Nassau Co. Reform Party Endorses LB "Clean Slate": Franceschini, Jachniewicz, Walsh & Hommel

FRANCESCHINI, JACHNIEWICZ, WALSH 

FOR LB CITY COUNCIL

The City of Long Beach has suffered greatly – physically from the hurricane and financially from its current toxic politics. Two years ago, the Reform Party endorsed the entire Democratic slate – and the entire slate of candidates won.

We asked ourselves if the people of Long Beach are better off today than they were two years ago. The answer is a resounding NO.

The City has between $90 - $125 million in outstanding debt up from $48 million in January 2012. That is a huge increase. The iconic boardwalk is the most costly of any boardwalk repairs on the East Coast. In addition, we are told that the boardwalk is already experiencing problems – so much so that the current city council has set aside an additional $2 million to repair the new boardwalk. While the city reports that FEMA will reimburse the city and its tax-burdened citizens for the entire cost of the boardwalk, the truth is that the citizens of Long Beach are going to be left with a huge tax increase to pay for the balance of the boardwalk that FEMA will not pay for.

The current council, ostensibly to repair prior debts, has added a sizeable tax increase in the form of a “special assessment” of 15% per year for three years. This increase is on top of the 2 1/2 % per year tax increase that the current city council acknowledged. That “special assessment” is still a tax increase and is in excess of a 15% tax increase per year on the citizens of Long Beach.

There is a new set of candidates running under the Clean Slate banner who offer hope to the people of Long Beach.  Since the Reform Party does not have a separate a party line on the ballot in this election, the Clean Slate candidates have accepted the Republican Party line to run a reform campaign to clean up Long Beach.

All three of these candidates are typical Long Beach residents and all three have extensive successful and fiscally sound business backgrounds.

The Reform Party endorses the following Clean Slate candidates (running on the Republican line) for Long Beach City Council:

Long Beach City Judge- HOMMEL

Ted Hommel is an experienced, compassionate attorney with extensive public experience (Deputy County Attorney for Nassau County, Assistant Corporation Council for Long Beach) and is a life-long Long Beach resident. He has been found “well qualified” by the Bar Association. When Mr. Hommel announced that he was running for city judge, he was promptly fired by the Democrats running Long Beach.

His opponent, Mr. Tepper, – by law – cannot serve out his term of office. His opponent faces the mandatory retirement age within one year of this upcoming election, which means that, by law, the City Manager would appoint a judge. We feel that since Mr. Hommel’s opponent is well aware of this, that this is an ethical violation of the trust of the people of Long Beach. This also means that if the current judge is re-elected, the people would essentially not get to vote on their City Judge. Therefore:

The Reform Party endorses Ted Hommel for Long Beach City Judge.