Jew. I told him that I would keep that promise and my whole life, I have been fulfilling that promise in everything that I have done and everything that I have worked for.”
Because of a litany of both national and local issues that are grievously affecting municipalities throughout the length and breadth of the United States, Blakeman said that his agenda focuses on specific issues that are pertinent to the daily lives of all Nassau County residents. “On a local level, my focus is on three major things. First is keeping taxes down, the second is fighting crime especially because of the liberal, woke, progressive laws that have been enacted in Albany. These measures keep us much less safe so I am fighting against that and in the meantime I am managing the 12th largest police department in the United States and they are doing a great job. But they can only go so far because the legislators and the governor in Albany have basically handcuffed them,” he said.
Speaking of the controversial bail reform laws and the soft on violent crime posture of Democrats in Albany and in the White House, Blakeman said, “The police here in Nassau County do not have the ability to keep criminals off the streets because they arrest them and then they are released the same day. And they are repeat offenders, they commit crime after crime.”
Offering an illustration, Blakeman said, “You can be a 17-year-old murderer, who knows the difference between right and wrong and there are no consequences with respect to being held on bail and to being held in jail.”
Referencing the myriad of financial and socio-economic challenges that his constituents are compelled to confront, Blakeman declared in an unequivocal manner, “We have to change those liberal, woke policies. So, I have made it a top priority to keep taxes down, lowering crime as well as fighting crime and fostering strong economic development. We need to create jobs, to create prosperity.”
In terms of the excessively high property taxes that his constituents are concerned with, Blakeman said, “In Nassau County, 67 percent of the tax bill goes to schools which I have no control over. Then there is another percentage that goes to the towns and villages. Then Nassau County funding is about 18 percent of the tax bill.”
He adds that this with this 18 percent, Nassau County is obligated to operate a social services program that is federally mandated but unfunded as well as projects and programs that the state requires of the county that are unfunded as well.
“We are required to operate a police department, we must operate a jail, we have to operate a highway system, a public works, and a sewer system, so out of that percent it is a small fraction of the tax bill,“ Blakeman said.
Keeping his campaign pledges, he adds, “Nevertheless, my goal is to keep the county’s portion down. I cannot control the school taxes but it is these taxes that are causing such a high tax bill for these people here. I know that for a fact. People do move to Nassau County because of the quality of the schools so it is a “Catch 22.” He did caution that as long as people vote for their school budget they should not complain about their tax bill. Even though inflation is probably going to reach about 9 percent, he says he does not feel that residents of Nassau County will be experiencing an increase in taxes.
“Understand that our costs go up. Our energy costs and our fuel costs. We have to buy food for the jail. Even though inflation is spiraling out of control now due to the failed policies of Joe Biden, I am very confident that we will hold the line on taxes this year and not have to raise them, “ he said.
In terms of illegal immigration and how it impacts the economic landscape, Blakeman said, “As to open borders, the government said that anyone could come in. The people coming in were not tested for Covid and they were not vaccinated. It’s a glaringly hypocritical posture because Americans were mandated to wear masks when the science said that they no longer needed to. People were getting fired from their jobs for not getting vaccinated and that is beyond outrageous.”
Offering a political prognostication based on the cultural zeitgeist, Blakeman declared, “There is going to be tremendous pushback among independent voters as well as fierce pushback by moderate democrats in the near future. I think that the Republican base is completely energized now and I think the red wave is going to continue as it already started here in Nassau County.”
Blakeman told the Jewish Voice that geographically Nassau County is about 17 miles going from east to west and 12 miles going from north to south. “We start at the Queens border and end just west of Route 110. We have 1.4 plus million people “ said Blakeman.
He says that people from Brooklyn are leaving and moving to Nassau County because of the skyrocketing crime rate and the woke government in New York City. Blakeman believes that New York City Mayor Eric Adams is doing a better job than his predecessor. “He’s trying. We have good relations with the city of New York that we did not have with DeBlasio.”
He adds that there has been a significant rise in rents in Nassau County in comparison to the pre-Covid era because of the steady migration of people from New York City.
Blakeman takes note of the fact that this increasing migration is “effecting our commercial real estate market. People just don’t want to work in the city anymore. It is not safe and why commute? So our commercial real estate has reached new highs.”
On the national and international front, Blakeman does not shy away from speaking out honestly and forthrightly about issues that affect all of our lives and the generations to come. “I also feel that when you represent a county that is larger than nine states in population and that has a gross domestic product that is larger than 140 countries that are in the United Nations it’s important to speak out on bigger issues and to use the bully pulpit to espouse what I think are important to the people in the county.”
Blakeman said that the people of Nassau County believe in unwavering support for the State of Israel as well as taking an intrepid stance in the cognitive battle against the egregious and odious propaganda spewed forth by the BDS movement. He also believes that it his moral obligation to raise his voice in opposition to any proposed nuclear deals with the rogue regime of Iran as well as boldly demonstrating his complete support for the Ukrainian people in order that they may defend themselves against the Russian invasion of their country.
