16 Years Serving the Lawrence Community

TJH Speaks with Michael Fragin

By SuSan Schwamm

have. If someone calls you, you just respond, no matter what you’re doing,” Michael explains.

That mindset led Michael to his position on the Village Board.

“It’s not that different than being in local government, because people call you when they need things done,” he shares. “You want people to know that they can call you if they need help. I don’t limit myself to the things that I’m directly involved in. I am happy to connect them with the right people, regardless of if I’m involved in that area of expertise or not. A lot of people don’t understand government. They don’t understand who is responsible for this or that, so I try to help them navigate it.”

When Michael decided to get involved in the Village Board, Jack Levenbrown was the mayor, the first Orthodox mayor of the Village of Lawrence. Concerned about streetlights that weren’t working near his home for many months, Michael began to go to Village meetings. He knew that by showing up, he would be encouraging board members to work on the problem. He saw how the Village government worked and wanted to help better the Village in which he was raising his family.

Along the way, Michael worked with different mayors and trustees.

“I’ve served with a lot of great people, I have to say. Everybody’s very committed in a very good way to helping people,” he says. “There’s no other reason to do it. It’s a lot of work, but they want to help people in a real way.”

Still, there can be disagreements when it comes to Village matters. Sometimes, Michael says, he would be the lone voice at Village meetings who wouldn’t vote for a certain project or action.

“If I’m not comfortable with it, I’m not voting for it,” he explains. “It’s that simple. I don’t believe in spending money if it’s not necessary. I read every document and am not scared to ask questions. I’m not just going to rubber-stamp things that come my way.”

He adds, “You put yourself out there, and hopefully, people realize it’s for the right reasons. I feel very strongly that I have been there for people – no matter what I do, that’s been my consistent interest.

“Everybody plays their part in our community, no matter what they do – whether they’re on the Board or volunteering or helping financially, which is amazing. It really differentiates our community from others in a very, very meaningful way. I had a good opportunity to be part of that.”

At one point in his Village career, Michael ran for mayor of Lawrence.

“I thought I would do a good job,” he shares, “but it wasn’t meant to be, which is fine. Truthfully, I never need to be defined personally by a title. That’s never really been my thing. It’s all about accomplishing. It’s not like there is anybody out there within Nassau County or the Town of Hempstead or the State of New York or even in Washington who won’t take my phone call because I wasn’t mayor at one time.”

During his tenure on the Board, Michael was in charge of certain portfolios in the Village. With a degree and background in finance, it made sense that he worked on the financial aspects of the Village for a few years. Emergency services was a focus for him as well, with the Village improving EMS response and helping to acquire a new ambulance and put in an extension in the firehouse.

Village work is hard work, but by far, the most challenging time being a trustee took place in 2012, in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Michael recalls, “Remember, we were in the dark –literally. There were no communications, no phones, no traffic lights.”

Many homes in Lawrence were flooded; there was no electricity or heat. As a relatively small municipality, the Village of Lawrence had to fight to get attention from officials, competing for resources with other areas. Ed Mangano was the County Executive at the time. “No great friend of the Five Towns,” Michael discloses. “His base just wasn’t there.”

After the tide receded and the damage was assessed, the Lawrence Country Club was in dire need of repair. In hindsight, Michael notes, the Village probably should have razed and then rebuilt the club to accommodate larger events instead of repairing the damage. But in the chaos of Hurricane Sandy, there was an urgency to expedite the repairs.

As hard as it was picking up the pieces after Sandy, Michael looks back and says that the Village did a great job dealing with the cards that they were dealt. Of course, if a disaster strikes, G-d forbid, he’s hopeful that the Village is better equipped to handle one now.

Michael notes that Lawrence is the most Republican village in the whole State of New York. The Republican Party is more of a natural home for the frum community on a lot of issues. Still, he says, some Republicans have gone to the extreme on certain issues.

