Opinion

Endorsements

OPNCLG2023

The Editorial Board

Change is coming to the Nassau County Legislature. 
 After redistricting shifted some lines substantially, many Nassau residents&nbsp;find themselves in unfamiliar districts&nbsp;with unfamiliar names.&nbsp;This year's four open seats&nbsp;mark&nbsp;the most in more than two decades. Neither legislative leader —&nbsp;Richard Nicolello nor Kevan Abrahams — is&nbsp;seeking reelection. And one additional seat would give&nbsp;Republicans a supermajority with&nbsp;the power to make borrowing, spending and other decisions on their own. 
 The challenges are big:&nbsp;affordability, dangerous roads, aging infrastructure that can't handle more intense and frequent storms,&nbsp;the opioid crisis, making sure homes are fairly taxed,&nbsp;and keeping Nassau University Medical Center solvent.&nbsp; 
 This year, the legislature did act&nbsp;on one of the county's most valuable and vexing properties when it approved the transfer of the Nassau Hub lease to Las Vegas Sands. While the final decision on whether a resort casino becomes a reality is out of the county's hands, Nassau lawmakers must make sure the money already received from Sands, and any possible future funding, is well used. 
 There is general agreement that the county has been&nbsp;slow to get&nbsp;opioid settlement funds into the hands of nonprofits that can put them to good use. Candidates note that the county has access to&nbsp;$60 million to be spent over four years,&nbsp;but has distributed less than $5 million so far. How can the process be improved while making sure the dollars are well spent?&nbsp; 
 There are other questions.&nbsp;When will county officials hire a qualified, professional assessor, and what steps will that person take to fix Nassau's broken assessment system? What will Nassau do to maintain its strong financial footing after federal pandemic-&nbsp;and infrastructure-related&nbsp;funds dry up? What's the best strategy&nbsp;to bring NUMC into an&nbsp;era of capable management and financial stability? 
 The legislature's internal operations are another issue. Nicolello was a capable presiding officer,&nbsp;but he held tight to the reins of&nbsp;control. Whomever&nbsp;lawmakers elect&nbsp;to&nbsp;take the chair should allow&nbsp;bills to move to committees for review so that all have a chance of coming up for a vote. To do otherwise would deny&nbsp;all county residents the opportunity to have their needs addressed. 
 Nassau residents need thoughtful leaders willing to use their voices, bill-writing abilities&nbsp;and oversight powers to&nbsp;fulfill their roles as a coequal branch of government and&nbsp;move the county forward.&nbsp;In making its endorsements, the Newsday editorial board is seeking lawmakers who will do just that.

Editorials

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What to watch in Nassau legislative elections

