Jeanine Driscoll has publicly challenged Laura Gillen over taking credit for federal funds that Gillen voted against, pointing to a pattern of claiming successes while opposing the legislation that made them possible.
Laura Gillen is running for reelection in a tough environment, and her defenders are working to hang onto her seat. Voters are seeing a familiar tactic: Gillen promoting federal money that she opposed in Congress. That contradiction has become a key line of attack from her Republican challenger, Jeanine Driscoll.
Driscoll has singled out roughly $500,000 in funding that Gillen has been celebrating despite her opposition to the bill that delivered those dollars. The two largest items she’s claimed credit for are federal grants that went to local safety and community projects. Republicans argue the record shows Gillen voted against the package that included this support.
One of the projects was a $250,000 award to the Floral Park Fire Department to help buy a new fire truck, a purchase department leaders said will help the community. Fire chief Eric O’Connor said the new truck will help “tremendously,” and said, “This is an investment in the safety of my members and the safety of the community as a whole.”
Gillen also touted $250,000 for the Franklin Square Public Library as a local win she brought home for constituents. That funding became a talking point in her outreach, even as opponents note she voted against the wider government-funding package that included it.
The key detail opponents stress is simple: Gillen voted against the Consolidated Appropriations Act that carried those community grants. That bill ended a partial government shutdown and packaged dozens of local projects into one larger funding measure. Critics say it undermines credibility for a lawmaker to oppose a funding vehicle then claim credit for line items inside it.
https://x.com/RepLauraGillen/status/2085085270240559515
This isn’t an isolated incident in Gillen’s record; opponents trace a pattern back years. She has been credited in public statements with securing $2 million for a park rehabilitation, nearly $1 million for a fire department, and hundreds of thousands for recreation and library projects across Long Island. Conservative critics point out that she opposed the same bills or voted against funding packages that contained those allocations.
Specific figures keep appearing in Driscoll’s attacks: about $2,000,000 for the Hickey Park project, roughly $1,000,000 destined for the Bellerose Fire Department, $850,000 for the Lynbrook roller hockey rink roof, another $850,000 for , $850,000 earmarked for Lakeview Public Library renovations, and $500,000 for the Edgemere Firehouse. Opponents say those dollar signs look like wins on press releases but don’t line up with Gillen’s votes.
Gillen’s habit of taking credit for results that predate her or that came through bills she opposed stretches to her time as Hempstead Supervisor. Local officials and political observers have said she accepted praise for improvements and fiscal outcomes driven by previous administrations. That backdrop feeds the narrative Driscoll’s campaign is selling about honesty and responsibility.
On taxes and budgets, Driscoll has also hammered Gillen’s record as out of step with conservative priorities. Gillen publicly backed increasing the SALT deduction on social posts, but voting records show she opposed specific measures to raise it from $10,000 to $40,000 on two separate roll calls. While serving as Supervisor, Gillen proposed a budget that would have raised property taxes by 0.74 percent, then voted against later, smaller tax cuts that the board approved.
Jeanine Driscoll frames the issue as more than a political squabble: she calls it about accountability and trust. Driscoll has accused Gillen of claiming credit for federal dollars she helped block and of favoring tax hikes that hurt local homeowners.
“Lying Laura Gillen tried to stop critical funding from reaching her district, and now she’s trying to take credit for it anyway,” said NRCC Spokeswoman Maureen O’Toole. “The only thing Gillen has ever done in elected office is push to hike taxes on her own constituents. Long Islanders deserve a fighter like Jeanine Driscoll.”
