No easy answers to Nassau financial mess
Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, right, with Legislator and majority leader Peter Schmitt. Credit: Howard Schnapp
An uninformed reader is likely to infer that all was financially rosy in Nassau County before the Mangano administration ["Nassau crisis calls for cooperation," Editorial, Jan. 27]. Of course this simply is not the case. In fact, the Nassau Interim Finance Authority harshly criticized former County Executive Tom Suozzi's budgets during his tenure, a campaign issue that contributed to Mangano's upset election victory.
The Suozzi administration repeatedly took a "kick the can down the road" approach with respect to dealing with the county's unions and other significant county financial matters, and it is now up to County Executive Mangano to clean up the financial mess.
Philip R. Brookmeyer
The takeover by NIFA of Nassau County finances is nothing short of a direct attack on the proper working of the democratic process.
I voted for Edward Mangano to be my county executive, and I voted for Judy Jacobs to be my county legislator. I want Ed and Judy running my county government, not six people who I never voted for and who I never heard of.
There's not much point in holding elections if the people we elect can arbitrarily be stripped of their power to govern.
Mike Polansky
The personal and partisan attacks on the NIFA board by County Executive Edward Mangano and Presiding Officer Peter Schmitt are both unprecedented and unwarranted ["Political games won't fix budget," Editorial, Feb. 1]. The members of this board, who have all distinguished themselves in their respective careers, serve without compensation. They have been appointed to their positions by elected officials in accordance with state law, enacted in 2000 and voted upon by Messrs. Mangano and Schmitt as county legislators. These attacks will do nothing to help fix Nassau's finances and should stop immediately.
The control period voted by NIFA may provide a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix the huge structural gap in the county's finances. County Executive Mangano should be working with NIFA to prepare a solid, responsible budget acceptable to both NIFA and the legislature. He should be going to Albany with NIFA to lobby for the end to the spending mandates and state legislation that weighs so heavily on Nassau's finances. Instead, he is engaging in personal attacks and litigation against the very individuals whose help he needs.
This course of behavior is having a devastating effect on the county. The county executive's lawsuit, which will probably fail, will only create more uncertainty for the county, its unions, employees and vendors, and make the ultimate fix that much more difficult.
Editor's note: The writer is a former Nassau County comptroller.
