Hempstead Town Board Members Walk Out Of Budget Hearing [VIDEO]

The infighting in the Town of Hempstead reached a new level at a Town Board meeting Tuesday when Supervisor Anthony Santino and three other council members walked out of an afternoon meeting while the remaining three council members were still trying to ask questions about the proposed budget.

Santino, along with council members Dorothy Goosby, Anthony D'Esposito and Dennis Dunne voted Tuesday afternoon to adjourn the first of two meetings on the town's proposed budget while council members Erin King Sweeny, Bruce Blakeman and Ed Ambrosino were still trying to ask questions about the budget.

At the meeting, a flabbergasted Blakeman tried to call his colleagues back into the meeting room, saying he hadn't voted to adjourn and that he was still speaking. People in the audience called those who walked out "cowards."

You can see a video of the tense moment here:

"I am stunned by this act. There are dictatorships around the world that aren't run like this," Blakeman said in a release after the meeting. "Supervisor Santino and three members of this board walked out before half the board had a chance to vote. Democracy is dying in the Town of Hempstead. This is truly disgraceful."

In a statement to Patch, Town of Hempstead Spokesman Mike Deery said that Santino left because the meeting was over. "The supervisor left because the meeting was adjourned," he said. "In fact, all members but two left after adjournment."

The meeting was the first of two scheduled for that day. The second part of the meeting convened at 7 p.m., where, Newsday reports, the three council members were allowed to ask questions. Later the town budget passed 5-2, with Blakeman and King Sweeney casting votes against it.

"This is an astonishing act of political censorship and cowardice by the supervisor," King Sweeney said in a statement. "In a blatantly illegal, undemocratic move that is an attempt to silence the voices of those members of the board who ask questions, Santino and his 'majority' walked out of the room, denying three members of the board the opportunity to speak and explain their vote on adjourning the budget hearing. This is an outrage and it will not be tolerated."

Between the meetings, King Sweeney and Blakeman held a press conference criticizing the supervisor and the board for walking out of the meeting.

Also on the schedule to be discussed at the 7 p.m. portion of the meeting was a law proposed by King Sweeney to ban taxpayer-funded town mailings withing 45 days of an election. However, D'Esposito voted to table the matter until further notice. According to Newsday, Deery said that the law was not filed early enough to give proper notice, a claim that King Sweeney vehemently denies.

"The supervisor and board voted to shut down all discussion on a matter that was unanimously called to a public hearing two weeks prior," King Sweeney said in a post on Facebook. "Many residents expressed deep disgust that they waited hours to be heard on this matter, only to be shut down and not given any opportunity to speak."

King Sweeney also tweeted out what she says is proof that a legal notice for the proposed law was published, as per state law.

King Sweeney and Blakeman have been publicly feuding with Santino for months. The town recently passed a series of ethics reforms that, among other measures, cap council members' outside income at $125,000. King Sweeney and Blakeman say it's a measure directed against them, who both make more than that and have been critical of Santino. King Sweeney criticized Santino after the measures passed, saying they were a sham to stop the town from enacting real ethics reform.

"This is not democracy; this is the behavior of a dictator who's only goal is consolidating power and shutting down independent voices who try to reform this town," she said.

The next town board meeting is scheduled for Nov. 14 at 10:30 a.m. — a week after election day. Santino and all of the council members who walked out of the meeting are up for vote this year. It is unclear if King Sweeney's proposed ban on town mailings will be discussed at the meeting.

Photo: Youtube