Nassau Legislature control still in doubt

Control of the Nassau Legislature remained in doubt Tuesday night as the Republican majority appeared to have lost one of its longtime lawmakers.

Although Nassau GOP chairman Joseph Mondello said that Republicans will continue to hold a 10-9 majority on the county legislature, Democratic chairman Jay Jacobs said another critical race was too close to call.

Two years ago, voters swept aside nearly a decade of Democratic management to put Republicans in charge of most areas of county government, including a 11-8 GOP majority on the Nassau Legislature.

Both parties agreed that veteran Legis. John Ciotti (R-North Valley Stream), an original member of the 16-year-old legislature, had lost to Democratic Carrié Solages of Elmont by more than 400 votes.

"Now we're going to have to count the absentee ballots," Ciotti told a Newsday reporter.

If Solages' victory holds, Republicans would still hold a 10-9 majority.

But Democrats said late Tuesday night that they have a shot at taking the 14th District race between freshman Republican Joseph Belesi of Farmingdale and Democrat Eva Pearson, also of Farmingdale.

County Democratic Party attorney Steven Schlesinger said Belesi's lead was less than 200 votes and appears "subject to a recount."

All other incumbents claimed victory while the one open seat in the 18th District appeared to have been retained by Democrats.

County Executive Edward Mangano was not on the ballot, but voters had a chance to show whether they approved of decisions he has made, supported by Republican lawmakers, to balance his budget in a sour economy: They held the line on property taxes but laid off 128 union workers and are threatening to terminate hundreds more and close police precincts if labor leaders do not provide $150 million in concessions.

Confident of retaining control, Presiding Officer Peter Schmitt (R-Massapequa) said he strongly suggested the county's unions should sit down with Mangano and make a deal.

Ciotti had faced a strong challenge from Solages in the 3rd District, which has turned Democrat since Ciotti was first elected in 1995.

Solages attacked Ciotti's support for a failed redistricting plan -- which would have moved many minority communities out of the district -- and for a racial remark made by a Ciotti campaign worker, which Ciotti disavowed.

The 14th District between Belesi and Pearson had been forecast as tight. Nassau's police unions pulled their endorsement from Belesi, a retired police sergeant, last week because of his vote for the budget.

Pearson argued that Belesi, a former union officer who collects a $101,000 state pension, was blaming labor for Republican mismanagement.

With Robert Brodsky

and Sid Cassese