Nassau County Executive Bruce A Blakeman on May 24, 2023. Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

By Jacob Kornbluh April 4, 2024

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who is Jewish, is calling on the Democratic leader of the county legislature to step down after she likened his plan to enlist provisional deputy sheriffs to the Brownshirts, the Nazi’s paramilitary army.

But Democrat Delia DeRiggi-Whitton, minority leader of the 19-seat Nassau County Legislature, said Thursday that while she would not make the comparison, a constituent of hers did in an email, which she shared with the Forward. She said many others conveyed similar anxiety over the plan to her, and she wanted to convey their fears.

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Blakeman seized on her comments Wednesday to Patch, a Long Island publication. The plan reminds her constituents “not only of the Wild West but of times in Europe with uncertainty,” DeRiggi-Whitton said. “There was something called the Brownshirts, which was basically having civilians all of a sudden become part of law enforcement without the training.”

Blakeman said her invocation the Brownshirts was slanderous and antisemitic. He is expected to call for her resignation Thursday afternoon in a press conference alongside a group of local rabbis, Jewish leaders and elected officials.

“I think it’s disgraceful and disgusting that a leader in our legislature would equate me to being head of the Brownshirts, a Nazi stormtrooper organization, especially because I’m Jewish,” Blakeman said in an interview Thursday morning. “She is beyond the pale when it comes to making those kinds of statements and she doesn’t deserve to be in office.” 

Blakeman, a Republican, in 2022 became the first Jewish executive of Nassau County, which covers the eastern part of Long Island, New York, and borders New York City. Jews make up 19% of the county’s 1.4 million people.

He said the recently launched database — of mostly former law enforcement officers and military veterans who could be deputized as special sheriffs in emergencies — includes nearly 100 volunteers.

“I can’t even tell you how many people are telling me that this is a scary thing,” DeRiggi-Whitton said Thursday. “Having a county leader declare an emergency and have a whole bunch of armed people ready to go?” 

Blakeman dismissed concerns about the plan. He said the deputies would be akin to reservists and would be mobilized only in dire situations like a superstorm or terror attack. 

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