Letter: Democratic chair wrong on coliseum

I am writing in response to statements attributed to Nassau County's Democratic Party chairman, Jay Jacobs, in "Anatomy of Nassau's defeat" [Aug. 3]. The article states that Jacobs decided to actively work to defeat the coliseum referendum after I allegedly said that laying off county workers would fund the cost of the referendum.

This statement misrepresents my comments, in that I never linked the layoff of county employees to paying for the referendum, and it is intentionally divisive and blatantly political.

Both the Democratic Party chairman and Newsday are well aware that the county submitted a gap-closing plan, as required by the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority, on March 22, outlining layoffs to be implemented by July 1 in the event that union concessions were not forthcoming. This painful choice was made to help close a budget deficit, identified by NIFA, which resulted from unsustainable labor contracts negotiated by the previous administration, which county taxpayers simply cannot afford.

This plan was submitted to NIFA well in advance of any discussion concerning a public referendum to finance a new coliseum, as part of a sports and entertainment destination in the Hub. Linking layoffs of employees to the county's referendum is inaccurate, clearly malicious and intended to derail the county's recovery.

Perhaps going forward, political gamesmanship can be left aside when the county's future is at stake.

Timothy P. Sullivan, Mineola

Editor's note: The writer is Nassau County's deputy county executive for finance.