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The 1st District includes parts of Hempstead, Lynbrook, Rockville Centre and South Hempstead. 
 After two decades in office,&nbsp;Kevan Abrahams, the Democratic minority leader, announced in April he wouldn’t seek reelection. His departure opened&nbsp;the seat to a key competitive election. Due to redistricting,&nbsp;Abrahams’ successor will represent most of the villages of Hempstead and Rockville Centre. 
 Scott Davis, 61, of Rockville Centre, is the Democratic nominee. He’s an experienced lawyer with an office in Forest Hills, Queens, and a first-time candidate. Michael J. Lucchesi, 39, also of Rockville Centre, is the Republican nominee. He’s a financial adviser with Raymond James, the wealth-management firm in Garden City. He, too, is&nbsp;a first-time candidate. 
 Davis is looking to convince voters throughout the&nbsp;district of his familiarity with their needs and his ability to advocate independently on issues of concern.&nbsp;On the county’s persistent property tax assessment mess, Davis&nbsp;notes that those who can afford it pay tax certiorari firms that have contributed millions to the GOP, to file grievances and get&nbsp;tax cuts, creating an “inequitable situation.” To prod the county executive’s office to end the current assessment freeze, Davis said he’d “shine the light” on the need to resume reform efforts in that office. 
 Lucchesi said Republicans are “doing our best” to make assessments fairer&nbsp;after such efforts “didn’t go well” in the previous administration. 
 If a casino&nbsp;comes to the Hub, Davis promises to ensure that the project provides the pledged&nbsp;level of local employment and to closely monitor its&nbsp;implications for traffic and safety. He says opioid funds Nassau received from settlements&nbsp;need to be released and fentanyl strips provided to prevent the kind of overdoses claiming lives in the county. He's more expansive than his opponent on exploring funding options that might save Nassau University Medical Center. 
 If the Republicans retain&nbsp;the majority, Lucchesi might&nbsp;have&nbsp;an edge in delivering services and projects for his district. But Davis says a Lucchesi win would give the GOP a two-thirds&nbsp;partisan supermajority. With&nbsp;a Republican county executive, Davis argues, that would weaken&nbsp;checks and balances. Republicans right now are one seat short of that supermajority. 
 Both candidates cite the need&nbsp;to encourage private investment in building affordable housing. Both want to help solve the longtime problem of dangerous intersections near Hempstead Village schools. 
 Overall, Davis shows more readiness to use&nbsp;the position to&nbsp;provide fresh insights and propose constructive changes&nbsp;in this new&nbsp;district and the county as well. 
 Newsday endorses Davis.

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Scott Davis for Nassau Legislative District 1

Newsday endorses Davis for Nassau Legislative District 1

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The 2nd&nbsp;District includes New Cassel, Uniondale&nbsp;and parts of East Meadow,&nbsp;Hempstead and Westbury. 
 New boundaries keep&nbsp;only 33% of the district's&nbsp;former voters,&nbsp;but the heart of it remains the Village of Westbury, which both candidates call home. 
 Republican challenger Karin B. Campbell, 63, previously ran for a legislative seat&nbsp;in 2011 and for North Hempstead Town council the year before. A longtime school board member in Westbury, Campbell had&nbsp;a career with the Long Island&nbsp;Rail Road and Amtrak;&nbsp;she now works as a case manager at a Mineola nonprofit to help those seeking&nbsp;permanent housing and other social services. Little wonder&nbsp;she is passionate about providing more of it, suggesting it should be built at the Nassau Hub, on vacant lots and other underutilized&nbsp;properties, as well as other communities outside the district to help solve the problem. She wants county government to be more active in addressing&nbsp;the opioid epidemic and making sure social service funds actually reach&nbsp;those&nbsp;who need them.&nbsp; 
 Democratic incumbent Siela A. Bynoe, 56, seeks her&nbsp;fifth full term, but if she wins,&nbsp;there is no certainty she will complete it. She initially sought the Democratic nomination in the 4th Congressional District in 2022 and now&nbsp;is eyeing a possible opening for State Senate in 2024.&nbsp; 
 One of the county's most active legislators in proposing laws and providing oversight of the administration, Bynoe has a plan for almost every issue. She called for hearings in March about the shaky finances of Nassau University Medical Center and thinks one way of shoring it up would be to move the county's&nbsp;A. Holly Patterson nursing home to NUMC's East Meadow campus and lease&nbsp;the nursing home property for industry or business development to bring jobs.&nbsp;She was a key player in negotiating a larger community&nbsp;benefits package from Las Vegas Sands before voting to transfer the lease on the Nassau Coliseum site to the company seeking a state casino license.&nbsp;When discussing road safety and flooding concerns, Bynoe knows every hot&nbsp;spot in the area and was able to secure $15 million in the most recent capital plan for design and study to make improvements. Most recently, she surfaced flaws in the county's contracting process needlessly delaying the delivery of opioid settlement money to nonprofits on the front line of the epidemic. 
 Bynoe has detailed insight of&nbsp;the legislative process and knows how to&nbsp;harness that&nbsp;to better deliver for all&nbsp;Nassau residents as well as those in her district. 
 Newsday endorses Bynoe.&nbsp;

