In a bizarre course of events that occurred late last week, Nassau County Legislator Dennis Dunne, who currently serves the 15th Legislative District, which includes the communities of Levittown, Wantagh and Salisbury, informally announced his candidacy for New York State Senate but in less than 24 hours, appeared to have reneged on his decision to run.

"We had contemplated to make an announcement that I would be running as a candidate for the Republican nomination for the New York State Senate, which is currently held by Kemp Hannon [in the Sixth Senate District]," Dunne said.

According to Dunne, he was given faulty information from what he believed to be a reliable source, that Hannon was not planning on seeking re-election in November. Upon hearing this news, Dunne said he wanted to be considered for the position and decided to plan a press conference.

Dunne added that he did not know of Hannon's health condition and was unaware that the Senator was at home recuperating from prostate cancer surgery at this time.

"Later that evening, after saying 'let's do this,' we found out that Kemp is running, and I called off the campaign," Dunne said.

Dunne added that he has always been, and will continue to be, a strong supporter of Hannon.

"He's been so good to my community; he's brought tons of money for the youth in Levittown, [he's been greatly involved in the revitalization of] Hempstead Turnpike, the school aid has been increased by Kemp Hannon; this guy's terrific," Dunne said. "I'm campaigning for him. I've always been an extremely strong supporter of Kemp Hannon.

"While I would have loved to run for the Senate seat, it's not available and I'm never going to have a contest with Kemp Hannon; any contest, I'll be on his side. My place at this critical juncture is to see the fruition and restoration of Nassau County.

"I'll be supporting Kemp Hannon for re-election wholeheartedly. I didn't want anything to be misread or misconstrued. It was maybe a little premature to jump out as quickly as I did but I'm glad that I called the press conference off, so there should be no story at all," he said.

Hannon said last week, in response to Dunne's alleged intentions, "I have been proud to represent the Sixth Senate District for more than a decade and look forward to serving the people of the district in coming years."

"I'm still county legislator doing the very best I can for our community," Dunne said. "There's still a lot to be done and I love the job I have. It would have been nice to serve a larger community, and Levittown in a larger capacity in the state level, but I'm very happy with what I'm doing. We are doing so much for Nassau County, there's a lot going on in the county and I have to be here for Levittown to bring home our piece of the pie. I'm going to continue to work for my constituency and do the best that I can for the Levittown, Island Trees, North Wantagh, Salisbury area."

Carisa Keane contributed to this story.