Citing the desire to avoid a contentious and costly primary, Nassau County Legislator Wayne Wink (D-Roslyn) ended his bid for Nassau County Comptroller at a press conference Tuesday, leaving former Comptroller and Great Neck Estates Mayor Howard Weitzman the presumptive Democratic candidate to challenge incumbent George Maragos (R-Great Neck) in November.
Flanked by Weitzman, county Democratic party leader Jay Jacobs, county executive hopeful Tom Suozzi and Democratic county clerk candidate Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Center), Wink endorsed Weitzman and said he was dedicated retaking the county government from Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano’s administration, who he said had “run this county into the ground.”
“It seems to me that the top priority this year has to be to elect Tom Suozzi county executive, Howard Weitzman county comptroller, Laura Gillen our clerk and to elect Democrats at all levels here,” Wink said. “The goal of that is only made more difficult, I think, by an expensive, time consuming and divisive primary for the position of comptroller. That is why I am taking this opportunity today to announce that I am stepping back from this race for comptroller, I am throwing my support to Howard Weitzman, I continue to support Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen and I think now is the time for Democrats to unify around a single ticket so that five and a half months from now we will be in the strongest position to take back this county.”
“Unity is so very important. We’re going to need all of our resources to take on Ed Mangano and his administration this November,” said Jacobs.
Wink’s withdrawal marks a turnaround for the Democratic party.
Jacobs endorsed Wink in March, but last week Weitzman picked up endorsements of local chapters of the Communications Workers of America and the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union. Weitzman’s successful bid for the Democratic candidacy culminated in Suozzi’s formal endorsement at Tuesday’s press conference.
When asked about the party’s change from backing Wink to endorsing Weitzman, Jacobs said his focus was putting the party in the strongest position to win elections in November.
“My overriding goal has always been to have a unified ticket,” said Jacobs. “I believe that Wayne Wink, as Tom said, would have made an outstanding comptroller. I know that Howard Weitzman has been an outstanding comptroller.”
“I believe that Howard Weitzman will be an excellent Nassau County comptroller. I know he can do it, because he’s done it,” Suozzi said, citing bond rating increases and budgetary surpluses during his and Weitzman’s previous term in office.
Should Suozzi prevail in a primary campaign against Roslyn businessman and school board member Adam Haber, the race in November will be a mirror image of the 2009 campaign that swept Mangano and Maragos into office.
Suozzi and Weitzman were incumbents in that race – both lost by narrow margins to their Republican rivals, and both now say they are spoiling for a rematch.
Wietzman praised Wink for serving as a financial watchdog in the county Legislature and putting the party above his personal ambitions, while touting his and Suozzi’s record.
“Within eight years [of his 2002 election,] Tom Suozzi had engineered the greatest financial turnaround in the history of America,” Weitzman said.
He reserved harsher language for the Mangano administration’s fiscal record.
“The Mangano administration has brought us back to the days of the Tom Gulotta administration, except it’s worse,” Weitzman said.
For his part, Mangano has said that Democrats in the Legislature have obstructed his fiscal recovery plan by refusing to authorize bonding to pay off hundreds of millions of dollars in commercial tax refunds. Maragos has also touted the administration’s budget surpluses, though the Nassau Interim Finance Authority has criticized those statements, saying that the county is still running deficits under NIFA’s accounting standards.
Though Wink said he did not have definite plans to seek another public office, there may be a home for him in Mineola should Suozzi win in November.
“I’d be fortunate if [Wink] would work in a Suozzi administration,” said Suozzi. “We’d be fortunate if he ran for another public office. We’d be fortunate if he did anything that was committed to public service, because he’s the type of talent that you need in public life.”
Jacobs said Wink’s withdrawal would help the party maintain its focus on defeating Mangano and Maragos, but Suozzi still faces the prospect of a primary battle with Haber.
“That is something that I continue to work on, and we’ll see how that plays. If there’s going to be a primary there’s going to be a primary, but my hope, as always, is that we’ll end up with unity,” said Jacobs. “I think everybody has to take a look at which candidate has the best chances of winning, running a strong campaign against Mangano.”
Reach reporter Dan Glaun by e-mail at dglaun@theislandnow.com or by phone at 516.307.1045 x203. Also follow us on Twitter @theislandnow1 and Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.
