Nassau Democrats irk a health commissioner

A Nassau County Board of Health commissioner is engaged in a rare verbal spat with Democratic lawmakers over state funding for prevention programs for tuberculosis, rabies and sexually transmitted diseases.

In a statement, Dr. Paul Pipia accused Democrats of "hijacking public health" by refusing to vote to accept $542,000 in state Health Department funds at a legislative hearing last week.

"At a time when Nassau County taxpayers are concerned about their tax bill, our elected officials should be fighting to obtain every dime they can," said Pipia, who was appointed to the board by County Executive Edward Mangano, a Republican. "The state is giving you funding for these programs. Accept the money."

The five members of the Board of Health enforce state public health law and sanitary codes and serve five-year terms.

Legis. Judi Bosworth (D-Great Neck), ranking member of the Health and Social Services Committee, dismissed the accusation and said the three Democrats on the committee simply wanted an explanation about the firing of a Health Department lab director before agreeing to vote for the money. The caucus, she said, will vote when it counts to approve the state funding in the full legislature this month.

"I am not playing politics," Bosworth said. "I am on an honest quest for information."

Since the mid-1990s, the State Health Department has provided Nassau with grants for three public health programs: tuberculosis prevention and education; syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia treatment for inmates at the county correctional center and rabies prevention and control services countywide.

The legislature typically votes to accept the state funds each year without controversy. But the grants became a source of debate during a Feb. 6 committee hearing when Democrats inquired about a vacancy at the county's Public Health Clinical Laboratory, which tests for diseases such as measles.

Roger Silletti, director of labs and research, was among 260 county workers laid off in December. Health Commissioner Lawrence Eisenstein has assumed leadership of the lab, said department spokeswoman Mary Ellen Laurain.

Democrats say Health Department officials were not forthcoming with information about the lab, and as a protest they abstained from a vote on accepting the state funding. The measure passed the committee 4 to 0 with only Republicans voting.

Pipia, a former medical director and board member of Nassau University Medical Center, said Democrats were trying to tie two unrelated issues together, with little regard for taxpayers who would bear the cost of the mandated health programs. "This should not be a political issue," he said in an interview.

The measure is scheduled for a vote in the 19-member legislature on Feb. 27; a 13-member supermajority is needed for approval. Bosworth said Democrats will vote for it.

"I would never vote against funding for the Health Department," she said. "That would fly in the face of common sense."

In the absence of a clinical health director, the department sends its samples to the state for testing. The state has given Nassau until Feb. 29 to make a decision on the lab's leadership.