Tom Suozzi
for Nassau County Executive
In the race that pits former County Executive Tom Suozzi against the current against the current County Executive Edward Mangano, this was not an easy decision to make. In many ways, Mangano, Republican, has done a credible job.
A year ago when Superstorm Sandy devastated parts of Nassau County, Mangano fought hard around the clock to get emergency services for residents and businesses. When LIPA failed for weeks to restore power to hundreds of homes and businesses, Mangano expressed the outrage that everyone was feeling. Because of that, major changes were made in the LIPA leadership.
Mangano has been the face of Nassau County, showing up at literally hundreds of events sponsored by the county that made this a great place to live and visit.
But when it came to the New York Islanders, Mangano dropped the ball, or should we say the puck. The Islanders have been a beloved part of Long Island for more than 40 years. Charles Wang, who has been a part owner of the team since 200 and is now the majority owner, wanted to keep his team in Long Island, where it belongs. For Mangano not to be able to make it workable for the Islanders to stay here was a major failure.
To think that the Islanders will be playing in Brooklyn starting next year is nothing short of painful. Ask any hockey fan on this side of the Cross Island Parkway.
At the heart of the problem was the county’s failure to make upgrades to the Nassau Coliseum, the home of the Islanders for a few more months. The voters rejected Mangano’s ill-considered bond proposal.
In the end, Mangano did well in bringing in top developers with bids to rebuild the coliseum before selecting Bruce Ratner, ironically the developer who built the Barclays Arena in Brooklyn that will become the new home of the Islanders.
And while he has held spending and taxes down, Mangano has relied too much on questionable accounting and gimmicks. His budget includes too much borrowing, the shift of tax refunds to school districts and special districts following the elimination of the county guarantee and a county assessment system that has increased costs for residents by approving refund requests to 87 percent of those apply – and leaving the two-thirds who haven’t filed to pick up the cost.
The result is that, despite the state-mandated tax cap, school property taxes have jumped in for residents in Nassau County. At the same time, some of the best school districts in the state are face with painful cuts in staff and/or programs.
Perhaps of greatest concern, it was under Mangano’s watch that the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority was given oversight of the county’s finances. We are not comfortable with the combative stance that Mangano has taken toward NIFA, in particular his relationship with NIFA board member George Marlin.
The county’s figures show ongoing but reduced deficits, but Marlin says NIFA’s analysis found much greater budget gaps than the Mangano administration and charged that the county had “blatantly and without remorse or explanation” failed to meet the agency’s requirements.
Just last week Marlin showed up uninvited at a meeting between Mangano and the president of the county’s largest police union. Any deal that comes out of that bargaining session will need NIFA’s approval.
Much as he would like to, Mangano cannot wish NIFA away any more than he can wish away the pay raises owed the police and municipal workers.
In a close call, we are endorsing Suozzi because of his first term when he helped turn Nassau around rather than the second term when he appears to have taken his eye off the ball looking for higher office – in a failed bid for governor versus Eliot Spitzer.
Our hope is that he will build on the good projects that Mangano has begun while cooperating with NIFA and finding a way to resolve the pay-raise issue without pushing the county to the edge of bankruptcy.
Howard Weitzman
for County Comptroller
In the race for County Comptroller, we endorse Democrat Howard Weitzman over the current Comptroller George Maragos, a Republican.
It’s not an accident that the county comptroller is independently elected. As the county’s chief financial officer, Maragos is not a part of the Mangano administration.
But you couldn’t tell that by the way he marched in lock-step with Mangano, failing repeatedly to oppose the gimmicks Mangano used to balance the budget and the questionable financial decisions he made.
Maragos should have made it known that it was in the county’s best interest to cooperate with NIFA, even when that would have been painful, but we don’t remember that happening.
The comptroller’s office has issued a report which found that the financially troubled county had recorded a surplus in FY 2012 of $41.5 million. But that same report says a state judge signed an order moving $88 million in property-tax refund expenses from 2012 into FY 2013 as the year came to a close, a move critics say turned a budget deficit into a surplus.
This is financial trickery, not sound management.
We are impressed by Weitzman’s pledge to use Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. This is a more conservative and accurate way to look at Nassau County’s budget, which remains under NIFA oversight.
As comptroller during the tenure of County Executive Suozzi, Weitzman, a certified public accountant, was not reluctant to speak the truth to Suozzi. He noted when necessary that the county’s financial obligations exceeded its likely revenue.
In these very difficult times, the county needs a fiscal watchdog like Weitzman.
Kathleen Rice
for District Attorney
Democrat Kathleen Rice is running for a third term as the Nassau County District Attorney. She is opposed by Republican law clerk Howard Sturim, who headed then-District Attorney Denis Dillon’s major offense bureau.
Sturim has strong credentials but we can think of no reason why Rice should not be elected to a third term in office. She has been aggressive in prosecuting public corruption, prostitution and drug abuse. Earlier this month, Gov. Andrew Cuomo appointed Rice to his task force on state-wide public corruption.
Sturim said he would reduce plea-bargain opportunities for violent offenders who could not provide useful information to law enforcement. Sounds good, but the reality is that without plea bargains, even for violent offenses, the courts would be overwhelmed.
Questions have been raised about the possibility that Rice has her eye on a higher office. That’s a risk we’re willing to take. We endorse Rice for re-election.
Maureen O’Connell
for Nassau County Clerk
We’re guessing that there are not many readers, who are not political insiders, who know what the county clerk does or care very much who gets elected. Ironically the reason that you don’t know much about two-term County Clerk Maureen O’Connell is because she has done an excellent job.
Her office, which actually provides a service to all county residents, has run smoothly. And if you have ever urgently needed to get a copy of a document, you know just how important that is.
