Dean E. Hart

Hart said he would use the clerk’s office to combat and prevent corruption by putting all town documents and records — including contracts — online. “If we can get transparent, in the past, the present and future, and keep it that way, we’d run much more effectively, efficiently and be able to get a bang for our buck for our taxes.” Hart said his background running several businesses prepares him for the clerk’s office, because “the No. 1 job” of the clerk is to keep town records and books. Hart said he refuses “to take a dime in fundraising from anywhere” (state financial disclosure forms show the Hart campaign’s only income has been his $220,000 in loans to his campaign). “They need somebody who doesn’t do it for the money,” Hart said. “Everybody’s doing it for a career, to have a career, to give people jobs. Me, I’m donating my salary back to charity.”

Hart, 59, is running on the Democratic, Reform and Women’s Equality party lines. An optometrist, he lives in Glen Head. Hart ran unsuccessfully in 2016 for the state Assembly and in 2015 for the Nassau County Legislature. Hart is known for high-profile campaign events, including bringing a donkey to a Democratic Party nominating convention and handing out plastic handcuffs to train commuters to highlight corruption scandals. He earned his doctor of optometry degree from the SUNY College of Optometry, a bachelor’s degree in life science, social science and business from the New York Institute of Technology, and a master’s degree in biology from Hofstra University. Hart, who grew up in Jericho, is married and has two children.