8th District race pits Gerrato against Muscarella

In the Nassau County Legislature's 8th District, Democrat Carl Gerrato, a Nassau County corrections officer, is challenging longtime incumbent Vincent Musarella, a Republican who was first elected in 1995.

The 8th District encompasses Franklin Square, Floral Park, Bellerose, Bellerose Terrace, West Hempstead and portions of Elmont, New Hyde Park and Stewart Manor.

Before his election to the Legislature, Muscarella served for four years as a state assemblyman representing the 22nd Assembly District.

Both he and Gerrato are involved in the community.

Muscarella is a charter member of the West Hempstead Civic Association and West Hempstead Chamber of Commerce, a past president and member of the Executive Board of the Franklin Square Lions Club, a member of the Franklin Square Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Franklin Square Knights of Columbus.

Meanwhile, Gerrato has regularly attended civic association meetings in West Hempstead, Floral Park, New Hyde Park, Stewart Manor and Bellerose over the past four years, learning about the issues that are close to people’s hearts, he said. He is running for office, he added, to “end the abuses of the powerful and the waste of our hard-earned tax dollars.”

The Sewanhaka High School graduate is married to Cathy. Together they have five children and two grandchildren.

Muscarella is a lifelong Nassau County resident. After completing his undergraduate studies at Bowdoin College in Maine, he attended St. John's Law School and earned his law degree in 1979. He is now a partner in the law firm of Muscarella and Tomasone and a member of the Nassau County, New York State and Florida Bar Associations. He is admitted to practice in the Federal District Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts. His legal career has included positions with the Hempstead Town Attorney's office and the Nassau County Attorney's office.

Gerrato, who noted that he is son of a veteran, and comes from working-class roots, said he would act as a community watchdog, if elected. He said he loves the community, in no small part because his family’s roots date back there to the 1920s.

A former commissioner of the Garibaldi-Meuci Museum on Staten Island, Muscarella is an active member of the Order Sons of Italy in America and serves on the legal committee of its Commission for Social Justice.