Rallying the interns

This originally appeared in The Point. To subscribe, click here.

Josh Lafazan promised to bring his youthful energy to the Nassau County Legislature.

But the 24-year-old Lafazan, by far the youngest county lawmaker on Long Island (by 10 years, if you’re keeping score), is gearing up to bring more millennial enthusiasm to Mineola than even he advertised.

Lafazan is recruiting a team of summer interns — anywhere from 50 to 70.

“The usual number for a legislator is between zero and two, and that’s the truth of it,” Lafazan told The Point.

Lafazan said 50 volunteer interns ages 14 to 22 helped him in his election campaign last summer. He divided them into teams — social media, events, constituent service — and they collectively knocked on 23,000 doors.

Lafazan said he’s motivated by his own experience with internships that mostly were about fetching coffee, as well as his understanding of people only slightly younger than him.

“I treat them as equals, I speak their language, I give them an opportunity to do something more,” he said. “Young people have limitless potential, and young people should have a say in making policy.”

Lafazan said the surest proof he’s on to something is that more than a dozen of last year’s interns ran for student government positions when they went back to school.

“That’s the genesis of how people get involved in government,” he said.

Next stop for his interns: a legislature near you.