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A Few Clouds Election season races to finish in Nassau County
The following are summaries of county and town races as previously reported in the Herald.
County Executive
The race appears to boil down to three key issues: property taxes, a recently imposed 2.5 percent energy tax and the county’s troubled property-tax assessment system. Mangano is challenging Suozzi’s handling of all three issues, while Suozzi fires back that the county has consistently balanced its budget while improving its bond rating, which reduces the interest the county must pay when it bonds money for any number of projects.
District Attorney
The race for Nassau County district attorney pits one-term Democratic incumbent Kathleen Rice, a former federal prosecutor and Brooklyn assistant district attorney, against Republican Joy Watson, a former assistant Nassau County district attorney who is now a law clerk for a county Supreme Court justice.
Rice, who has gained a reputation nationwide for her tough stance against drunken driving, says she is about more than convicting criminals. Her office is proactive in educating the public, in particular young people, about the dangers of DWI and drug use.
Watson, who served as chief of the D.A.’s Sex Crimes and Domestic Violence Bureau under former District Attorney Denis Dillon, said that she had dedicated her career to the district attorney’s office. She started out prosecuting DWI cases before moving to the Major Offense and Homicide Bureau and eventually to the sex-crimes division. In all, she spent 20 years in Dillon’s D.A. office.
County Comptroller
Two-term incumbent Howard Weitzman is seeking re-election as Nassau County’s comptroller. The Democrat from Great Neck Estates is being challenged by Republican George Maragos, a resident of Russell Gardens.
Maragos, who is running for public office for the first time, has been critical of Weitzman’s record overseeing county finances. Specifically, Maragos said, Weitzman has signed off on budgets with questionable revenue sources and using too much money from reserve funds.
Weitzman said the county is in good financial shape despite the challenges it has faced because of the downturn in the economy. He continues to monitor sales taxes, which account for nearly 40 percent of county revenue but have fallen off drastically in the past year.
Over the past four years, Weitzman has taken on many of the county’s special taxing districts, auditing garbage and water agencies, among others. He has also audited several of the county’s big departments.
Maragos, who has run his own financial services company for 20 years, said the county needs a top-down review of its budget, which he believes could bring about a 5 percent reduction in spending. He also would want “one-shot” revenues to be applied to the county’s reserves and not be used to balance the budget, especially in this economy. “Recessions happen and they’re beyond everyone’s control,” Maragos said. “The issue is how well prepared you are to weather that.”
Weitzman said that during his tenure, he has saved the county, as well as local municipalities and school districts, health insurance costs by calling on the New York Health Insurance Plan to use its surplus to reduce premiums. He also has brought a discount prescription drug plan, at no cost to the taxpayers, to the uninsured and underinsured.
County Clerk
The county clerk’s race has focused less on issues of politics and more on issues of technology.
County Clerk Maureen O’Connell, a Republican who was elected in 2005, has spent her first term cleaning up a mess she inherited. The office, which was a paperwork disaster area four years ago, has seen some updates.
But challenger Carrie Solages, a Democrat, says that despite whatever modest gains have been achieved, the office still needs to be brought into the 21st century. “This office has a lot to be fixed,” Solages said. “I think it needs a fresh start from someone who has a legal and technical background.”
Solages, an Elmont lawyer, has worked hard to characterize O’Connell as lacking when it comes to the organizational and operational skills that are crucial to running the office.
For her part, O’Connell has said that her office has made major progress over the past four years, and will continue to do so if she is re-elected. One technological achievement on which she hangs her hat is the introduction of an e-filing system that works in conjunction with the Nassau County court system.
“This initiative saves time and trees and permits access and filing capabilities even when the courthouse is closed,” said O’Connell, who maintains that Solages does not understand the operations of the clerk’s office. “In 2007 we processed 17 e-filed cases, but this year we’ve processed over 25,000 e-filed cases.”
County 4th L.D.
Nassau County Legislator Denise Ford, who represents District 4, is the only one of 19 legislators who faces no opposition.
“To me, it’s a great compliment that, once again, I’m running unopposed, and it says a lot about the people who do support me,” Ford said of her constituents on the Long Beach barrier island and in parts of Oceanside and Island Park.
Over the next two years, said Ford, a Democrat who runs as a Republican, she hopes to bring more low-income housing to both seniors and young people, and will look to cut taxes by trying to consolidate some county departments and streamline operations.
Town supervisor
The race for Hempstead town supervisor pits incumbent Kate Murray against Democratic challenger Kristen McElroy.
Murray, often criticized for her role in the Lighthouse process, says she favors development at the Nassau Coliseum property in Uniondale but would like to see some aspects of the proposal scaled back. She refuted critics who claim she has dragged her feet on approving the project, saying the town has been expeditious throughout the process, analyzing the environmental and zoning applications and holding public hearings within an “unprecedented” 20 months, she said.
McElroy said her decision to run for supervisor was based on her frustration with the way town government is run, especially its indecision on the Lighthouse. She said she believes the town takes action based on poltics rather than what is right for residents.
Murray, who is seeking re-election to a fourth two-year term, has touted her administration’s ability to freeze tax rates and reduce spending in difficult economic times while maintaining jobs and services.
McElroy said that she would investigate town operations, including what
she says is a patronage system of job distribution.
Town clerk
In the race for Hempstead town clerk, incumbent Mark Bonilla, a Republican, is being challenged by political newcomer Anthony Rattoballi, a Democrat.
The town clerk's office, which maintains records dating back to 1644, records town ordinances, local laws, court actions, zoning ordinances and other activities, and processes a variety of applications.
In office since 2003, Bonilla made history as the first Hispanic to be elected to a townwide position in Hempstead. He said he is seeking a fourth term because he wants to continue to serve the public in a direct and significant way.
Rattoballi believes his newcomer’s status as well as his strong leadership and organizational skills, developed during his years as a private-practice trial attorney, would serve him well in making the town clerk's office more efficient and responsive.
