Solages, Bogle face off in 22nd Assembly District

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State Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages (D-Elmont) and Republican challenger Robert Bogle will face off for the 22nd Assembly District seat on Election Day. The district was created in 2012 from pieces of three existing Assembly districts, and includes North Valley Stream, Valley Stream, South Valley Stream, South Floral Park, Floral Park, Bellerose Terrace, North Woodmere, Elmont, Stewart Manor and parts of Franklin Square. The seat has been occupied by Solages since its creation.

The Herald recently asked the two candidates about issues vital to residents of the 22nd District.

Herald: What will you do to ensure that local school districts receive their fair share of state aid?


Robert Bogle: Nassau County, and particularly the 22nd Assembly District, has been woefully short-changed for too many years. Universal free pre-K is a good example, where New York City receives $530 million for 70 percent of its students, Nassau only receives aid for 30 percent — of which none goes to the Valley Stream school districts. We are also forced to comply with the outrageous and onerous unfunded mandates as well as the requirements of Common Core, which my opponent voted for in the 2015 legislative session. Nassau and Suffolk legislators must work closer to protect the interests of our schools and, for my part, I will seek a seat on the Assembly Education Committee, where most of the work is done. Also, I will start a district-wide committee of faculty and parents to keep me in touch with the week-to-week concerns of our educational issues, and will not wait until the end of the legislative session to catch up on important matters.

I am also concerned about the increase in school taxes caused by the PILOT program approved by the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency at Green Acres Mall. This must not happen. It is unfair to the residents of the Valley Stream neighborhood that they have to bear the brunt of economic expansion. I will push for corrective legislation on the state level, if necessary, creating stronger oversight and transparency as to IDA procedures and community involvement should these programs be implemented in the future.

Michaelle Solages: School aid is the largest single state-funded expenditure within the budget and the largest portion of a homeowner’s property-tax bill. I intend to support legislation that will fix the school funding formula to ensure that Long Island receives its fair share of state aid.  

Herald: Do you think officials convicted on corruption charges should lose their pensions? Why or why not?


Bogle: Legislators convicted of corruption crimes should lose their pensions, period. This should not only apply to newly elected officials. All elected officials cannot be grandfathered in no matter how long they have been sitting in public office. I support a constitutional amendment which divests pensions to all corrupt officials sitting or newly elected. Currently, a proposal for this amendment is pending, and I will aggressively campaign for its passage. Without this amendment, only newly elected public officials will be subject to pension forfeiture under current law. This immunity provided to currently sitting elected officials must be abolished.

Clearly the ethics committees of both the Assembly and the Senate should be strengthened and given the appropriate teeth to investigate potential wrongdoing. If necessary, I support legislation to be enacted to create a special counsel to independently investigate instances of serious potential corruption.

Solages: Under the current state of affairs in New York, a former public official convicted of a felony for misconduct in office can still receive their pension. I support legislation that would rescind the public pensions of officials convicted of corruption charges. Those who dishonor the public trust should not receive a taxpayer-funded pension.

Herald: Do you support term limits for state lawmakers? Why or why not?


Bogle: We need to enact term limits for state legislators not only to combat corruption, but in order to ensure expeditious passage of legislation. Politics was never intended to be a career. The purpose of public service was to correct problems seen in the community rather than allow future leaders in your district to inject fresh ideas that are ignored due to decades of incumbency. When legislators become too comfortable, abuses of their office become more frequent. No political official would be willing to ruin their entire future for 10 to 12 years in the Legislature. Term limits would be effective in preventing these abuses.
Term limits also have the added benefit to promote the expeditious passage of legislation. Legislators that know their jobs are safe for many years to come have little incentive to aggressively campaign for the passage of effective legislation. These potential laws are caught up in logjams because legislators know they always have the next session to push legislation through. Term limits will incentivize legislators to act more efficiently and avoid political posturing.
Accompanying term limits, I will push against the recent whisperings of making legislators full time and raising their salaries as high as $125,000. New York state legislators are already among the most highly compensated legislators by state. The taxpayers pay them enough. With the continuance of part-time legislators, coupled with term limits, we can create a more efficient, productive, and honest New York State Legislature.

Solages: In order to consider supporting term limits, New York state must first reform campaign finance laws. Once those reforms are implemented, then the term-limits issue can be analyzed further.