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Siela A. Bynoe for Nassau Legislative District 2

Newsday endorses Bynoe for Nassau Legislative District 2

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The 3rd&nbsp;District includes South Floral Park and parts of Elmont, Floral Park, North Valley Stream, South Valley Stream and Valley Stream. 
 The 3rd District is a distinctive hub of diversity. Democratic incumbent Carri&eacute; Solages, 44, of Lawrence, has been in office since 2012, and is serving his sixth term. This year he faces a promising Republican challenger: Sheharyar Ali, 30, of Elmont, a first-time candidate. 
 Ali, a deputy county attorney, rightly emphasizes the need to communicate and coordinate with residents, especially those who are unfamiliar with county and town programs and processes.&nbsp;He shares&nbsp;that&nbsp;he has&nbsp;met thousands campaigning door-to-door&nbsp;between this race and&nbsp;prior Republican campaigns where he helped out. He says: “I feel like our politicians need to be more involved in the community, holding seminars, holding workshops, holding meet-and-greets, just to tell the community what services are available.&quot; 
 The candidate, who lives in the hamlet where he grew up,&nbsp;previously was an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn. 
 He calls for renewing&nbsp;digital and in-person public education on such topics as how to grieve property taxes. He&nbsp;plans to&nbsp;make a point of&nbsp;letting seniors know about programs of which they often are unaware. As Ali tells it, collaboration between residents and their officials should also extend to policing. A simple example is letting it be known that someone calling 911 needs to stay at the scene for the response. 
 While praising the interactions of the Nassau County Police Department’s long-standing “problem-oriented policing” unit, Ali wants to build on it by adding&nbsp;what the NYPD calls neighborhood coordination officers. A&nbsp;granular example of this: Merchants and their employees might be quicker to respond cooperatively when&nbsp;an officer they've met, and know where to find,&nbsp;comes around asking for videos of an incident under investigation. 
 Ali describes&nbsp;how he helped coordinate a volunteer effort to get baby formula for mothers who needed it during a local shortage. He said he reached out to&nbsp;friends in Florida, North Carolina and New Jersey to get it to Long Island. That signals pragmatic coordination and initiative. 
 And Ali&nbsp;appears to have a fitting and traditional view of the district as a magnet for people from a range of immigrant communities in New York City’s outer boroughs who seek&nbsp;public safety, good schools, and a yard.&nbsp;Thus he puts a premium on quality-of-life issues such as basic infrastructure and storm drainage to prevent flooding and ponding on roads. 
 Solages is a&nbsp;familiar&nbsp;face and name and has community relationships&nbsp;and&nbsp;support,&nbsp;but voters might not find his&nbsp;long incumbency to their advantage.&nbsp;Solages&nbsp;declined to be interviewed. 
 Ali offers a fresh face and new perspective, shows knowledge of&nbsp;the&nbsp;terrain, and&nbsp;appears ready to make a positive difference as a rookie lawmaker. 
 Newsday endorses Ali.

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Sheharyar Ali for Nassau Legislative District 3