He explains, “I consider myself to be pro-life most definitely, but you need laws that are more sensible. There should be more sensible gun control as well, including background checks. There are a lot of people who have guns who shouldn’t have them.

“Politics has become really polarized,” he notes. “And frum Jews are seeing themselves pushed out of the Democrat Party. But there are also people in the Republican Party who are proudly offensive to Jews but say, ‘Well, I’m pro-Israel’ at the same time. You see a lot of extreme craziness on both sides.

Michael believes that the frum community needs to be more involved in politics.

“Frum people need to be involved because people who are not frum can’t really represent and understand our perspective. Yes, there are plenty of elected officials around here and elsewhere who I know who are not Orthodox – some not even Jewish – who understand the community and they have people around them who help them understand. But it’s not the same perspective. If you’re a frum person in the room when decisions are being made, there’s a different level of input that you have that you can share and advocate.”

He notes that representatives like Bruce Blakeman, Nassau County Executive, who is Jewish, take certain issues like antisemitism and Israel personally.

“I’ve worked for some great people. I’ve worked for George Pataki, Mike Bloomberg, Lee Zeldin,” Michael says. “But there is a difference having somebody who’s frum or connected to the community who is representing you.”

Michael is actually working for Blakeman in a parttime position now. Having worked with Bloomberg, Pataki, Zeldin and others, he’s seen great politicians in action. According to Michael, effective politicians are those who are able to sell themselves to the people they are serving.

“It takes a certain ego to want to be in politics, to sell yourself to other people, because that’s essentially what you’re selling,” he notes. “At the same time, you have to be very relatable to people, which is a hard balance. I think to his credit, Mike Bloomberg really worked at it, despite his mega-billionaire status. George Pataki had it naturally. George W. Bush, who was a great friend to Israel, was very relatable, too.

“I’ll give you a great George Pataki story. It was back in 2004, when we were campaigning.”

Michael had been sent down to Florida to work on the campaign for three months. “It was the most fun I had probably in my career.”

He recalls a campaign stop at a famous diner in North Miami Beach. Pataki came down to invigorate New York voters who had made their way down to Florida.

“Everybody’s taking pictures, and Pataki’s shaking everybody’s hand. As is his custom, he never leaves the room without shaking every single person’s hand. We were on the way out, but Pataki went into the kitchen. He went to shake hands with the cooks and the people who work there. And George Pataki, three-term governor of New York State, sees this guy who is working the power dishwasher, whose hands are dirty and is probably not even a citizen, and Pataki sticks out his hand to shake this worker’s hand.

“I remember the guy looking at his hands, and he was probably thinking, ‘Why does he want to shake my hand? I got the dirty dishes.’ But it didn’t matter. There was never a person who was in the room with Pataki who didn’t feel for at least a moment or two that they were the center of his attention.”

Other good politicians work the room just like that. According to Michael, County Executive Blakeman does the same thing, making sure to shake hands and connect with every person he encounters.

But it’s not just relatability that makes a good politician. Once they get to office, they need to know how to get things done.

“You’ve got to get good people to work for you – that’s the secret,” Michael asserts. He points to Donald Trump who was a big fail when it came to the administration of his government. That, says Michael, was a big cause of his downfall.

“You can’t micromanage it from the top. You’ve got to have a lot of different people and have the trust and confidence in them to execute.”

After 16 years on the Village Board, Michael has gained perspective on local government. He notes that the budget has increased significantly over the past five years. He also observes that the sale of the sewer plant on Rock Hill Road is an important sale for the Village and would give the Village a significant infusion of cash. For now, taxes have not increased on the Village end, and he hopes that the board will be able to hold the line on taxes in the future.

With a bit more time on his hands now, Michael is looking forward to spending the summer months with his family, on the golf course (“Is there something else other than golfing?”), or on one of the three local boardwalks.

Michael adds, “I’m not done helping people, though. People always know they can call me, and I’m here to help. That’s always been something that I’m happy to do.”