Corbin will bounce back, local leaders say

Friends and colleagues of former Nassau County Legis. Roger Corbin said Monday they were saddened at his prison sentence, but predicted he will bounce back.

"My thing is concern for his family," Legis. Kevan Abrahams (D-Hempstead) said. "We will continue to pray for him and his family and their well-being.

"The hope is that he'll come through this a better person," Abrahams said. "I hear it in the community - the concern for Roger and his family - and that's what we are all concerned about right now."

Mel Jackson, executive director of a Hempstead youth program, said "most who have been out in the community for a while were saddened to see another prominent leader fall." He added Corbin is "resilient and I think he'll bounce back."

Hempstead Mayor Wayne Hall called it "a sad day for all us, for the Village of Hempstead, for Nassau County," and said he had hoped for a more lenient sentence.

"Roger has been a community leader, an activist and a legislator. I wish it [the 18-month sentence] would have been something different, but it wasn't," Hall said.

Legis. Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury), who battled Corbin in a legislative leadership fight in 2005, said, "Roger and I have been friends for more than 20 years. I am truly sorry he finds himself in this position. "

Corbin and his then Democratic ally, Lisanne Altmann of Great Neck, led a failed coup in 2005 against Jacobs, who won the battle and retained control until Democrats selected a new leader, Diane Yatauro, in 2008.

Corbin's successor, Legis. Robert Troiano (D-Westbury) said, "It's a sad for Mr. Corbin and his family and our community."

Yatauro, the Democratic minority leader, said Monday that it was "a very sad time for Roger and his family."

Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, a Republican who had served on the legislature for 14 years with Democrat Corbin, declined to comment.