Nassau County Executive Laura Curran is supposed to be a reformer, having won the job by slamming the county’s massive corruption. So why is she empowering scandal-tarred hack Richard Kes🌊sel?
Curran has raised eyebrows by tapping Kesᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚsel to head Nassau’s Industrial Development Agency. The IDA grants tax breaks to companies in the name of boosting the economy. But Kessel doesn’t belong at the head of any public agency, let alone one that hands out taxpayer funds.
He has been probed by the state attorney general, comptroller and inspector general, as well as the feds. In 2007, Gov. Eliot Spitzer forced him out as head of the Long Island Power Authority; in 2011, Gov. Cuomo canned him from the New York Power Authority.
His big claiꦏm to fame: overseeing huge rate hikes for electricity as LIPA’s bo🧜ss. That fueled an exodus of manufacturing firms, which makes his current job, goosing the economy, ironic. And outrageous.
And Kessel is already pushing the IDA into areas that have little to do with his mandate. As former Nassau Interim Finance Authority Director George Marlin notes, the IDA 💮boss is granting tax breaks to developers who build “affordable” and “transit-oriented” housing. The latest: a $2.3 million gift to the Feil Organization for a 230-unit project in Oceanside.
The agꦍencyꦦ is also looking to develop a “clean energy” plan to promote “renewable energy production” in Nassau.
Even if you b♛ack such goals, it’s clear they stray far from the mission of an economic-develop⛄ment agency that gives away residents’ tax money.
Meanwhile, Nassau County’s finances remain under the thumb of a fiscal control board, NIFA. And former County Executive Ed Mangano and his wife still face corruption charges. Residents hardly need someone as tainted as Kessel to💝 be handing out their🏅 money.