Newsday endorses Ali for Nassau Legislative District 3

The 4th District includes the South Shore from Atlantic Beach to Point Lookout plus&nbsp;Island Park, Harbor Isle,&nbsp;Barnum Island and parts of Lawrence and Oceanside. 
 The roiling, bruising politics of Long Beach are legendary, and this season wind is fanning the flames. The effort by energy giant Equinor&nbsp;to get community support for&nbsp;its plan to bring a cable from its offshore&nbsp;turbines to a substation in Island Park exploded this spring when questions about&nbsp;residents' health and the safety of such a project&nbsp;became entwined in city council elections and the vote to replace retiring incumbent legislator&nbsp;Denise Ford. 
 Since then, New York State&nbsp;has refused the request by Equinor and another firm to&nbsp;sweeten pending contracts, placing the project in limbo and possibly killing it altogether after Gov. Kathy Hochul&nbsp;vetoed a bill that would have made it easier&nbsp;for the transmission cable to come ashore. While wind project politics overshadow&nbsp;the Nassau legislative race, the reality is that county lawmakers have no&nbsp;role in the fate of the&nbsp;renewable energy project.&nbsp; 
 Two first-time candidates, Republican Patrick C. Mullaney and Democrat Alexis N. Pace,&nbsp;both Long Beach residents, agree&nbsp;on some county issues. They recognize that increased rainwater from more severe storms is overwhelming the area's&nbsp;drainage and sewer systems,&nbsp;and that the county must play a role in remediating the causes. Both say&nbsp;the district is pretty dense with not much room for more housing. 
 Pace, 47, a sales representative for rare oncology medications, is a member of the Long Beach school board. She supports expanded efforts to stop hate crimes, especially the recent spurt in antisemitism. With her background in health care, she is especially&nbsp;focused on the mental health crisis and opioid addiction and is concerned the county doesn't have a clear plan or sense of urgency on how to use the millions of dollars awarded in opioid settlements. One possibility, she said: expand inpatient&nbsp;treatment services&nbsp;at Nassau University Medical Center. She wants to know&nbsp;why Nassau has&nbsp;significantly fewer red-flag enforcements than Suffolk; the state law prevents people who show signs of being a threat to themselves or others from purchasing or possessing firearms.&nbsp;Pace also wants first responders&nbsp;to have more mental health resources available to them. She&nbsp;supports a law requiring co-op boards to explain why they reject a potential buyer.&nbsp; 
 Mullaney, 48, is a New York City firefighter assigned to special operations in Brooklyn. He also runs a part-time home inspection service.&nbsp;While he supports the current freeze on property values, he said he needs more information on what the county should do next. He thinks opioid funds should be used to&nbsp;educate&nbsp;the community about the dangers of addiction.&nbsp;He says that more of a police presence on the roads can curb reckless driving.&nbsp; 
 Pace has demonstrated consensus-building skills and understands the value of listening and gathering the facts. She is a worthy&nbsp;successor to Ford.&nbsp; 
 Newsday endorses Pace.

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Alexis N. Pace for Nassau Legislative District 4

Newsday endorses Pace for Nassau Legislative District 4

The 5th District includes&nbsp;parts of Freeport, Bellmore, Merrick, North Bellmore and North Merrick. 
 In the wake of redistricting, the 5th District became one of four without an incumbent when&nbsp;current legislator&nbsp;Debra Mul&eacute;&nbsp;found herself placed in the neighboring 6th District. That opened the door for newcomers Seth I. Koslow and Joseph A. Baker. 
 Koslow, a Merrick Democrat, has&nbsp;experience on both sides of the courtroom, first as an assistant district attorney in Queens, and now as a criminal defense and traffic court attorney. Koslow understands the nuances of his district, noting the differences in how residents of Merrick and Freeport view multifamily housing.&nbsp;He said he would work with local officials&nbsp;to encourage zoning changes that allow&nbsp;more housing, while taking action at the county level to smooth&nbsp;the way for new development. Koslow, 41,&nbsp;is focused on his district's concerns over a proposed 42% water bill rate hike by Liberty Utilities, noting that he&nbsp;supports municipalization. In the meantime, wants to see better communication, accountability and oversight regarding Liberty's decisions and the work of the South Nassau Water Authority, one of the groups formed to take over some of the&nbsp;territory handled by Liberty's predecessor, New York American Water. 
 Koslow speaks with passion and knowledge regarding&nbsp;the opioid crisis, arguing&nbsp;that the county should provide fentanyl test strips to residents as proposed, more community policing, and&nbsp;fairer treatment of communities of color. He also noted that&nbsp;district residents, particularly in Freeport, need a stronger voice in the legislature, as the community previously was represented by&nbsp;up to four lawmakers. Now, most of Freeport falls in the 5th district.&nbsp; 
 Baker, a retired court officer, founded the South Merrick Community Association, which he presided over for 17 years. The Merrick Republican&nbsp;is a former member of the South Nassau Water Authority board and blamed its lack of action on behalf of water customers on Gov. Kathy Hochul for vetoing legislation that would have provided additional funding for the authority's work. He said he opposes the proposed rate increase but puts some of the onus for high water bills on residents who overuse sprinkler systems. Baker, 74, emphasized the need to address the district's aging infrastructure, particularly to mitigate future flooding, but he lacked an understanding of the county's broader challenges and specific ideas on how to address them. 
 Koslow has the energy, enthusiasm&nbsp;and new thinking the district and county need&nbsp;and the drive to bring ideas&nbsp;to fruition.&nbsp; 
 Newsday endorses Koslow.&nbsp;

