Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s recent appearance with President Donald Trump at his county’s police academy — with uniformed cadets and officers sitting behind them — amounted to an improper partisan political rally, Democrats allege in a formal complaint expected to be filed Friday with the state Board of Elections.
The Aug. 14 event featured Republican candidates for Congress from around the state. Several spoke from the rostrum, denouncing Democratic officeholders. Blakeman, who is also running for governor, attacked state policies and Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul during his speech.
Trump took the stage and praised his host after discussing new crime figures.
“We have to get Bruce into office,” Trump said before mentioning Blakeman’s Democratic opponent. “Nowhere is the communist attack on American society more clear than in New York state. The radical-left Gov. Kathy Hochul has been very, very bad on crime.”
The rhetoric and choice of speakers effectively made the event a partisan political rally, New York State Democratic Committee Chair Jay Jacobs said. He said Blakeman improperly used the resources of his public office to benefit his campaign by holding the event in a county-owned facility secured in part by county police.
“Candidate Bruce Blakeman, while accepting public finance dollars to mount a campaign, has exploited the governmental office of Nassau County executive to deploy county funds, facilities and personnel, all in furtherance of his own statewide candidacy,” Jacobs wrote in the complaint, which was reviewed by Gothamist.
State law prohibits the use of public resources for campaign activity. Incumbent officials, including both Hochul and Blakeman, often use their official bully pulpits to make points that are later echoed in campaign advertisements and speeches.
In a statement, Blakeman described the Democrats’ complaint as a “Hail Mary.”
“Of course Kathy Hochul would criticize the president for coming to tour our outstanding law enforcement facilities and honor law enforcement professionals,” he said.
Jacobs said it was far more than a tour.
“This was a campaign rally. It looked like a campaign rally. It smelled like a campaign rally. It is a campaign rally. And that's OK, but then a campaign should pay for it,” he said.
The Washington, D.C.-based watchdog Public Citizen filed a federal complaint against U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche for speaking at the event. Public Citizen said Blanche effectively endorsed Blakeman when the attorney general described the candidate as “great” in a speech.
A Department of Justice spokesperson said the complaint was baseless and politically motivated.
The White House said the gathering was an official event to announce crime statistics. The president subsequently described the event on social media as “a Rally in Nassau County in honor of Bruce Blakeman, who is running for Governor of New York.”
White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said that “extreme liberal Democrats” were deflecting attention from “soft on crime policies.”
“President Trump promised to stand with our law enforcement officers and to deliver safer American neighborhoods,” Bis said.
