VOTE 2024

Rep. Tom Suozzi, Mike LiPetri face off in Congressional District 3 debate

Jack Martins backs Democratic bill to limit acting commissioner tenure

<p>Jack Martins, the Republican candidate for Nassau County executive, is backing a Democrat-sponsored bill that would limit the tenure of acting police commissioners to six months.&nbsp;</p>

News 12 Staff

Jun 21, 2017, 5:18 PM

Updated 2,666 days ago

Share:

Jack Martins, the Republican candidate for Nassau County executive, is backing a Democrat-sponsored bill that would limit the tenure of acting commissioners to six months. 
Acting commissioners are not subject to legislative oversight, and Martins says that's why there must be a limit on the time that they can serve. He's backing a bill put forth by Democratic Legislator Ellen Birnbaum and co-sponsored by Democratic county executive candidate Laura Curran. 
Standing in its way is the Republican-led Legislature, which has refused to allow the bill to come up for discussion. Martins says his fellow Republicans should change course.
"They should vote on it. It's a good bill. When I get elected, we're going to vote on that bill," says Martins. 
News 12 has reported that Thomas Krumpter has served in his role of acting Nassau police commissioner for more than three years. By remaining "acting" commissioner, he has been able to earn thousands of dollars more than the county allows for an official hiring. Krumpter's also not the only one in this type of situation – James Davis has been acting commissioner of Nassau's Assessment Department for six years.
Presiding Officer Norma Gonsalves told News 12 that she "hasn't seen the bill itself" and "we need some time to review what  [Martins]  said." 
Curran says the bill will end current Nassau Executive Ed Mangano's policy, which she calls a "dodgy practice." 
Another county executive candidate George Maragos disagrees, calling the bill an "attempted diversion."
Executive Mangano's office did not return a call to comment on this story.