NIFA gets a “new” chairman

Daily Point

He’s baaaack

On Friday, Gov. Kathy Hochul finally announced one of Nassau County political circles’ worst-kept secrets: She’s appointing Richard Kessel as the next chairman of the Nassau Interim Finance Authority.

And in appointing Kessel as NIFA head, Hochul is taking a page out of a 23-year-old playbook.

Kessel, after all, was an original NIFA board member, appointed by Republican Gov. George Pataki in 2000. He held a spot on the NIFA board until early 2008. 

Now, after stints at the Long Island Power Authority, the New York Power Authority, and Nassau County’s Industrial Development Agency, Kessel, a Democrat, is back as NIFA’s chairman. And he told The Point Friday he has one top priority: Nassau University Medical Center.

“I’m looking forward to working with the governor and the board and the county administration to do whatever we can to continue the fiscal strength of the county,” Kessel said. “Obviously, my focus, along with the board’s, is going to have to be the medical center — the hospital — and what we’re going to do to fix it.

“And we will fix it,” he added. Kessel told The Point that he spoke with original NIFA chair Frank Zarb on Friday, in an effort to seek input and advice.

Kessel succeeds Adam Barsky, who headed NIFA for more than seven years. Barsky noted that the county now has the highest credit ratings it’s had since NIFA was established and argued that he helped to eliminate “the bad practices that put the county in the control period in the first place.” 

“When I look back, [I’m] proud of all that has been done,” Barsky told The Point.

Kessel has been a key player in Long Island’s political scene for decades, having established relationships with both Republicans and Democrats over the years. Talk of Kessel assuming the NIFA chairmanship has been…