Maureen O'Connell

Maureen O'Connell is the current County Clerk of Nassau County, New York (since January 1 2006). Prior to being elected to the Office of County Clerk, Ms. O'Connell served the constituents of the 17th District of the New York State Assembly. Prior to that, she served as Deputy Mayor of the Village of East Williston.

Ms. O'Connell is a registered nurse, and resides with her husband and children in East Williston. In January 2007, Maureen O'Connell was selected as the Republican, Conservative and Independence candidate for the open 7th State Senatorial District in a special election to be held on February 6 2007.

The election was called by Governor Eliot Spitzer to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Senator Michael A.L. Balboni. Her Democratic Party opponent, for whom Gov. Spitzer has campaigned in television and radio advertisements, was Craig Johnson, a County Legislator.

Johnson's campaign ads included TV commercials with endorsements from CPAs condemning O'Connell's votes which they stated resulted in tax increases, as well as TV spots by constituents condemning her reported anti-abortion and anti-stem cell research stances. This was one of the few races where the Democratic candidate attacked the Republican for tax increases, and the Republican candidate attacked the Democrat for "supporting spending cuts".

The polls closed with Ms. O'Connell's defeat. With 264 of 264 electoral districts reporting, voters chose Democrat Johnson by 26,352 votes to O'Connell's 22,991. The result was considered another sign of the Republican Party's decline in Nassau; it was once by far the dominant party.