“I am not just sending bullet proof vests and helmets and other necessities to the people of Ukraine (which we have sent) but we have also collected and shipped guns to them. For that I am especially proud because the people of Nassau County really stepped up to the plate on that issue and were so incredibly generous in every way,” he intoned.
Blakeman drew some media criticism for his efforts to help arm the Ukrainian people but he has just dismissed the naysayers with a mere shrug. “Some people were making fun of me for collecting firearms, but when Ukrainian President Zelensky said that he doesn’t need a ride but rather he needed weapons for his people to defend their country, I took that to heart. And now the world has taken it to heart and are sending critically needed armaments to Ukraine.”
He added: “I knew that there were legal gun owners here in Nassau County that wanted to do something, so we collected guns. The critics said you’ll never get it to the Ukraine and we got them to the Ukraine. We did what everyone said we couldn’t do. We got approximately 580 guns to Ukraine.”
Despite the fact that Blakeman is laboring assiduously to fulfill his campaign promises to focus on local issues that will greatly improve and enhance the lives of Nassau County residents, he told the Jewish Voice, “I also believe that I have the obligation to speak out on the bigger issues and that is why I am working very hard to elect Lee Zeldin as our next governor. I don’t think that there will be fundamental change unless there is real change at the top. Lee Zeldin has demonstrated as a state senator and a as a vibrant congressman that he has the knowledge, the ability, the experience, and the courage to lead the state. This is why I think it’s important that I play an active role in getting him elected.”
On the national scene, the issue that has been dominating the headlines as of late is that of the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision in the Roe v Wade case that saw abortion legalized. Due to a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion which states that it is the court’s intention to possibly overturn Rowe, Blakeman said that he did not want to comment on it because it was only a leaked version of the court’s agenda and it has not been voted on. He did say, however, that if he had a child who was pregnant and was contemplating abortion that he would do everything in his power to support that child keeping the baby.
“I would give financial support, even raise the child myself. I would never counsel someone to get abortion, “he said.
Blakeman did say, however that with restrictions in place, abortion is “ultimately a woman’s choice and no one else’s choice to make.”
“I do think that 15 weeks is a more than adequate time for a woman to make that decision and I am in favor of restrictions because after 15 weeks the science tells us that the fetus may be viable and if an abortion were to be performed after 15 weeks then that would be considered murder, “ he intoned.
Noting the blatant hypocrisy of the radical left and the progressive camps that have co-opted the national conversation on social issues, Blakeman commented that when it comes to those who claim to follow the “science” especially during the coronavirus as it pertained to wearing masks and instituting lockdowns, they are unwilling to hear the “science” when it comes to abortion.
“When it comes to mask wearing, these woke types are not in favor of choice but when it pertains to terminating a pregnancy they always opt for choice. In their opinion this “choice option” is sacrosanct. It’s hypocritical and it makes no sense. There is no rhyme or reason to their arguments and I think that people are pushing back because there is no common sense as to what the other party has been doing, “ he ruefully observes.
As the 2024 presidential race has received inordinate media attention, Blakeman does not want to speculate on it on until he sees who is running. “I am not going to indicate a preference until we see who is in the race and who is not in the race. I was a delegate for Trump and was the only delegate for Trump in Long Island who attended the convention personally in North Carolina, “ he proudly recalls.
In a voice resonating with a palpable fervor, Blakeman stated, “I supported Trump’s policies and his agenda. I think he was an excellent president and we will see what happens when the party starts the campaign for 2024 and we will see who jumps in and then I will make a decision.”
Turning to the impressive laundry list of the stellar accomplishments of the nation’s 45th president, Blakeman said that he supported President Trump’s agenda when it came to cancelling the Iran deal. “I think that giving Iran billions of dollars in American taxpayer money was bizarre and we all know that this is exactly what President Obama did. I don’t trust Iran. I don’t believe that their motives are true.”
Expounding on this hot button issue, Blakeman said that Iran is “not building a nuclear reactor or operating one for peaceful purposes. They are doing it for the purposes of achieving nuclear power and they are using it as leverage against the United States and Israel and anybody else that they may have an argument with.”
He added with complete conviction, “To weaponize them (Iran) with nuclear weapons is probably the dumbest thing we can possibly do. I have said that we should conduct negotiations aiming for Iran not to do that but if those negotiations prove to be unsuccessful then I think there should be a military option.”
Blakeman is of the stalwart belief that the issue of Iran creating an arsenal of nuclear weapons that might ultimately be used against the free world “is an American foreign policy issue and America is the leader of the free world and the most powerful country on earth. Therefore, the United States government has a solemn obligation to keep all Americans safe and for all of us to live in a peaceful world.”
He called the current Iranian regime “warlike” and “hateful” and said that a doomsday scenario would be having Iran possess the kind of weaponry that could spell the end of all mankind.
“I think that giving Iran the ability to build nuclear weapons is definitely not in the national interest of the US. Iranian officials and leaders have stated on numerous occasions that their intent is “death and destruction” as it pertains to the United States and Israel, “ said Blakeman. He adds: “I don’t think we should depend on Israel in terms of attempting to stop Iran from reaching their pernicious goal. I think this is our responsibility and the responsibility of the entire free world as our entire future is dependent on the decisions that we make now.”
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