Bruce Blakeman
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Bruce Arthur Blakeman (born October 2, 1955) is an American attorney and politician currently serving as the 10th County Executive of Nassau County,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
. He was elected in the 2021 election, defeating Democratic incumbent
Laura Curran Laura Curran (born December 31, 1967) is a Canadian-born American politician who served as the county executive of Nassau County from 2018 to 2021. She was the ninth county executive in Nassau County history and the first woman to hold the offi ...
. He previously served as the commissioner for the New York-New Jersey Port Authority as well as a Nassau County legislator and Hempstead town councilman.


Early life and education

Blakeman was born in
Valley Stream, New York Valley Stream is a village in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population in the Village of Valley Stream was 37,511 at the 2010 census. The incorporated Village of Valley Stream is within the Town of Hempstead, ...
. He attended Valley Stream Central High School. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and government from
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and a
Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...
from the California Western School of Law.


Early career

Bruce Blakeman was first elected to the Hempstead Town Council in 1993. In 1993, federal district court judge Arthur D. Spatt ruled Nassau County's Board of Supervisors to be in violation of
one man, one vote "One man, one vote", or "one person, one vote", expresses the principle that individuals should have equal representation in voting. This slogan is used by advocates of political equality to refer to such electoral reforms as universal suffrage, ...
. The Board of Supervisors authorized the creation of the
Nassau County Legislature The Nassau County Legislature is the lawmaking body of Nassau County, New York. Currently, it has 19 different members from 19 different districts. It was formed in 1996 to succeed the county's Board of Supervisors, which was ruled unconstitutio ...
as a successor to their body. Elections were held in November 1995, and Blakeman, at the time a Hempstead town Councilman, was elected to the first Legislative class to represent the 7th district. He was also elected the body's first presiding officer. The body took their seats on January 1st, 1996. During a particularly bad election year for Nassau County Republicans, Blakeman lost his seat in the Legislature in the election of November 1999 to Jeff Toback, and the Republicans lost the Majority. In June 2001, Blakeman was appointed by Governor
George Pataki George Elmer Pataki (; born June 24, 1945) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 53rd governor of New York from 1995 to 2006. An attorney by profession, Pataki was elected mayor of his hometown of Peekskill, New York, and went on ...
as a commissioner of the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorize ...
. He held that position until 2009. He was a commissioner during the
September 11th attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
. In 2007, as a member of the law firm Abrams, Fensterman, Fensterman, Eisman, Greenberg, Formato & Einige, Blakeman brokered a deal with Canon Inc. to keep their headquarters on Long Island, and retain over 1,100 jobs for local residents. Canon was planning on moving out of state. In
2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
, Blakeman ran for
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after
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
resigned the seat to become U.S. secretary of state, which triggered a special election. Governor
David Paterson David Alexander Paterson (born May 20, 1954) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 55th governor of New York, succeeding Eliot Spitzer and serving out nearly three years of Spitzer's term from March 2008 to December 2010. A ...
appointed then-Representative
Kirsten Gillibrand Kirsten Elizabeth Gillibrand (; ; born December 9, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from New York since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as member of the U.S. House of ...
, who would win the Democratic nomination for the Special Election. Blakeman lost the Republican primary to former
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Joe DioGuardi. In
2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...
, Blakeman ran for the open 4th congressional district, after Democratic U.S. Representative
Carolyn McCarthy Carolyn McCarthy ( Cook; born January 5, 1944) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1997 to 2015. She is a member of the Democratic Party. On January 8, 2014, she announced that she would not run for re-elect ...
announced her retirement. He won the Republican Nomination, and went head to head with Nassau County
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, the Democratic nominee, in the general election. He lost 53%-47%.


Hempstead Town Councilman

In January 2015, Blakeman was appointed to the Hempstead Town Council, replacing James Darcy after previously serving on the Hempstead Town Council from 1993 to 1995. In 2017, Blakeman joined fellow Republican councilwoman Erin King-Sweeney in endorsing Democratic challenger Laura Gillen in the race for Hempstead Town Supervisor. Gillen, who ran against incumbent Town Supervisor Republican Anthony Santino, went on to win the election, becoming the first Democratic Hempstead Town Supervisor in over 100 years. Gillen named Blakeman Deputy Town Supervisor. In 2019, Blakeman and King-Sweeney endorsed Republican Receiver of Taxes Donald X. Clavin Jr. against Democratic Town Supervisor Laura Gillen for Town Supervisor. Clavin went on to win against Gillen. Blakeman was succeeded on the Hempstead town council by GOP Assemblywoman Melissa Miller.


