North Hempstead rejects Dems’ bid to take politics out of social media posts, mailers

A Democratic bid to limit official North Hempstead mailers and social media posts to town issues failed for the second time, prompting an impromptu political debate Tuesday night between the candidates for supervisor.

Democrats on the town board want majority Republicans to move a bill that would limit official communications to town-related matters: garbage pickup, festivals and street fairs, and other municipal updates. 

Democrats have said the proposal was sparked by a Facebook post from February in which Supervisor Jennifer DeSena expressed support for the Iran war. The message was shared by the town’s official Facebook page.

A proposal to hold a public hearing on the legislation failed Tuesday, 4-3, along partisan lines. The measure failed last month, too.

“To ban speech about free speech, and say you are an advocate for free speech, is Orwellian,” Sean McCarthy, the Democrats’ candidate for supervisor, and a commissioner of the Port Washington Police District, told board members Tuesday. “Free speech is rarely convenient, it is often unwelcome, and that is why it is the most central pillar of our nation. Let’s give ourselves the chance to do the right thing, and to talk about it.”

DeSena, a registered Democrat who runs on the Republican line, responded: “You’re saying that free speech is so important, yet you think Councilman [Robert] Troiano should limit our speech, or decide what kind of speech we’re allowed to have.”

Troiano, a Democrat, said the post was inconsistent with a law passed last year banning future resolutions “on matters and issues outside” the town’s jurisdiction. Republicans approved that resolution in February 2025 after Democrats proposed to officially condemn President Donald Trump’s pardons of about 1,500 people convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

McCarthy, a former commanding officer of two Nassau County police precincts, has regularly attended board meetings this year since being named as the Democrats’ candidate for supervisor. He typically sits quietly in the back of the room, ticking off agenda items as meetings hum along.

But on Tuesday, he rose from his seat to address the board.

“I don’t have a town website behind me that I can unilaterally post on, right? But the supervisor does,” McCarthy said. “When she uses it to post her views, which I may or may not agree with, it’s inappropriate that she can do that, with the existence of the rule she created.” 

Yaron Levy, a Republican councilman of Great Neck who was elected to the board last year, accused McCarthy of “politically grandstanding.” Levy then referenced debunked conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6 attack.

“We’re finding, day by day, day after day, from mainstream reporters, from investigations, that what happened there on Jan. 6, was completely a setup,” Levy said, eliciting reactions of shock from the Democrats on the board. “There are many things coming out right now.” 

McCarthy responded to Levy that “the purpose of those resolutions is so people like you cannot rewrite history.”

At one point during the nearly hourlong discussion, Troiano asked DeSena: “Who made that decision to put your opinion on the town’s Facebook page?” DeSena replied that it was the decision of the town’s communications department. 

“Is that an appropriate use of his time?” Troiano said. “Can he really tell the supervisor, ‘No, supervisor, you can’t put this up? He works for you.’ “