Jon Kaiman stresses experience to battle Lee Tu for North Hempstead Supervisor
This is Lee Tu's second go at Jon Kaiman, the four-term North Hempstead Supervisor. Tu has proven himself an exuberant, enthusiastic, affable campaigner, but from the last time to this, he has few ideas to offer about a vision for North Hempstead, or even what he would do to preserve the quality of life here now, against the formidable challenges local governments everywhere confront.
Tu, who got his degree in accounting and finance at New York University’s Stern School of Business and now works as a director of administration at Cornick, Garber & Sandler, a Manhattan accounting firm, has not held an elected office since high school, but now thinks he is ready to manage the 7th largest municipality out of 1,500 in New York State, with 230,000 population, 64 villages and 60 special districts.
The president of the Albertson Republican Club in North Hempstead, he seems more interested in campaigning and glad-handing than in actually governing.
His message - which follows the script of Republicans everywhere - blasts what he claims is a 40 percent increase in taxes over the past eight years (a debatable figure), debt level (the debt of the town, New York's 7th largest municipality includes all the sub-municipalities, as well as its ongoing liabilities from the Sumitomo landfill judgment). Tu dredges up the Building Department scandal from five years ago and doesn't seem to like the fact the building department is actually scrutinizing documentation now before it issues a permit rather than let builders and residents get away with McMansion-style projects that are not up to code or violate zoning.