Four join state board overseeing Nassau finances

Four new members have officially joined the seven-member Nassau Interim Finance Authority, the state monitoring board overseeing the county's finances.

NIFA chairman Ronald Stack confirmed the appointments by Democratic Gov. David A. Paterson in a letter to County Executive Edward Mangano this week.

They are George Marlin, an investment banker and conservative commentator; Thomas Stokes, top financial adviser to former Democratic County Executive Thomas Suozzi; Leonard Steinman, a Manhattan attorney who chaired the Nassau Industrial Development Agency under Suozzi; and Robert Wild, a health care attorney who chairs United Way of Long Island. The governor also reappointed current NIFA board member Christopher Wright, a CPA and risk management consultant, on recommendation of state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

Stack, Wright and Steinman are Democrats. Stokes is a registered Republican while Marlin is a registered Conservative. Wild is not affiliated with any political party.

The four new members replace Stanley Kreitman, a Democrat, and Republicans Paul Leventhal, Greg Raphael, and Robert Smith, who had served since NIFA was created in 2000 in response to Nassau's 1999 fiscal crisis. There is still one board vacancy.

Political and governmental sources predict the new members will be harsher on Republican Mangano as he attempts to fill a multimillion-dollar budget deficit.

"I look forward to discussing solutions other than property tax hikes," said Mangano.