Johnson is the choice in 7th Senate District

Voters in the 7th Senate District should be happy that they have two candidates that are extremely passionate about the district and want to effect positive change in Albany. The Herald endorses incumbent Craig Johnson.

Both Johnson and his challenger, Mineola Mayor Jack Martins, have signed on to Ed Koch’s plan to bring reform to Albany. Johnson has already started down this road in the Capitol, passing legislation that will allow the attorney general to investigate senators accused of wrongdoing and supporting nonpartisan redistricting. 

Johnson was also instrumental in enacting change for the residents of Elmont, helping to bring them long-sought water-quality improvement.

While Johnson says he has demonstrated independence in his voting record, however, the Herald encourages him to vote with the Long Island delegation more often, rather than voting with his Democratic bloc. 

To that end, we hope he looks more closely at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority payroll tax that he endorsed. While we understand Johnson’s reasons for voting for the controversial tax — that his is a commuter district and, faced with massive fare hikes and service cuts, voting to help keep the Long Island Rail Road running and affordable was in the best interests of his constituency — it cannot stand as a permanent revenue source for the MTA. We hope that Johnson can spearhead a push for more MTA oversight and reform, which could help create more efficiencies in the agency and put in place measures to stop waste from accumulating in the future. More oversight and reform of the MTA could eventually lead to a repeal of the payroll tax.

We applaud both candidates’ stance on Smart Growth development, which is a necessity for Long Island’s future as a viable and vibrant community. Johnson’s recently passed Smart Growth legislation will help spur development with Smart Growth principles, and we hope he will continue to be a fighter for development with those ideas in mind.

It is also our hope that Johnson will take up one of his challenger’s ideas: to make all representatives in Albany equal in terms of staffing and member items. As it stands, the majority party receives two-thirds of the member items. Those funds, which go back to representatives’ districts, should be more evenly distributed, and should not be affected by whichever party is in control.

While Martins’s success in bringing the spending and budget of Mineola under control, coupled with his experience as mayor in dealing with constituents, could be valuable in Albany, we feel that Johnson has proved to be an advocate of the people, and deserves another term in the Senate.