Amid reports that Rep. Anthony D’Esposito had his fiancée’s daughter on his congressional payroll, records show he also employed the children and family members of a Nassau Republican ally.
D’Esposito (R-Island Park), who is running for re-election against Democrat Laura Gillen in New York’s 4th Congressional District, came under fire on Tuesday after a New York Times article alleged that the congressman’s ex-girlfriend and the daughter of his longtime fiancée had been receiving salary payments.
At least three people with ties to prominent figures in Nassau County Republican politics received pay through his congressional office, according to 2023 and 2024 pay records.
D’Esposito has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
A former congressional scheduler, Ashley Supplykone, 26, of Long Beach, is the daughter of Republican Senate candidate Mike Supplykone, 68, of Glen Head, a former New York Police Department detective who runs a private security company and has been a longtime donor to Nassau Republicans. He is currently running to unseat Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. D’Esposito’s endorsement of Supplykone appears at the top of Supplykone’s campaign homepage.
One of D’Esposito’s former interns was Aidan Driscoll, 20, the son of Hempstead Town Tax Collector Janine Driscoll. Aidan Driscoll, a college student, worked as a paid intern in the congressman’s Washington office.
D’Esposito’s list of part-time employees also includes Jill Ann Ryder, 59, of Wantagh, who worked on voter issues for D’Esposito. She is the wife of Nassau County Police Chief Patrick Ryder, a Republican.
Newsday investigators verified the family relationships using public records, social media and Newsday archives and obituaries. Newsday left messages with Aidan Driscoll and Jill Ryder on Tuesday but did not hear back. Ashley Supplycorn declined to comment.
Matt Capp, a spokesman for D’Esposito, confirmed to Newsday on Tuesday that they had worked for the congressman in various capacities.
When asked if the staff hirings had anything to do with family ties, Capp said in a statement to Newsday, “Congressman D’Esposito values staff who have deep ties to the communities they serve, and all staff in the district office were hired based on merit and their ability to serve the public.”
But Nassau Democrats argue that Republican cronyism runs deep in the county and that D’Esposito brought the practice of hiring family and friends to Washington during his first term in Congress.
On Monday, The Times reported that Tessa Lark, the daughter of his longtime fiancée Cynthia Lark, works in his district office. Cynthia Lark’s other daughter, Alyssa Lark, is deputy communications director for Nassau County Mayor Bruce Blakeman.
“For as long as anyone can remember, Nassau Republicans have been wasting taxpayer money on these low-performing jobs that trade political loyalty for a paycheck,” said Nassau County Council Minority Leader Rep. Delia DeLighi Whitton (D-Glen Cove).
Gillen, a longtime rival of D’Esposito’s from their days as Hempstead town supervisor and city council member, also faced off against D’Esposito in the 2022 congressional election, which D’Esposito won by 9,751 votes, or 3.6 percentage points.
During his time as a Hempstead city councilman, D’Esposito’s mother, father, brother and sister-in-law all worked for the town, and in March 2017 he voted to give his mother, who works as secretary for the highway department, a $2,500 raise.
Candace Ferrett covers Nassau County government and politics on Long Island. She has been a reporter for Newsday since 2011.