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Seth I. Koslow for Nassau Legislative District 5

Newsday endorses Koslow for Nassau Legislative District 5

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The 6th District includes Baldwin, Baldwin Harbor, Roosevelt and&nbsp;parts of Freeport, Oceanside and South Hempstead. 
 While the district number&nbsp;has changed, the area Debra S. Mul&eacute; represents has remained largely intact.&nbsp;And the three-term lawmaker is rightly sounding the alarm regarding aging infrastructure in the district and&nbsp;Nassau County, pointing to this summer's sinkhole&nbsp;in Baldwin as a warning sign of trouble ahead. 
 The Freeport Democrat emphasizes&nbsp;the need for county&nbsp;capital funding for key projects, particularly to improve&nbsp;roads and sewer infrastructure. But she also points to success stories like&nbsp;the Baldwin Complete Streets project, a county effort to improve Grand Avenue&nbsp;that complements Hempstead Town's ongoing Downtown Revitalization Initiative there. Mul&eacute;, 61, noted that while residents at first expressed hesitancy about the changes, which reduce&nbsp;the number of lanes and&nbsp;add&nbsp;additional traffic signals, they've already started to work well to help reduce traffic and improve pedestrian safety. 
 Mul&eacute; has brought that attention to detail to county-level issues as well. When the Nassau Hub lease transfer was discussed, Mul&eacute; went — on her own — to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to evaluate another casino built by Las Vegas Sands before casting her &quot;yes&quot; vote. She hopes to encourage new housing on county-owned land.&nbsp;And&nbsp;Mul&eacute; is ready to agitate when necessary, recognizing that's a key role&nbsp;of the legislature's minority. That includes pressing for the hiring of an appointed, qualified assessor and for quicker allocation of the county's opioid settlement money.&nbsp; 
 Republican Benjamin Jackson has lived in Freeport his entire life and has run a small contracting business for more than 40 years. That&nbsp;experience and&nbsp;his work on Freeport's zoning board&nbsp;gives him&nbsp;insight into what works — and what doesn't. Jackson, 62, has good ideas, such as suggesting&nbsp;the county can help&nbsp;facilitate housing production by streamlining its own processes and making permitting easier, and can improve the contracting industry by requiring continuing education. His commitment to water quality and environmental issues is welcome. Jackson should continue to use his voice to advocate for Freeport and small businesses like his. 
 Mul&eacute;'s valuable voice gives her the opportunity to become a stronger leader within the legislative body in her next term.&nbsp; 
 Newsday endorses&nbsp;Mul&eacute;.&nbsp;

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Debra S. Mulé for Nassau Legislative District 6

