By Scott Brinton
Fuschillo goes to work the day after reelection in 8th District
State Senator Charles Fuschillo Jr. (R-Merrick) dropped his children off at school and returned to work at his Freeport office the day after winning reelection in the Eighth District on Nov. 7.
The senator said he has no time to waste on relaxation with a string of big projects he hopes to accomplish during his upcoming term. First among his priorities is seeing Tempo Group, a North Merrick drug-rehabilitation clinic, remain open.
In an exclusive story in last week's Herald, Tempo Executive Director Barry Wilansky said his agency teeters on the brink of shuttering, because Nassau County has not come through with $150,000 in contract monies that were allocated for the clinic in 2000.
Senator Fuschillo said, "I was on the phone with Albany the day after I read your paper, trying to help them [Tempo Group] out."
The agency, a partnership between Tempo and the Bellmore-Merrick Central School District, nearly closed in January, because the county had not provided promised contract monies for 1999. Mr. Fuschillo stepped in, securing a $100,000 state grant that enabled Tempo to hobble along for the rest of the year. Now the senator is again seeking "interim" funds for the clinic.
"I'm looking to help them. With what dollar amount, I don't know," said Mr. Fuschillo.
The senator is lobbying the Senate Finance Committee for funds, he said. The state budget, however, was finalized this past summer. Most grants for 2000 have already been distributed. "It's a constant battle when the state budget is already done," the senator said.
Money, however, can at times be found. Mr. Fuschillo recently won a $10,000 state grant for the Long Island Crisis Center in Bellmore. The center also has suffered through county cutbacks this year. The agency, the area's only round-the-clock, suicide-prevention hotline for young people, lost $103,000 in contracts with Nassau in January.
Mr. Fuschillo said that he is also working to "institutionalize" Tempo's funding with the State Office of Substance Abuse Services, meaning that the agency's grants would come straight from that office. Currently, the county takes state monies and disburses them to local agencies through "discretionary" contracts, which it is free to cut.
The senator is pushing to have $250,000 allotted in the state budget for Tempo in fiscal year 2001-2002, he said. Whether that amount -- or any of it -- will stand during budget negotiations remains uncertain.
Mr. Fuschillo said that ultimately the county should honor its agreements with such agencies as Tempo. "Youth services are too important to the families in need. The county should look at priorities and not cut youth services," he said.
Also on the agenda
Senator Fuschillo said that, in his next term, he will fight to lower the legal blood-alcohol level for a driver to be considered drunk, from .10 to .08. The federal government has called upon states to reduce the blood-alcohol level by 2004 or face cutbacks in federal highway dollars. New York would lose from $20 million to $30 million in federal aid if it were to have those monies cut, the senator said.
Mr. Fuschillo introduced legislation this year to reduce the blood-alcohol level. He hopes to pass the measure next year.
This past year, the senator also sponsored and passed a law that requires telemarketing companies to purchase a list of residents who do not wish to receive solicitation calls at home. Already, some 180,000 New Yorkers have put their names to that list. According to the Consumer Protection Board, more than 500,000 residents are expected to sign up for it by April 2001.
Jeanette Santos (D-Amytiville), Mr. Fuschillo's opponent in this year's election, wished the senator well. However, she hopes that he will fight harder to bring in greater aid for local school districts.
Mr. Fuschillo said the state had provided "yet another year of record increases in state aid" for education in 2000.
The senator said of the election: "I was extremely happy, and I'm just glad that it was a significant margin of victory, as well."
Ms. Santos said, "I was very pleased with my numbers. I thought I did very well, considering it was my first time running, and I only had $5,000, not $100,000" in campaign funds.
Mr. Fuschillo captured almost 60 percent of the vote in the Eighth District to Ms. Santos's 40 percent. Of the 94,872 ballots cast, the senator received 56,439 votes to his opponent's 38,433.