O’Connell, a Republican, was among the first county clerks in the state to put existing documents into electronic form, and is starting to do the same with legal filings. She says her office began making the transition to electronic filings when the state court system was moving to e-filing, using the county court interface.
Her Democrat opponent Laura Gillen currently works as counsel to the Uniondale law firm. She may also be well qualified, but O’Connell has done an excellent job and is moving her office in the right direction. We endorse O’Connell for re-election
Judi Bosworth
for North Hempstead Supervisor
In the race for North Hempstead Supervisor, we endorse County Legislator Judi Bosworth (D-Great Neck) over her opponent Dina De Giorgio(R-Port Washington).
Whoever wins this election will have big shoes to fill. Jon Kaiman, also of Great Neck, left that position where he served for 10 years, to spearhead Long Island’s continuing efforts to recover from Hurricane Sandy. Kaiman was an popular leader who championed environmentalism and other issues of importance to the future of North Hempstead.
Bosworth, who has a long record of public service, was an effective member of Great Neck school board and most recently served as a county legislator. She has made a name for herself as a loyal friend of the public libraries.
By contrast as a councilwoman, De Giorgio has taken a penny-wise pound-foolish view of spending. She opposed the town’s rescue of the Great Neck Arts Center and only reluctantly has become a supporter of the purchase of the Roslyn Country Club.
As a fiscal conservative, she lacks the kind of vision that Kaiman repeatedly showed. A recent campaign stop, she took on the building department for “not issuing permits fast enough and the process is too complicated for the public to navigate. I met with the building commissioner and their senior staff a few times, and I asked what would be necessary, what they need to issues permits faster.”
A good point, but not much of a reason to vote for her.
Without reservation, we endorse Bosworth for this important position.
Leslie Gross
for North Hempstead Town Clerk
Leslie Gross, a Democrat running on the Republican line, has energetically embraced her role as town clerk. She developed her skills at the town clerk association and has been active, available and independent. She was either dropped or jumped from the Democratic party line depending on who you ask. Gross attributes the change to her independence, Democrats to her management style.
Nassau County Legislator Wayne Wink, Democrat, is a lawyer with a strong background in town and county government who did a good job as a county legislator until he was opted out after Republican redistricting cut his district in four. The use of redistricting to gain political control is a manipulation of the democratic system and is a vice practiced by both parties.
Wink then announced that he was running for county comptroller and dropped out of the race to avoid a costly and contentious primary with Weitzman. Our suspicion is that Wink only ran for town clerk after county Democrats pushed him out of the county comptroller race.
We believe Wink would do a good job as Town Clerk.
But we believe Gross has earned the right to keep her position.
Richard Nicolello
for County Legislator, 9th District
Richard Nicolello, Republican, has been an effective representative of his district.
His opponent Dolores Sedacca, Democrat, served as the mayor of East Williston for four years. After that she served as county Commissioner of Assessment Review from 2002 through 2004 and created the community outreach program for the county Department of Assessment as ombudsman from 2004 through 2009. She also operated her own real estate business and said she understands the assessment issues.
She believes that it’s time for a change in the 9th district. We’re not persuaded.
With his fellow Republicans, Nicolello, among other accomplishments, has helped to keep a lid on county taxes and to find a developer to rebuild the Nassau Coliseum who will accomplish that important job at no cost to the taxpayers.
We endorse Nicolello for re-election.
Ellen Birnbaum
for County Legislator, 10th District
Ellen Birnbaum is the Democratic Party’s nominee for the seat formerly held by Bosworth. She served as the Town of North Hempstead’s Director of Intermunicipal and understands the workings of local government.
Her Republican opponent, Jane Centrella, an accountant, has been a virtual no-show in this race. She has been nowhere to be found.
This was not a hard call: Birnbaum for legislator in the 10th district.
Delia DeRiggi-Whitton
for County Legislator, 11th District
Democrat Delia DeRiggi-Whitton offers an independent voice. She is running against Republican John DiMascio in the redrawn legislature’s 11th District. If elected, Delia DeRiggi-Whitton would have a different constituency than she has been used to.
DiMascio says he intends to help solidify the Republican majority. He is a private practice lawyer also from Glen Cove, who once compared the disparity in the county Legislature to the relationship between the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Democratic-led Senate.
He’s right and that a good reason to vote for Delia DeRiggi-Whitton, who says she wants to “break up some of the bottlenecking we’ve had in the Legislature.”
Judy Jacobs
for County Legislator, 16th District
Democrat Judy Jacobs is running for a tenth term representing the district. She faces a formidable challenge from newcomer Louis Imbroteo, a Republican. This is likely to be the last hurrah for the 74-year-old Jacobs. She has served her district well and has earned the right to be re-elected.
Angelo Ferrara
for Town Council in the Town of North Hempstead 3rd District
Republican Angelo Ferrara has done a credible job representing the 3rd District in North Hempstead. His opponent Democrat Sidartha Nathan is currently on leave of absence from his position as a public information officer for the town. This is a case of if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. We endorse Ferrara.
Lee Seeman
for Town Council in the Town of North Hempstead 5th District
Town Councilwoman Lee Seeman (D-Great Neck), who represents North Hyde Park, Garden City Park, Floral Park and six Great Neck Villages, is in her eighth year in office, and has worked in politics for more than 30 years.
Her challenger attorney Jeff Benjamin (R-Great Neck) is a first-time candidate. His experience in consumer protection law and he says his commitment to limiting government spending would make him an effective advocate for taxpayers.
Seeman’s experience is impressive. She became a New York State Democratic Committeewoman in 1970 and has been the program director of the Great Neck Chamber of Commerce since 1975 and worked in the Clinton and Bush administrations as a member of the United State Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad.
The Town Council is fortunate to have someone of her caliber.
