By:John C. O'Connell
Democrats Tom DiNapoli and Tom Suozzi have tenaciously yet diplomatically battled for months for the right to run for county executive, to replace Republican Tom Gulotta who earlier this year announced he will retire. Though the party's convention delegates voted two-to-one in May for DiNapoli, Suozzi and his supporters launched a primary fight, moving the battleground from political club meetings to neighborhoods, television and community forums.
The party's registered voters will decide on Sept. 11 which one will compete against Bruce Bent, the Republican candidate for the county's top job.
There is much on which the two agree. They blame Gulotta, Republican machine politics, one-party rule, patronage, financial mismanagement and a lack of leadership for the county's fiscal mess and poor services.
While there's little difference between the two on what ails the county, each has a plan to restore it to health, strong support from significant portions of the party, and presents his qualifications as the best for treating the afflictions. And they have very different backgrounds, experience and personalities, a fact each uses to help lay claim to the prize.
Who are they?
Both men started their years of public service early.
DiNapoli, 47, has been the state assemblyman for the 16th District in northwest Nassau for 14 years. When he was 18, in 1972, he became the youngest person in New York to hold public office when he was elected as a trustee of the Mineola Board of Education. He served on the school board for 10 years, including two terms as president. Before being elected to the Assembly in 1986, he was employed as a manager for A.T.& T. for 10 years.
DiNapoli was born in Rockville Centre, grew up in Albertson and lives in the Village of Thomaston. He graduated from Mineola High School, holds a bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, in history and a master's in human resources management from Hofstra University.
Suozzi, who turned 39 on Aug. 31, was the youngest mayor ever elected in Glen Cove eight years ago. He is a graduate of Chaminade High School in Mineola, Boston College and Fordham Law School. An attorney and certified public accountant, he worked for Shearman & Sterling law firm in Manhattan and for Arthur Anderson & Co. as a CPA before being elected mayor on his second try in 1993.
Suozzi comes from a family of Glen Cove politicians. His father, Joseph Suozzi, formerly a State Supreme Court and Appellate judge, was once the city's mayor, as was Tom's uncle, Vincent Jimmy
