Nassau GOP chair intends to collect fat paychecks for 3 jobs
On the heels of pay-to-play corruption scandals that have tarnished the Long Island GOP, the Nassau County Republic Party has elected a one-time disbarred lawyer to be its new leader — and the retirement-age politico intends to collect fat paychecks from three different jobs simultaneously.
Joseph Cairo, 72, the new chairman of the Nassau County Republican Party, is also head of the Nassau County Off-Track Betting Corporation. He’s paid $198,000 at OTB.
The long-time No. 2 to former Nassau GOP boss Joe Mondello had his law license yanked in the 1990s for misusing client funds. His license was reinstated and the politically-connected lawyer now has an established law practice, GOP sources said.
He also has not ruled out collecting a third paycheck from the Nassau GOP.
Mondello, his predecessor, made more than $250,000 last year as GOP boss, and pulled in $1.5 million from his private law practice and real estate investments, records filed with the government show.
At one time, Mondello also simultaneously headed the Nassau GOP and OTB.
Cairo’s law office is in Valley Stream, his OTB’s corporate office is in Mineola and Nassau GOP headquarters is in Westbury.
A Post reporter found him at GOP headquarters.
Cairo said he was not relinquishing his OTB executive job or suspending his law practice after taking the reins of the GOP.
“I’ve been at OTB. This is a crucial time at OTB with possibly sports gambling coming so we’re deeply involved with that there now,” Cairo said.
“This is a political position. My attorneys tell me there is no conflict and I think having a position in a political party is such that it’s been done in the past by people on both sides of the aisle. And I think it’s currently done, too, in some other counties — their elected officials are also party chairmen,” he said.
But watchdogs have long complained that allowing people to simultaneously hold top positions in government and party leadership opens the door to conflicts of interests and potential corruption.
“It’s business as usual. This is an example of the rotten political system in Nassau County,” said George Marlin, who formerly served on the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority, a state agency set up to monitor the county’s shaky finances.
Marlin said the multiple paid gigs for Cairo is remarkable, especially after the Nassau Republicans lost the county executive’s race and the Town of Hempstead supervisor’s race last year amid concerns over corruption.
“They’ve learned nothing,” Marlin said. “They don’t care.”
Cairo chalked up the suspension of his law license to a mistake from the distant past.
“I think that’s something that happened — it was earlier than ‘95, that’s 25 years ago, and I think people who know me know the type of person I am,” he said.
With that, Cairo grabbed a suit jacket from a parked black Cadillac before jumping into the passenger seat of a Jaguar driven by a friend.
Cairo is right about one thing. On Long Island particularly, politicians simultaneously collecting hefty paychecks from top government and political party posts is a time-honored tradition.
The Post reported last week that Rich Schaffer is drawing down a combined $350,000 from three paychecks as head of the Suffolk County Democratic Party, as the full-time Town of Babylon Supervisor and from a law practice that includes representing plumbing contractors.
But Long Island Democrats have their scandals, too.
Gerard Terry, the former North Hempstead Democratic Party chairman, was convicted of tax evasion for failing to report his income that included payments from legal services provided to eight different local government agencies.
New Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, a Democrat who won the election on anti-corruption platform last year, passed executive orders barring county government officials from holding party positions or from accepting gifts.
New York City has a law that bars top government officials from serving as party bosses, following the municipal corruption scandals of the 1980s.
Politics
Trump raised $12 million for his reelection at two Hamptons fundraisers
President Trump on Aug. 9 defended two upcoming fundraisers, including one with SoulCycle owner Stephen Ross. (Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
President Trump raised $12 million at two Hamptons fundraisers Friday, adding to the massive campaign warchest he’s amassing for his 2020 re-election campaign.
Trump retweeted Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who wrote: “Thanks to the unhinged mob on the left, @realDonaldTrump raised $12M today, $2M more than originally expected. The support for our President is unprecedented and growing!”
Trump’s first event, hosted by billionaire real estate developer and fitness chains owner Stephen Ross, was not without controversy. This week businesses owned by Ross have been boycotted by Trump critics, including by some celebrities, who were furious about the Trump reelection fundraiser at Ross’s Hamptons home.
Before leaving for New York on Friday morning, Trump defended Ross.
“He’s a great friend of mine; he’s a very successful guy. We were competitors but friends in real estate in New York in the old days,” Trump told reporters outside the White House. “He’s probably more inclined to be a liberal if you want to know the truth, but he likes me, he respects me.”
Trump critics called on people to cancel their memberships at Ross-owned clubs such as Equinox Fitness and SoulCycle. Their parent firm, Related Companies, also eateries such as Bluestone Lane Coffee, Momofuku and &pizza.
Trump dismissed the backlash Ross is facing over the fundraiser, saying, “it just makes Steve much hotter.”
“I didn’t speak to him yet; I’ll see him in a little while,” Trump said. “The controversy makes Steve Ross hotter. He’ll figure that out in about a week. But he’s very happy … a lot of people are going.”
Ross, in a statement to The Washington Post on Wednesday, said he will speak up when he disagrees with Trump, and called himself “an outspoken champion of racial equality, inclusion, diversity, public education and environmental sustainability.”
Equinox and SoulCycle sought to distance their brands from Ross, putting out a joint statement that Ross “is a passive investor and is not involved in the management of either business.”
The cost to attend the fundraiser at Ross’s home ran as high as $250,000, which got a donor a private roundtable discussion with Trump in addition to a lunch and a photo.
Michelle Ye Hee Lee contributed to this report.
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