EDITORIAL: Newsday's endorsement in the 2nd State Senate District

Republican Sen. John Flanagan championed a freeze of public-sector wages last year to close budget gaps at state agencies and school districts. Though Flanagan's idea didn't pick up adequate political steam, he earned himself a bullseye on his back from those constituencies.

Democrat Ira L. Bernstein, 67, a retired Commack schoolteacher, candidly admits that he is seeking the teachers' vote, as well as those of senior citizens. A Selden resident, Bernstein serves on the Brookhaven senior advisory board. But his philosophy of continued spending doesn't meet the challenge of the times.

Flanagan, 49, of East Northport, has spent eight years in the Senate and 16 years in the Assembly. He needs to put that extended experience to work enacting some of the strong reform ideas he's presenting on the campaign trail. Depending on which party takes the Senate majority, Flanagan can expect to serve as the chairman or ranking Republican of the Senate Education Committee.

He's right that New York needs to take a tough look at expensive special education, perhaps, as he suggests, by empaneling a commission such as the 2006 Berger Commission on hospital closures. Flanagan should also air his ideas to ease burdensome pensions obligations, which include a defined benefit with increased employee contributions and a cap on payments.

Newsday endorses Flanagan.