Anissa Moore appointed Nassau Deputy County Executive

Anissa Moore, the first Black to be elected president of the Long Beach city council and a leader of the Black community in the city, has been appointed deputy Nassau County Executive, County Executive Bruce Blackman’s office confirmed Friday.

Moore, 51, was appointed deputy county executive for health and human services. Her first day on the job was Tuesday. The post pays $160,000 a year.

Moore, who had established herself as a community leader in Long Beach over the years, said in an interview Friday of her new position: “this job is a perfect fit.”

She said she will be reviewing the departments under her jurisdiction – social services, and the departments of youth and aging – before recommending any major policy changes.

In light of the covid pandemic, Moore said, many Nassau County have suffered losses, and county services are vitally important.

“This is true especially if you’re part of a marginalized group,” Moore said. “Right now, the goal is to assess what’s needed. “As soon as that happens, I’m off and running.”

Moore said she first met Blakeman in 2016, at the inauguration for Melissa 'Missy' Miller, a Republican, from Atlantic Beach, who was first elected to the New York State Assembly.

She said Blakeman knew she had established an organization where Blacks and Jews attended Shabbat services at Temple Emanu-El of Long Beach, along with the temple’s rabbi, Jack Zanerhaft.

Six years later, she said, “His transition team called me.” Blakeman was elected county executive this past November, defeating incumbent Laura Curran, a Democrat.

Moore, who moved to Long Beach from, Brooklyn in 2009, made headlines in 2015 when she became the first African-American elected to the city council, to a four-year term.

She became the first African-American elected city council president. She lost her re-election bid in 2019 when she ran as a Democrat on the Republican line, as part of a coalition ticket. She said she did not want to run with some others on the Democrat line because they appeared to be losing their races. But Nassau County Democratic Party Chairman said Moore’s actions were “a betrayal” of the party and he refused to endorse her.  

Her tenure on the city council was at times tinged by controversy with the majority faction of the all-Democratic board. She voted against $2.1 million in bonds for separation payments. But the council may have regretted its move. State Comptroller Tom Di Napoli’s office audited the payments and found that the city made hundreds of thousands in separation payments to employees that they were not entitled to.

Moore has been working as a communications professor at Nassau County Community College. She said Friday she will be taking a leave of absence from the college. She is also an ordained minister at her church, The Evangelical Revival Community Church, in long Beach. She is also an author and a public speaker.

She said that her new position will not deter her from continuing her community activism in Long Beach.

“I have sand in my shoes,” she said.