Donald Panetta had questions for many of the candidates running for Town of North Hempstead and Nassau County government positions this fall, so he naturally did what any curious voter in a civic leadership role would do – organize a breakfast for the candidates and prospective voters to chew the political fat.
“We did this to introduce the community to the candidates,” Panetta said Sunday at Temple Tikvah’s inaugural Coffee with the Candidates event. “We designed this forum to get everyone together, nothing too formal, so that if you had a specific question for one of the candidates, you can walk right up and ask them. That was the first thing I did, at least.”
Panetta, who is brotherhood treasurer of the New Hyde Park synagogue, said temple officials had become inspired to host future political events after the positive response from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s lecture there earlier this year and invited the full slate of candidates from both parties for coffee and a bagel breakfast, allowing them to float from table to table at the temple’s event space to speak one-on-one with constituents and promote their campaigns.
“I try to get to as many functions as I can that would be appropriate for a judicial candidate to attend and knock on doors so people have some facial recognition with me,” said Scott Siller, a Village of Flower Hill trustee running for Nassau County District Court judge. “If I’m elected, I want people to have voted for me based on who I am as a person and basically what they see with me is what they get. Who I am on the bench is who I am as a practicing attorney and who I am in the community.”
Sid Nathan, the Town of North Hempstead’s public information officer who this year is running against incumbent Angelo Ferrara to represent the 3rd district on the Town Council, said smaller, more intimate events give voters the opportunity to get to know their elected officials on a more personal level while also becoming informed of their platforms and plans if elected.
“Any time residents have the opportunity to meet their next community leaders, they ought to be values and viewed as important,” said Nathan, a Democrat. “Between the things people have to do, like their day jobs and kids and civic responsibilities, it’s tough to get out and meet their elected officials, so I thank the temple.”
Dolores Sedacca, the former mayor of East Williston who is running for the third time against Republican incumbent Richard Nicolello to represent the 9th district in the Nassau County Legislature, said smaller events also allow voters to ask the questions they may feel intimidated asking in larger settings.
“At a big event, most people don’t feel free to say, ‘I have this problem, what can you do for me?’” Sedacca said. “There’s not enough room to ask that question. There’s a big difference in someone being able to go home and say, ‘I met so-and-so’ as opposed to saying ‘I saw so-and-so.’”
Panetta said he wanted to keep the breakfast as informal as possible to bring out more personal interactions between candidates and voters, in addition to saving the time of hearing 17 campaign pitches.
The only candidate to address the gathering was former Nassau Comptroller Howard Weitzman, a Democrat running against incumbent Comptroller George Maragos.
Weitzman spoke about his accomplishments as comptroller and addressed the need for an overhaul of the county’s property tax assessment system as well as a reform of Nassau’s borrowing practices, which he said led to a $45 million deficit in 2012 that Maragos lied about by touting a $41.5 million surplus. Weitzman added he has filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Though Panetta said Maragos was invited to attend the forum – as were county executive candidates Edward Mangano and Thomas Suozzi, who were each campaigning elsewhere over the weekend – the comptroller was away attending his son’s wedding.
Weitzman said the assessment system is so badly broken that the majority of new homeowners will see property tax increases from their schools.
In New Hyde Park, Weitzman said, school taxes increased by 9 percent this past year and will increase 7 percent next year even though the district hasn’t increased its spending that much.
“So while the county executive touts not raising taxes, the fact is the majority of Nassau taxpayers will see huge tax increases due to the broken assessment system,” Weitzman said.
