http://www.theislandnow.com/great_neck/nassau-county-town-officials-call-on-ellen-birnbaum-to-resign/article_f26e04d8-df93-11e3-9d90-001a4bcf887a.htmlNassau County, town officials call on Ellen Birnbaum to resign
Posted: Monday, May 19, 2014 4:27 pm
BY ANTHONY O'REILLY
Nassau County Democrats, Town of North Hempstead officials and members of the community on Monday called for Nassau County Legislator Ellen Birnbaum (D-Great Neck) to step down for racially insensitive comments about the African-American community.
“Ellen Birnbaum must go,” said Robert Troiano, vice-chair of the Town of North Hempstead Democratic Committee.
The rally was attended by members of the Legislature’s Democratic caucus, elected officials from the Town of North Hempstead, members of the Nassau County National Action Network, members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and other members of the community.
“An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us,” said Bishop Lionel Harvey, pastor of the First Baptist Cathedral of Westbury.
Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Judi Bosworth, who previously held Birnbaum’s seat, also called on the legislator to resign.
“Words have meanings and they have consequences,” Bosworth said.
Bosworth also said that she was proud to see many people show up to the rally.
“This demonstration of leadership and resolve is about what each of us must do about prejudice,” she said.
Birnbaum on April 30 told two of her staff members that New Cassel was a “bad neighborhood because African-Americans lived there,” Nassau County minority leader Kevan Abrahams said at a press conference on Friday.
Troiano said on Monday that Birnbaum was also overheard saying “all [African-Americans] want to do is play basketball” and “who else from the rest of the town is going to go there.”
Birnbaum, Abrahams said, had made the comments following reports that the Town of North Hempstead’s “Yes We Can” community center in New Cassel had missed out on revenue projections and membership enrollment.
Abrahams, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for New York’s 4th Congressional District, said that the freshman legislator’s remarks were overheard by an employee for county Legislator Siela Bynoe (D-Westbury), who represents the area.
Efforts to reach Ellen Birnbaum for comment were unavailing.
Newsday reported that Birnbaum said in an e-mail she recognized her remarks “were insensitive and thoughtless.”
But, she said, she was elected to a two-year term last year and would not resign.
Instead, she said, according to Newsday, she “will work every day for the remainder of my term to regain the trust and confidence of the African-American community in New Cassel and throughout Nassau County.”
Birnbaum - whose district includes Great Neck, Herricks, North Hills, North New Hyde Park, Searingtown and Albertson - has apologized to several legislators for the comments, according to Abrahams.
He said although he forgives Birnbaum, her resignation is still necessary.
“You cannot say these things about a particular community and expect that an apology will simply wash it away,” Abrahams said.
Birnbaum has been stripped of her committee assignments and has been permanently banned from the Democratic and minority caucus.
“She will not resemble in any way a member of the Democratic caucus,” said Nassau County Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs. “We don’t believe in stuff like that.”
Birnbaum had sat on five committees: Government Services & Operations, Finance, Veterans and Senior Affairs, Towns, Villages and Cities and Planning Development and the Environment, according to the Legislature’s website.
Abrahams also said he is reassigning one of Birnbaum’s staff members, who requested to be moved to another office.
Birnbaum, who was elected to the Legislature in November, is the former Town of North Hempstead’s director of intermunicipal coordination and the wife of Mark Birnbaum, a village justice for the Village of Great Neck.
Other North Hempstead officials who attended the rally included town
Councilman Peter Zuckerman, Councilwoman Anna Kaplan, Receiver of Taxes Charles Berman and Town Clerk Wayne Wink.
Jacobs said the Democrats are planning to release the comments Birnbaum said about the African-American community to her constituents, in an effort to show that the caucus’ actions were not an “overreaction.”
“I think if people hear what she actually said, they would see this as obvious,” Jacobs said.
Troiano, at the end of the rally, picked up a young African-American child and said Birnbaum’s comments showed she was unfit to represent him.
“How can any of us trust her to represent this young man,” he said.
If Birnbaum were to resign, Abrahams said, a special election would have to be called by Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano to fill her seat.
Jacobs said the Democrats have not decided on a possible candidate for her replacement.
“We’re not there yet,” he said.
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Here's the question I have. If an ' African American' politician in Nassau County would have made comments about another racial group that were along the lines of what Ellen Birnbaum said, would these same Democrat politicians in North Hempstead insist that he/ she resigns? I'm confident the answer is no.
Topic: Democrat Nassau Co. Legislator asked to resign - "racially insensitive comments" (Read 1289 times)