Under Suozzi, the assessment system produced errors, forcing taxpayers to overpay because those errors were not corrected before payment was demanded. The “county guarantee” forced the county, not the school districts and towns, to pay tax certiorari refunds. This meant that the county had to pay back money it never actually received. As a result, Nassau was left with approximately $1.6 billion in debt and outstanding liabilities.

After four years, the system is still far from perfect, but it has improved tremendously. Mangano has frozen assessments for four years and implemented a settlement program that has saved the county $28 million annually and reduced taxpayer liability by 93 percent. He has also repealed the county guarantee and developed a plan with the Nassau Interim Finance Authority and the County Legislature to end borrowing and pay off assumed debt.

Mangano should be applauded for his efforts, and not attacked by the liberal media. Sadly, the Suozzi campaign has also resorted to attacks on me to resuscitate his flailing campaign. In fact, in this very paper, one of Suozzi’s cronies accused me of using my column as Mangano propaganda.

Then, during their debate, Suozzi claimed that I tried to use the Shinnecock Indians to bring casino gaming to the new Coliseum. That is far from the truth.

Let’s not forget that the Shinnecock have been underrepresented and mistreated for far too long. Recently, the federal courts and government finally recognized them as a legitimate tribe.

Suozzi is obviously not a fan of Native Americans, and the claim that I attempted to bring them to the new Coliseum for gaming is a fabrication.

The Suozzi campaign has trouble with the truth.

Al D’Amato, a former U.S. senator from New York, is the founder of Park Strategies LLC, a public policy and business development firm. Comments about this column? ADAmato@liherald.com.