Suffolk lawmakers score 'C' on immigration report card

The majority of Suffolk legislators scored a C grade on immigration and middle class issues in a report card being released Tuesday by the immigration advocacy group Long Island Wins.

Eleven of 18 legislators scored a C on the report card, which covered nine votes during the 2008-09 session. Two, Ricardo Montano (D-Brentwood) and Vivian Viloria-Fisher (D-Setauket), received a B grade and four - Tom Barraga (R-West Islip), Jack Eddington (I-Medford), Daniel Losquadro (R-Shoreham) and Steve Stern (D-Dix Hills) - received a D.

Legis. DuWayne Gregory (D-Amityville) was given an incomplete grade because he joined the legislature midway through the session.

Long Island Wins director Maryann Slutsky said the group commissioned the study, which was done by the Manhattan-based progressive think tank Drum Major Institute, to help convince lawmakers and the public that immigrants help the local economy.

"I hope that the legislators will take this seriously and really be able to make that connection between voting on immigration policies that they do indeed affect the middle class population," Slutsky said.

Slutsky said her group surveyed Suffolk's lawmakers and not Nassau's because Suffolk "has a history of anti-immigration legislation and hateful rhetoric from the top down."

Viloria-Fisher and Montano both said they thought they should have scored higher. Montano lost points for abstaining on the controversial 2008 bill to require employers with county licenses to verify their employees' legal status. Montano was challenging the bill on procedural grounds.

"I was just disappointed that I was only a B," Viloria-Fisher said. "This is like my college major. You don't want to get a B on something in your major."

Barraga said he didn't put much stock in the report.

"We can't afford a lot of additional spending and I usually vote against those kinds of issues," Barraga said. "Most of the time if there are fiscal issues and it involves additional dollars that have to be spent by the county, I'll vote against it."

And Legis. Jon Cooper (D-Lloyd Harbor), who scored a C, said his grade suffered because he tried to reach a middle ground on contentious issues.

"I believe that I've been fighting the good fight and I'll continue to do so," he said. "I'm always trying to find common ground between conflicting positions."