Laura Gillen for New York's 4th Congressional District

The 4th Congressional District lies almost entirely in the city of Hempstead. Local geography is a powerful predictor of a contest that could determine control of the House of Representatives. After all, all politics is local.

This part of Nassau County captures the prevailing political currents of 2024. Will protecting reproductive freedom be a catalyst for suburban women and independents? Will immigration and border security be hit hard as New York City struggles to cope with an influx of migrants? Will Kamala Harris at the top of the Democratic ticket result in high turnout among the district's significant concentration of minority and Asian voters? Given the aftermath of October 7, are Orthodox and conservative Jewish voters continuing to consolidate behind Donald Trump?

Everything is factors. But in the end, the race could be a barometer of voters' tolerance for the culture of brazen nepotism in Hempstead, the heart of Nassau County's Republican machine.

Republican incumbent Anthony P. D'Esposito, 42, of Island Park, is defending his seat in a rematch with attorney Laura A. Gillen, 55, of Rockville Centre. The race is also another chapter in Gillen's anger against the patronage and nepotism machine that led to her surprise victory as city manager in 2017, the first Democrat to hold the post in more than a century.

Stain of nepotism

Gillen, who was leading a campaign against patronage and corruption at the time, had good reason to practice nepotism. Earlier this year, D'Esposito was appointed to a seat on the City Council while on unpaid leave as an NYPD detective. He soon got another job, working full-time at the Nassau County Board of Elections Board of Trustees, where he specialized in polling place security assessments. The $100,000 salary for that job was in addition to the $71,000 he earned as a city councilman.

Here's what the editors wrote at the time:

“This week in the Town of Hempstead, Councilman Anthony D'Esposito voted to give a raise to his mother, Carmen D'Esposito, a secretary for the highway department who will make $88,939 a year. That's good work, and the D'Espositos get a lot of it. Anthony's brother, Timothy D'Esposito, earned a salary of $52,468 in 2016 as a captain in the Department of Conservation and Waterways, a tax officer. And Timothy and Anthony's father, Stephen D'Esposito, was chief of staff to Supervisor Anthony Santino and earned $169,000 a year.

The family members were all hired before D'Esposito entered city government, making him a beneficiary of nepotism. After winning election to the House of Representatives in 2022, D'Esposito brought Hempstead culture to the federal level and became a philanthropist. As The New York Times revealed, D'Esposito placed the daughter of a person described as his longtime fiancée on the congressional payroll as a staffer in his local district office at a monthly salary of $3,800. Soon after, he hired another woman to have a relationship with for $2,000 a month. It turned out she also had a full-time job with the city. Was the congressional position a no-show job? If not, both the daughter of the woman he was engaged to and the woman he was befriending worked in D'Esposito's district office.

It was an echo of 2017, when D'Esposito, new to the City Council, put the same fiancée and her son on the payroll of the Village of East Rockaway.

In his recommendation interview with the editor, D'Esposito said he did nothing wrong: “There was no breach of ethics in either hire.”

When asked if he would do it again, he replied: “If there are no ethics violations, there is absolutely no problem.”

That is disqualifying.

Ironically, regardless of the outcome of the House race, D'Esposito is considered the likely GOP nominee for Hempstead supervisor next year if three-term incumbent Don Clavin opts for a judgeship instead. Asked about his intentions, D'Esposito said: “My focus is on the job I have.”

POLITICAL GOALS

Unlike some GOP candidates, D'Esposito rightly acknowledges that mass deportation of migrants is unrealistic; In his opinion, the focus should be on eliminating those who violate the law. And he was part of a group of moderate Republicans who stopped some of their conference's more extreme ideas, such as cutting Amtrak funding and stopping the sale of mifepristone abortion pills through retail pharmacies or by mail.

To combat the flooding that's a problem in his coastal district, D'Esposito has a creative idea: The federal government and the city could team up to create special taxing districts for those who live on canals to pay for improved bulkheads.

Gillen, who served as supervisor for one term, is smart, tenacious and tireless in the pursuit of her goals. She wants the southern border closed, faster decisions on asylum claims and an overhaul of the immigration system that would encourage people to seek legal status in their home countries in order to come here. She wants the federal government to reimburse New York for the costs of its migrant assistance program.

Gillen believes the federal government should be more involved in flood insurance programs and wants more funding to improve water quality, particularly in areas of the district with cancer clusters. She wants tougher negotiations with pharmaceutical companies to reduce the number of prescription drugs. Gillen would be a vocal supporter of restoring the IRS deduction for state and local taxes.

We said two years ago that Gillen was the best choice in the 4th District, and we stand by that recommendation.

Newsday's editorial team supports Gillen.