Democratic Party-'Poop'-er Sought

Democratic City Council candidate Scott Mandel’s first foray into the world of politics has been a bit messy and somewhat smelly — someone smeared feces on his car and on the front door of his home.

“I’ve lived in Long Beach for close to a decade and I never had a problem,” Mandel said. “After I announced I was running in the election and I started campaigning, in less than a week [I’ve been a target] of three different incidents of harassment and vandalism.”

The first incident occurred on Sept. 22, when Mandel and his wife attended the Latino Civic Association awards at the Sands in Lido Beach. He said when he returned to his car, he discovered the mirror on the driver’s side covered with feces and a pair of men’s underwear wrapped around the mirror.

After he returned to his home at about 11 p.m. and went to sleep, his doorbell rang at midnight. He looked outside, but no one was there, but he discovered more feces on the windshield of his car and a bag of feces at the front of his driveway. He also found someone had smeared feces all over his front door and a bag of used kitty litter thrown in front of his door.

“You’ve got to give whoever did this credit,” said Mandel, a litigation attorney. “It was pretty brave.”

He said he filed a report with the Long Beach Police Department and the Nassau County Police Department, since the Sands is located within the 4th Precinct.

The next incident occurred on Sept. 26, when a bag of feces was discovered in front of the walkway and in front of his house. Mandel once again contacted authorities, including Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice.

“We spoke to Mr. Mandel and we passed it onto the local police department,” said Chris Munzing, a spokesman for Rice. “We told him to keep us in the loop on anything else.”

If he has been targeted because he’s a Democratic candidate running for City Council, Mendal said, it would be a sorry state of affairs.

“I can’t say that it is politically motivated because I have no proof that it is,” Mandel said. “If it is politically motivated, then it’s a shame.”

Jim Moriarty, Republican Party chairman, said, “What if it’s not politically motivated, wouldn’t it still be a sorry state of affairs, assuming all the allegations are true?”

In addition to the incidents that Mandel has been reporting, the daughter of Darlene Tangney, a Long Beach Board of Education trustee who is running for County Legislature, discovered the tires had been slashed on her car outside her Long Beach home last month, according to Councilman Len Torres. Tangney did not return a call for comment.

In addition, someone smashed the window at Democratic headquarters on West Park Avenue within the same week, Torres said.

Torres, a Democrat who is running for reelection, said the incidents are affecting their campaign. “People are afraid to put political signs up because they are afraid they may be the next ones to be victimized,” he said.