Oyster Bay Town Clerk

<p>James Altadonna Jr.,&nbsp;Dean E. Hart</p>

News 12 Staff

Oct 29, 2017, 8:38 PM

Updated 2,376 days ago

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Oyster Bay Town Clerk

Altadonna, 57, of Massapequa Park, is running on the Republican, Conservative, Independence and Tax Revolt party lines. He was mayor of Massapequa Park from 2001 until he was appointed town clerk in June 2013 to fill a vacancy. Before that, he ran a graphics company. He is a former president of the Nassau County Village Officials Association. Altadonna has a bachelor’s degree in business from Pace University. He is married and has three children.

Altadonna said he is running for re-election because “I enjoy helping people and solving problems,” such as assisting residents obtain birth and death certificates, temporary parking permits, expedited passports and other documents. He said that, if re-elected, he will continue cross-training staff to perform multiple functions in the clerk’s office, to make it more efficient as the office’s budget decreases. He also plans to make obtaining parking and other permits more convenient, by adding an all-online option, instead of requiring residents to turn in applications in person. He wants to establish domestic partnerships in Oyster Bay so senior citizens or young people who choose not to marry for financial or other reasons can receive full benefits. Altadonna said that since he became clerk in 2013, “this office has been above reproach, and I’ve conducted this office with integrity and transparency.”

Hart, 59, is running on the Democratic, Reform and Women’s Equality party lines. An optometrist, he lives in Glen Head. Hart ran unsuccessfully in 2016 for the state Assembly and in 2015 for the Nassau County Legislature. Hart is known for high-profile campaign events, including bringing a donkey to a Democratic Party nominating convention and handing out plastic handcuffs to train commuters to highlight corruption scandals. He earned his doctor of optometry degree from the SUNY College of Optometry, a bachelor’s degree in life science, social science and business from the New York Institute of Technology, and a master’s degree in biology from Hofstra University. Hart, who grew up in Jericho, is married and has two children.

Hart said he would use the clerk’s office to combat and prevent corruption by putting all town documents and records — including contracts — online. “If we can get transparent, in the past, the present and future, and keep it that way, we’d run much more effectively, efficiently and be able to get a bang for our buck for our taxes.” Hart said his background running several businesses prepares him for the clerk’s office, because “the No. 1 job” of the clerk is to keep town records and books. Hart said he refuses “to take a dime in fundraising from anywhere” (state financial disclosure forms show the Hart campaign’s only income has been his $220,000 in loans to his campaign). “They need somebody who doesn’t do it for the money,” Hart said. “Everybody’s doing it for a career, to have a career, to give people jobs. Me, I’m donating my salary back to charity.”


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