Village of Great Neck Mayor Ralph Kreitzman and Town or North Hempstead Councilwoman Maria-Christina Poons this week disputed charges by Republican Jeffrey Bass that his opponent in the District 4 town council campaign, Anna Kaplan, had falsely claimed their endorsements in a campaign flyer sent to town residents.
“As the Mayor of the Village of Great Neck, I do not endorse any political candidates,” Kreitzman said in a letter to the editor to the Great Neck News. “As a private citizen, I am a Democratic committeeman, and I support all of the Democratic candidates running for office this fall.”
In a statement issued last week, Kreitzman said as mayor of the village of Great Neck he did not endorse political candidates, but made no mention of his role as a Democratic committeeman.
“I’ve supported Anna Kaplan from the beginning”, Poons said in a phone interview, noting that she had interviewed Kaplan last year for a position on the Town of North Hempstead Board of Zoning Appeals, and made the motion to appoint her to the board. “I’m a Democrat, and if I didn’t like the person or didn’t think she was capable, why would I put her on Board of Zoning Appeals?”
Poons said she was never asked by Kaplan for permission to use her photo or asked if she could use her name as an endorsement.
“It was a stupid mistake on their part to not ask for permission, but I do believe she is a good choice to succeed me,” Poons said.
The mailer was produced by the Town of North Hempstead Democratic Committee.
Gerard Terry, chairman of the Town of North Hempstead Democratic Committee, declined to comment on what the committee based its claim that Kreitzman and Poons had endorsed Kaplan.
Poons said she had never publicly endorsed Kaplan before, but stated this week that she does support Kaplan and always has.
“Bass asked me if I had given my permission to be in a photo with Anna Kaplan and I said I had not seen the photo,” Poons said. “He never asked if I supported Kaplan and if he did I would have told him it wasn’t any of his business.”
Bass, who sits with Kretzman on the Village of Great Neck board as a trustee, said last week he had spoken to both Kreitzman and Poons after receiving Kaplan’s flyer and they had both assured him they had never given their permission to use their names on any campaign flyer.
Bass said he is “profoundly hurt” by how the mayor and Ms. Poons are comporting themselves and “frankly” how they are portraying their responses.
“I stand by what I said by the article last week, with the way the situation was portrayed to me by both the mayor and Ms. Poons,” Bass said referring to an article published by the Great Neck News. “I will stand on my honor as a gentleman and as someone who has the honor and the ethics not to fabricate this. I bear my father’s name, my children bear that name and all my life I would never do anything to sully that good name.”
Bass said that he had personally spoken to Poons and asked her if she endorsed Kaplan.
In a letter to the editor submitted this week to the Great Neck News that he later asked be withdrawn, Bass said “Both Mayor Kreitzman and Council Member Poons were furious that their names, images and positions would be used to suggest their endorsement of Ms. Kaplan’s candidacy. They both represented to me that they have not endorsed Ms. Kaplan.”
Bass said he and his wife were good friends “who have always been there for one another” with Kreitzman and his wife Wendy, who is editor of the Great Neck Record.
“I have not asked nor will I ever ask my friend and colleague to take sides in this or any other election,” Bass said. “Indeed all the members of the board – we are three Democrats and two Republicans – have agreed to never take sides in any national party election at any level. We believe it is important to us to work with whoever is in office for the good of our village.”
He also said he did not accept Kreitzman’s explanation that he could endorse a candidates as a state committeeman but not as mayor.
“You can’t split the man,” Bass said. “You can’t say on one hand as a mayor you aren’t endorsing and on the other hand say you are. The Democratic committeeman is still a mayor.”
In the letter that Bass asked be withdrawn he charged that the Town of North Hempstead Democratic committee “saw fit to unceremoniously boot” Poons as a candidate for re-election” in the 4th District. The 4th District includes the villages of Roslyn, Roslyn Estates, Munsey Park, North Hills, Great Neck, Great Neck Gardens, Kensington, Kings Point, Thomaston and unincorporated areas of Manhasset and Great Neck.
Bass went on to claim that Democrats had chosen Kaplan “not for her record – she has none but for the appeal they believe she would have in a particular segment of our community” – an apparent reference to Kaplan being an Iranian-American.
Poons said no one had told her to step down. She said she decided not to run for re-election to spend more time with the American Hispanic Community of Great Neck, a civic association of which she is president.
In a statement released by Kaplan, she said she was pleased with the endorsements from Kreitzman and Poons.
“I have the utmost respect for Councilwoman Poons and Mayor Kreitzman, and I am very pleased they have both decided to support me,” Kaplan said. “I am honored to know Councilwoman Poons and if elected it would be my honor to succeed her. I think she has done a wonderful job.”
In a phone conversation, Kaplan declined to say whether she had asked Poons and Kreitzman for their permission to use their photos or endorsement in the campaign mailer.
