Re-elect Hooper in the 18th A.D.

The Herald endorses Assemblywoman Earlene Hooper for another term.
Hooper, a Hempstead native who has represented the 18th Assembly District — which encompasses parts of Lakeview, West Hempstead, Baldwin and East Meadow — since 1988, holds leadership roles in the Assembly as deputy speaker and dean of the Long Island delegation. In addition, she sits on four committees, heads the Assembly Task Force on Women’s Issues and the state Black and Puerto Rican Legislative Caucus, and remains an active NAACP member. She allows none of these roles to interfere with the obligations she has and the commitments she makes to her constituents.

As a high-ranking member of the Assembly, Hooper spends much of her time in Albany, but she returns to the district when possible and advocates on its behalf. She introduced legislation that would require input from local officials and community leaders on all PILOT — payment in lieu of taxes — approval proceedings, which she said the Town of Hempstead and county approve “indiscriminately.”
Hooper, who is also an adjunct professor of social work at Adelphi University, introduced legislation that would speed up the process by which landlords can gain access to apartments to exterminate bed bugs. She supports implementing a cap on annual school district spending, and encourages school districts to live within their budgets. She does not support unfunded mandates.

All governments and agencies, the State Legislature included, must operate within their means and manage their finances efficiently, Hooper believes. To achieve this goal, to her way of thinking, elected officials must be held accountable for their actions by their constituents and their own moral compasses: They must remember their purpose and role as public servants. A collective body of responsible representatives, she says, can accomplish great things.