Eva M. Pearson

Pearson said the main issues in Oyster Bay are restoring ethics, increasing transparency and addressing its fiscal problems. She said elected positions should have eight-year term limits. “Part of the problem we witnessed in Oyster Bay is we had nearly 20 years of one-party rule, and that would make any government prone to corruption,” Pearson said. The indictments in recent years of former town officials and contractors demonstrates the need for a more open process when contracts are awarded, including publishing requests for proposals and bids received online so the public “can see who is getting these contracts and they can see who is bidding for these contracts,” Pearson said. “The overall goal is to make as much information as possible public.” She said any bidder for a town contract should disclose any campaign contributions. The town board members should be informed of all candidates being considered for a town position before being asked to vote on an individual, she said. The town needs to produce clear and understandable budgets with graphs and narratives and provide more information about its finances to the public, she said. “We need to get an independent auditor in there to give us some true numbers,” Pearson said, adding the audit would help them review spending by department and look for places to cut.

Pearson, 45, is running on the Democratic, Working Families, Women’s Equality and Independence party lines. She works as an academic. She received her undergraduate degree in psychology at Georgia State University in Atlanta and a master’s degree in psychology from Adelphi University. She is a doctoral student of education at the University of Buffalo online graduate school of education. She served in the U.S. Air Force for five years, working in logistics for services personnel. She is divorced with two children.