Former Democratic County Executive candidate Adam Haber (Roslyn) endorsed primary victor Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) Tuesday, as Democrats seek to solidify support ahead of a general election campaign against incumbent County Executive Ed Mangano (R-Bethpage.)
Haber, Suozzi and Nassau Democratic party head Jay Jacobs spoke at a press conference on the steps of the Nassau County Supreme Court, urging fellow Democrats to pull together in the hopes of retaking the county’s top elected post.
“This rally is about unity, so I am endorsing Tom Suozzi to be the next Nassau county executive,” Haber said.
Haber, a Roslyn school board member and businessman, ran an outsider primary campaign against Suozzi, the former county executive who lost a close race to Mangano in 2009. Haber’s self-funded campaign placed him at odds with Jacobs and the Nassau Democratic establishment leading up to the Sept. 10 primary, which Suozzi won with 59 percent of the vote.
Suozzi and Haber held a closed door meeting last Thursday, with both campaigns remaining mum on whether Haber would endorse Suozzi.
Haber, who won the endorsement of the Liberal party, could have chosen to appear on the ballot as a third-party candidate, but instead came back to party fold in the hopes of bolstering Suozzi’s chances against Mangano.
Though Haber had repeatedly attacked both Suozzi and Mangano’s administrations during his primary campaign, on Tuesday he touted Suozzi’s experience and accused Mangano of hiking fees and mismanaging the county.
“Ed Mangano raised my taxes. That is the truth,” Haber said.
Mangano spokesman Brian Nevin criticized the endorsement as a disingenuous political maneuver.
“This is a backroom deal between two tax-hiking politicians,” Nevin wrote in a statement. “However, no endorsement can overcome the fact that Tom Suozzi hiked property taxes by 23 percent, placed a tax on home electricity and racked up the highest debt in our county’s history.”
Suozzi thanked Haber for his support and said he would prioritize concerns that Haber raised during their post-election meeting.
Among those concerns was the treatment of minority communities in Nassau.
Haber, who won an endorsement from Hempstead-based civil rights lawyer Fred Brewington, convinced Suozzi of the importance of listening to residents of the Nassau Corridor, which includes Lakeview, Hempstead, Roosevelt, Uniondale, Freeport and New Cassel, Suozzi said.
“I recognize that I need to spend more time [dedicating attention to] those communities of color in Nassau County,” Suozzi said.
Jacobs, who recruited Suozzi to join the race and repeatedly tried to convince Haber to drop his campaign, commended Haber for a hard-fought campaign.
“I welcome Adam and thank Adam for the unity and the effort he put forward,” Jacobs said.
As for the his differences with Suozzi, Haber said they had not disappeared but that securing a Democratic county executive was a bigger priority.
“I disagree with Tom on a bunch of issues. There’s no way, even if we were brothers, that we would agree on everything,” Haber said. “But at the end of the day I think his is purely the better qualified candidate.”