Newsday endorses Mulé for Nassau Legislative District 6

The 7th District includes the Five Towns area plus Woodsburgh and parts of South Valley Stream and Valley Stream. 
 Howard J. Kopel, 72, of Lawrence, is seeking an eighth term. Currently tied for the most seniority in the chamber, he’s&nbsp;a contender&nbsp;for presiding officer if reelected. The current Republican leader, Richard Nicolello, is retiring from the legislature. 
 “I’d like to see if I can do some good for a while,” Kopel says when asked about that prospect. He emphasizes his penchant for seeking consensus across partisan lines. 
 Redistricting has condensed the district, making it&nbsp;more like the Five Towns district map created two decades ago. Democrat Tanvir Ahmad, 69, a newcomer to campaigning for office who lives in Hewlett, is retired as one of the high-level&nbsp;managers in the New York City Sanitation Department. 
 Both candidates see the realistic tension between a need and desire for new affordable housing in the district and a need to address long-term road congestion. Kopel says it's difficult to find solutions, especially to jams on the Nassau Expressway; he’d like to see a roundabout at one particular bottleneck in Hewlett fully explored.&nbsp;Ahmad says housing would be a top priority for him. 
 Kopel shows a healthy flexibility on the issue of distributing&nbsp;fentanyl test strips to prevent overdoses and deaths by seeking&nbsp;varying opinions from medical professionals. He voices a rational level of caution on a casino at the Hub, calling for all agreements to be strictly followed. 
 Resolving the financial future of Nassau University Medical Center requires restoring state aid previously cut and raising reimbursements up to the level that voluntary hospitals receive, Kopel says. He calls it an inopportune time to push ahead with another revamping of property-tax assessments, but expresses confidence that the Blakeman administration is planning longterm changes. 
 He has&nbsp;proven experience&nbsp;and a temperament that tends toward pragmatism. 
 Newsday endorses Kopel.

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Howard J. Kopel for Nassau Legislative District 7

Newsday endorses Kopel for Nassau Legislative District 7

The 8th District includes Carle Place, Franklin Square, Garden City South, Stewart Manor and parts of Elmont, Garden City, Mineola and West Hempstead. 
 Where John J. Giuffre goes, it's all about roads. 
 Giuffre can tick off the streets in his district that have required attention and emphasizes the need for better traffic enforcement and changes to the street design&nbsp;that can make roads safer.&nbsp;His granular knowledge of the district after just one term is impressive. But the unassuming&nbsp;yet effective Stewart Manor Republican also has a solid understanding of the county's more significant challenges, especially the future of cash-strapped Nassau University Medical Center. Giuffre, 59, suggests developing parts of NUMC's campus&nbsp;with housing or other projects, or utilizing floors of the facility for specific needs&nbsp;like&nbsp;drug treatment. 
 Giuffre didn't represent the Garden City area when he voted to transfer the Nassau Hub lease to Las Vegas Sands. Redistricting, however, brought Garden City into his district. Giuffre said he sees Sands' plans as a &quot;win-win.&quot; He pledged to&nbsp;hold Sands to its promises and to push for&nbsp;some community benefits from Sands&nbsp;for&nbsp;the district. 
 Franklin Square Democrat Erica R. Rico, who works in luxury retail, said she would incentivize local businesses and focus on school funding. She emphasized her opposition to&nbsp;the casino proposal at the Hub, citing&nbsp;impacts on property values,&nbsp;crime,&nbsp;traffic and the environment. But Rico, 36, lacks the knowledge and&nbsp;understanding of most county and local issues to capably represent the district. 
 In a new term, Giuffre should&nbsp;keep a thoughtful spotlight on NUMC&nbsp;and continue to tackle the district's road safety challenges.&nbsp; 
 Newsday endorses Giuffre.

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John J. Giuffre for Nassau Legislative District 8