Nassau County Executive

In March 2021, Blakeman was chosen by Nassau Republicans to run against incumbent Democratic Nassau County Executive Laura Curran. He defeated her by 2,150 votes. On September 19, 2022, Blakeman introduced his annual budget proposal. This proposal did not raise nor lower taxes, and added nearly 100 additional police and law enforcement jobs to the County payroll. In the summer of 2022, amid multiple shark sightings on Long Island beaches, Blakeman swam in the Atlantic Ocean at Nickerson Beach to alleviate fears and demonstrate that the water was safe to swim in. Blakeman also endorsed U.S. Congressman
Lee Zeldin Lee Michael Zeldin (born January 30, 1980) is an American attorney, politician, and officer in the United States Army Reserve. A Republican, he has represented New York's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representativ ...
of Shirley for Governor of New York in the 2022 November General Election against incumbent Governor
Kathy Hochul Kathleen Hochul ( ; née Courtney; born August 27, 1958) is an American politician serving as the 57th governor of New York since August 24, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, she is New York's first female governor, as well as the first ...
.


COVID Mandates

Before taking office, Blakeman pledged to fight actions imposed by New York Governor
Kathy Hochul Kathleen Hochul ( ; née Courtney; born August 27, 1958) is an American politician serving as the 57th governor of New York since August 24, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, she is New York's first female governor, as well as the first ...
addressing the
COVID-19 Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, such as the face mask mandate in public school districts and public places, including businesses. On January 6, 2022, he signed an
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making masks optional. After a Nassau County Supreme Court Justice declared Governor Hochul's mask mandate unconstitutional, Blakeman pushed for all local mandates be made optional. However, the New York Court of Appeals stayed the ruling pending appeal. Blakeman also refused to support a vaccine mandate for county workers.


State Bail Reform Laws

After taking office, County Executive Blakeman signed an Executive Order directing the Nassau County PD to record the number of criminals being released under the Bail Reform law passed under former Governor
Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cuo ...
. He has since called for the repeal of such bail reform law, citing statistics showing over 9,000 Nassau criminals being released and committing new crimes once released, as well as the general uptick in middle-of-the-night robberies of people's vehicles.


Ukraine

During the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. A ...
, Blakeman helped conduct a rifle
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which resulted in the collection of 60 rifles for Ukraine. He also joined with local elected officials to call for the shuttering of Russian owned Nassau County compounds after Russian Forces invaded Ukraine.


County Events

On July 30, Blakeman held a "Nassau is Back" concert featuring Long Island Native
Joan Jett Joan Jett (born Joan Marie Larkin, September 22, 1958) is an American singer, guitarist, record producer, and actress. Jett is best known for her work as the frontwoman of her band Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and for earlier founding and per ...
that attracted a record 25,000 residents, and honored healthcare workers and first responders who served during the pandemic. The concert was held at Eisenhower Park and was meant to encourage more residents to come and visit the county and shop locally. In 2022, Blakeman held a Nassau County Thanksgiving celebration at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, honoring Nassau County native,
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star and singer-songwriter
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.


Personal life

Blakeman is married to Segal Blakeman. He has one son, Arlen and two step children Ariel and Avi. Blakeman's first wife Nancy is the third wife of
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Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
. His father was Assemblyman Robert M. Blakeman. His mother Betty passed away in 1995. His brother is Brad Blakeman, who was the Deputy Assistant to President George W. Bush. Blakeman is the first
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
Nassau County Executive. Blakeman, who was serving as commissioner of the Port Authority at the time, was scheduled to have a breakfast meeting at Windows on the World, a restaurant atop the north tower on September 11th, 2001. Due to a family commitment, he postponed the meeting, avoiding being in the World Trade Center during the
September 11th attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
. His nephew, NYS Court Officer Tommy Jurgens, was killed in the line of duty on 9/11/2001 while assisting in the evacuation of Tower 2 of the World Trade Center. Blakeman provided a DNA sample to identify his nephew’s remains.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blakeman, Bruce Nassau County Executives New York (state) Republicans Jewish American people in New York (state) politics Living people Year of birth missing (living people)