By JUDY RATTNER
"I have been involved in five campaigns and this, by far, was the most negative," Scannell said.
Referring to sharply worded postcards mailed to district residents by the New York Republican State Committee - and one automated telephone message denouncing him during the campaign - Scannell said, "There were 16 offensive and misleading pieces, and one auto dialer that was a complete lie."
In the automated message Scannell said he received the Sunday before Election Day, a woman's voice claimed that Scannell had been silent on the issue of Gov. Eliot Spitzer's plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Scannell said he had in fact opposed Spitzer's plan, making his comments public at a county legislative session on Oct. 29.
"Browne's campaign did not do its due diligence, and they spread absolute lies until the very end," Scannell said. "Chris Browne should be ashamed of himself. It was just ugly."
Turning to the election results, Scannell said, "We crunched the numbers, and we did a little bit better in Baldwin than in Rockville Centre, but we won by a little over 1,000 votes. In light of the negative campaign, I was happy with the results."
The legislator said he is grateful for the opportunity to serve for another two years, and considers it a privilege and an honor. "I look forward to delivering for the residents of the 5th District," he said.
His plans for the district, which encompasses Rockville Centre, South Hempstead, Baldwin and Freeport, include holding his 83rd community meeting in January, in the Rockville Centre Public Library, and his 84th meeting, in Baldwin, shortly thereafter, both of which, he said, would be tax grievance workshops. Scannell also said his office would be sending a letter to district residents this week about tax exemptions. Those who want to know which exemption they qualify for can read the list, and get a copy of the application from Scannell's office.
"Because taxes are the most important issue for everybody, one of my main goals is to ease the tax burden for them any way I can," Scannell said. "We do that by the tax exemption program as well as the tax grievance workshop."
In January or February, Scannell said, the Legislature's 10 Democrats plan to hold hearings on the county's tax reassessment system, an issue Republicans strongly criticized during the campaign. "We want to put it under a microscope and see what has been done right and what's been done wrong," he said. "This has been an important issue for everybody, and we're going to take the lead and call for hearings."
Another area of initiatives for the 5th District, according to Scannell, will be capital projects. He said he wants to continue to work on securing a new location for the Nassau County Police Department's 1st Precinct. "We have the $4 million in the capital plan for next year, and I'm hoping that within the next month we will be announcing a location in Baldwin," he said.
And in Rockville Centre, he said, "I know there's a $3 million application from the village for improvements for Centennial Park [at Mill River] that's being considered by the county's Environmental Bond Committee. I'm hopeful that the committee approves the village's application. I spoke to Tom Moore, the head of the committee, and I told him that I support Rockville Centre's application. If it's approved by the committee, I can help it through the legislative process."
Scannell also said there is money for Capital Revitalization Projects that will come from the Legislature. He explained that he hoped to sit down with both Rockville Centre Mayor Mary Bossart and school Superintendent Dr. William Johnson to see if there are any village or school capital needs. Scannell said he would then appropriate money for those projects to help ease the tax burden on village residents, as he did a few years ago for heating and air conditioning at the Recreation Center, new blinds at the Sandel Senior Center and renovations at the Phillips House Museum, the home of the Historical Society.
In the Legislature, Scannell said, he is excited about the sex offender computer monitoring bill - initiated by the Nassau County Probation Department - which will create a computer program to monitor what Level 2 and Level 3 sex offenders living in the county are doing online. Scannell said that legislators are also pushing a new home builder's licensing law, to be issued by the Nassau County Consumer Affairs Department. Home improvement contractors need licenses, he said, and he feels that home builders should also be licensed, after undergoing background checks to see if they are qualified and whether they have any criminal history.
"I always try to raise the bar for myself every two years, being as aggressive as I can," Scannell said of his agenda. "I don't want to sit back. I try to set higher goals for myself each term."
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