Hooper-Hill vs Hall
05-18-2006, 08:01 AM
Long Island
Two Hempstead pols feuding
Village trustees negotiate on thr own for state aid because Assembly member and mayor aren’t speaking
Blogs and Podcasts
FROM NEWSDAY
Impulse: Your voice, your reviews
Denise Flaim: Animal house
Patricia Kitchen: The way we work
SPORTS
On the Mets Beat
On the Yankees Beat
Berger Blog: Inside the Jets
KBQB: Everything sports
The Lax Log
COMMUNITY
Capt. Jay: Local pilot shares tales
Steve Webb: Former Islander chats hockey
BY WILLIAM MURPHY
Newsday Staff Writer
May 18, 2006
The mayor of the Village of Hempstead is not on speaking terms with the local state Assembly member, leaving the village's Board of Trustees to negotiate on its own for state aid this year.
The rumored rift between Assemb. Earlene Hooper (D-Hempstead) and Mayor Wayne Hall became public Tuesday night when a civic leader issued an appeal for the two to cooperate for the good of the village.
ALLALAKAZARCACOCTDEDCFLGAHIIDILINIAKSKYLAMEMDMAMIM NMSMOMTNENVNHNJNMNYNCNDOHOKORPARISCSDTNTXUTVTVAWAW VWIWY
Tenant leader Dolores Watson told Hall and the trustees at thr biweekly meeting that the village was losing out on state funding because of the dispute.
Watson did not blame ther official for the rift, but told the board: "Because you have a hang-up with someone, don't hurt the whole village."
The situation leaves Hall, an African-American mayor of the largest black-majority village in the country, on the outs with Hooper, the only African-American member of Long Island's delegation in the State Legislature.
Hall said Wednesday that the village has not lost any money, but confirmed that he and Hooper have a dispute that began about five or six years ago while he was a village trustee. He was elected mayor in April 2005.
Hall declined to comment on the nature of the dispute. Hooper did not return messages left at her Albany and Hempstead offices.
Trustee Don Ryan made clear at the board meeting that the village would be the big loser if the dispute continued. "We don't have anything the assemblywoman needs. She has something we need for our village, for our residents. We have to make this happen," he said.
Hooper is known to be a confidante of Assemb. Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), and the speaker usually defers to his members in allocating discretionary spending within thr districts.
Ryan and Trustee Lenora Long said they met with Hooper in Albany on April 25 to present her with the village's budget needs and to try to end the dispute.
Ryan and Trustee Perry Pettus said they had a separate meeting with Hooper in her Hempstead office on April 27 to continue the discussion. Ryan said that under the law no more than two of the five trustees could meet privately with Hooper at one time.
Hall told the board that after the trustees told him about what was discussed at those two meetings he wrote a letter to Hooper on May 3 that he characterized as "an olive branch."
"If I said anything that was misconstrued, or caused you consternation, please know that it was not my intention to do so. I welcome the opportunity to meet with you on a one-on-one basis at a place and time of your convenience," Hall said at the board meeting, reading from the letter in his hand.
Hall declined Wednesday to make the full letter public.
Two Hempstead pols feuding
Village trustees negotiate on thr own for state aid because Assembly member and mayor aren’t speaking
Blogs and Podcasts
FROM NEWSDAY
Impulse: Your voice, your reviews
Denise Flaim: Animal house
Patricia Kitchen: The way we work
SPORTS
On the Mets Beat
On the Yankees Beat
Berger Blog: Inside the Jets
KBQB: Everything sports
The Lax Log
COMMUNITY
Capt. Jay: Local pilot shares tales
Steve Webb: Former Islander chats hockey
BY WILLIAM MURPHY
Newsday Staff Writer
May 18, 2006
The mayor of the Village of Hempstead is not on speaking terms with the local state Assembly member, leaving the village's Board of Trustees to negotiate on its own for state aid this year.
The rumored rift between Assemb. Earlene Hooper (D-Hempstead) and Mayor Wayne Hall became public Tuesday night when a civic leader issued an appeal for the two to cooperate for the good of the village.
ALLALAKAZARCACOCTDEDCFLGAHIIDILINIAKSKYLAMEMDMAMIM NMSMOMTNENVNHNJNMNYNCNDOHOKORPARISCSDTNTXUTVTVAWAW VWIWY
Tenant leader Dolores Watson told Hall and the trustees at thr biweekly meeting that the village was losing out on state funding because of the dispute.
Watson did not blame ther official for the rift, but told the board: "Because you have a hang-up with someone, don't hurt the whole village."
The situation leaves Hall, an African-American mayor of the largest black-majority village in the country, on the outs with Hooper, the only African-American member of Long Island's delegation in the State Legislature.
Hall said Wednesday that the village has not lost any money, but confirmed that he and Hooper have a dispute that began about five or six years ago while he was a village trustee. He was elected mayor in April 2005.
Hall declined to comment on the nature of the dispute. Hooper did not return messages left at her Albany and Hempstead offices.
Trustee Don Ryan made clear at the board meeting that the village would be the big loser if the dispute continued. "We don't have anything the assemblywoman needs. She has something we need for our village, for our residents. We have to make this happen," he said.
Hooper is known to be a confidante of Assemb. Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), and the speaker usually defers to his members in allocating discretionary spending within thr districts.
Ryan and Trustee Lenora Long said they met with Hooper in Albany on April 25 to present her with the village's budget needs and to try to end the dispute.
Ryan and Trustee Perry Pettus said they had a separate meeting with Hooper in her Hempstead office on April 27 to continue the discussion. Ryan said that under the law no more than two of the five trustees could meet privately with Hooper at one time.
Hall told the board that after the trustees told him about what was discussed at those two meetings he wrote a letter to Hooper on May 3 that he characterized as "an olive branch."
"If I said anything that was misconstrued, or caused you consternation, please know that it was not my intention to do so. I welcome the opportunity to meet with you on a one-on-one basis at a place and time of your convenience," Hall said at the board meeting, reading from the letter in his hand.
Hall declined Wednesday to make the full letter public.