Write-in Candidate Sheryl Beckman Mednick beats Ryan Hemsley for Oceanside sanitation commissioner

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With the unheard-of victory of write-in candidate Sheryl Beckman Mednick in the June 16 Oceanside Sanitary District 7 election over her controversial opponent, Commissioner Ryan Hemsley, a new member of the board will bring a new set of values as well, according to those who know Beckman Mednick

“It was a fantastic showing of principle,” District Co-chairman John Mannone said. “Hemsley stood for the idea that it doesn’t make a difference what you say on social media posts regarding people, and I really had no idea whether anybody really cared. I was really concerned it would be lost on people. I knew they were upset, but I didn’t know if they would actually do anything about it.”

Hemsley came under fire shortly after his appointment in 2020 over controversial social media posts that included jokes about the Ku Klux Klan and derogatory comments about people with autism, African-Americans, Jews and the Holocaust, homosexuals, women and others. The board previously attempted to remove him, but found that it was virtually impossible. Hemsley’s comments drew the ire of elected officials and community members at the time, and many were unnerved when he decided to stand for election to a full term this year.

Beckman Mednick, 66, a newcomer to elective office pulled off a win that was nothing short of stunning, given the circumstances, capturing 193 write-in votes to Hemsley’s 151 — after he succeeded in knocking her off the ballot.

“I was out of town, so one of the other commissioners had my petitions signed for me, but he filled out the wrong name,” Beckman Mednick said. “When I came home, on my front door there was an order to show cause, and Ryan was suing me. On [Jun 13], it went to court and I lost.”

She noted that the Nassau County judge, Gary Knobel, who presided over the case is an Oceanside resident, and she believed that he should have recused himself.

Mannone acknowledged that he was the one who wrote the wrong name, because he typed it into his phone incorrectly when the two first met.

Beckman Mednick called Hemsley’s action a “bully move.” “He should’ve just said to me, ‘Look, your paperwork is incorrect and that makes it invalid,’” she said. “But he didn’t. He poked me, and that wasn’t right and it wasn’t honest. It was underhanded and very scummy.”

Hemsley’s action, she said, gave her more inspiration to defeat him. “I could’ve counter-sued, but it would’ve stalled the election,” Beckman Mednick said. “So I asked the attorney if I could run as a write-in, and he said, absolutely.”

So she got to work. “I called every single person I knew, and they called all the people they knew to spread the word about me running,” she recounted. “My temple called all the people they knew and they got it out, and I still had all the PTA moms’ numbers from the time my kids were in kindergarten, and I sent a blast out to all of them.”

Beckman Mednick said she was looking forward to bringing a female voice to the board. “I think the sanitation department is a good old boys’ club, and I think a woman’s point of view would be good,” she said. “Who did the budgeting in your house when you were a kid? Your mother.”

Beckman Mednick’s background is in real estate, which she said would be an asset in the role. “For 20 years I was a Realtor and a broker mortgage banker,” she said. Buying and selling houses certainly taught me about budgeting. I ran an office from 1980 to 1996 that had 16 salespeople and five secretaries. I don’t think Ryan knows anything about business, and I think this job is a business-oriented one. He has no budgeting experience, and that’s what the commissioners do.”

Beckman Mednick raised her children in Oceanside. In the community she is involved in the Oceanside PTA and her temple, Chabad of Oceanside.

Mannone said he was looking forward to a sense of unity that Mednick would like bring to the board, and added that in addition to Hemsley’s inappropriate comments, he brought an underlying feeling of nepotism and dishonesty.

“I’m looking forward to actually solving problems as a board,” Mannone said. “Hemsley was a divisive character. Not only did we have to deal with his posts, but he essentially was a Manchurian candidate, where he had all these political people behind him pushing him forward.

“Everything was political theater with him, and it made it really uncomfortable,” Mannone“You never knew what kind of games he was playing. So, the fact that now we have five normal, unaffiliated people on the board means that we can just be a board, and it’s going to save taxpayers’ money and the agita that we got with him.”

Hemsley did not return the Herald’s call requesting comments.