Fuschillo, a Republican of Merrick, is best described as a go-getter. He takes on big projects, and he gets the job done. One of his recent accomplishments was pushing a state-wide smoking ban into law. The ban will protect bar and restaurant employees - as well as the public - for generations to come. We must note that Fuschillo got the ban passed despite enormous lobbying pressure from the tobacco industry and opposition in the Senate from Republican colleagues. We can only say, bravo!
Fuschillo also passed into law a measure that stiffens the definition of driving while intoxicated by lowering the allowable blood alcohol content limit from 0.1 percent to .08. We believe the measure will deter drunken drivers and save lives. Again, bravo!
The senator was also the lead negotiator in talks to shut down Freeport Power Plant No. 2, whose diesel exhaust, residents feared, was a local cancer cause. And the list of his accomplishments goes on.
Fuschillo is a thoughtful, decent, hard-working legislator who has earned the respect and admiration of Republicans and Democrats alike. The Albany Times Union counted him among the most powerful people in the state because of his ability to pass legislation that few thought would ever become law. For example, the smoking ban.
Fuschillo's Democratic challenger, John Lewis, is a nice man. The attorney from Merrick gave us no reason to even consider replacing Fuschillo, however. He mostly repeated Democratic Party talking points, while offering few substantive proposals of his own. The one idea that could be called his was, frankly, untenable. In an interview with the Herald, he proposed consolidating all school districts within a county into one. The proposal would remove local control of schools, which, for the most part, works extremely well in Nassau. The county boasts many of the top-rated school systems in the nation, including Bellmore-Merrick.
We also fear that consolidation would create massive, oligarchical school districts, with an even greater potential for the type of widespread corruption that we saw this year in the Roslyn School District.
Finally, we're unsure that Lewis possesses a good working knowledge of the 8th Senate District. He did not, for example, know the name of the Kennedy High School in Bellmore, and instead called it the Bellmore-Merrick high school.
Fuschillo, on the other hand, has an intimate knowledge of the 8th District, and can be seen frequently at local functions. Without question, the Herald offers its highest endorsement to Charles Fuschillo Jr.