Newsday endorses Giuffre for Nassau Legislative District 8

The 9th District includes Bellerose, Bellerose Terrace, East Williston, Garden City Park, New Hyde&nbsp;Park, North New Hyde Park, Roslyn Heights and parts of Floral Park, Garden City and Mineola. 
 Scott P. Strauss misses &quot;being in the mix.&quot;&nbsp; 
 The former mayor of Mineola, now running for the seat long held by outgoing Presiding Officer Richard Nicolello, has been out of office for a year-and-a-half, but he still knows exactly which roads will flood, where the best opportunities are for new housing and businesses to flourish, and how to allay the concerns of residents opposed to new ideas. 
 Strauss, 60, notes that&nbsp;Mineola&nbsp;residents' worries over the village's ambitious&nbsp;housing plans, for instance,&nbsp;never materialized. That's one&nbsp;experience-backed take-away the&nbsp;Republican says he'd bring to the rest of his district and beyond as a county legislator.&nbsp;&quot;If there's any community that's dead set against the&nbsp;housing program, I think I could be a resource to them … [and] relieve or alleviate some of the concerns and fears they may have,&quot; Strauss said. 
 Strauss says risks sometimes must be taken to make progress,&nbsp;even if it means convincing&nbsp;residents to&nbsp;shed&nbsp;older ways of thinking.&nbsp;And he's willing and able to take on some of the biggest challenges, from&nbsp;infrastructure needs to assessment. His mayoral experience particularly carries over to his analysis of the county's assessment system;&nbsp;he notes that Mineola has been able to successfully conduct its own&nbsp;accurate assessment on an annual basis. He'd like to start that conversation right away, but wait to do an assessment until the real estate market settles down. Strauss is&nbsp;open to the notion that the county should take a deeper look into having all towns and villages do their own assessments. &quot;If you don't start it … you'll never get to the finish line,&quot; Strauss said.&nbsp;&quot;Somebody's got to rip the Band-Aid&nbsp;off …&nbsp;Just do it and stop talking about it.&quot; 
 New Hyde Park Democrat Neeraj Kumar emphasizes his desire to give back to the community, understand residents' problems and perspectives, and hold government accountable.&nbsp;Kumar, 49, advocates for more parks, bicycle lanes and services for seniors. But the laboratory supervisor at NYC Health &amp; Hospitals in the Bronx isn't well-versed on the&nbsp;most pressing issues of the district or on how the legislature functions. 
 Strauss can hit the ground running, and deserves the chance to&nbsp;&quot;rip the Band-Aid off&quot; a variety of pressing county and district issues, bringing what worked in Mineola to the district as a whole — and to&nbsp;Nassau County. 
 Newsday endorses Strauss.

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Scott P. Strauss for Nassau Legislative District 9

Newsday endorses Strauss for Nassau Legislative District 9

The 10th District includes northwestern Nassau from Kings Point south to North New Hyde Park&nbsp;and north to part of Port Washington. 
 Weihua Yan recognizes that he had “tremendous support” since he first arrived in the United States from China as a high school exchange student. Now he wants to give back, to help future generations achieve their versions of the American dream. 
 Running in an increasingly diverse and often divided district, Yan hopes to bridge some of those gaps and provide a rare but needed voice for the growing Asian American community across the district and the county. 
 Great Neck Republican Mazi Melesa Pilip, who is in her first term, has her own emigration story, as an Ethiopian-born Jew who migrated to Israel at 12, served in the Israeli Defense Forces, and came to the U.S. 15 years ago. Pilip, 44, sees herself primarily as a voice for her district, who can get necessary grant funding and address resident concerns. She points to successes, such as her effort to turn over county-owned neglected open space near Great Neck Middle School to the Great Neck Park District. Pilip said she is seeking a flood mitigation study to be completed next year specific to her district. 
 But Pilip is less certain on and less committed to critical county issues, expressing assurance that Bruce Blakeman’s administration is working on a problem without adding a necessary dose of skepticism, or her own perspective. Pilip will point fingers at state officials on housing, or previous county administrations on assessment, but offers no ideas to solve either. 
 Yan, 54, said he’d welcome mixed-use development, including housing near train stations or on other vacant properties, pointing to former retail locations or areas like Great Neck Plaza as spots with potential. The Great Neck Democrat noted the importance of thinking more broadly on issues like flooding and climate change mitigation, suggesting that solutions are best found by evaluating and addressing those problems on a countywide basis. He sees a legislator’s role as an advocate for constituents and a partner in government, while noting the necessity of conducting oversight and holding others, including the county executive, accountable. Yan, an entrepreneur who started software and e-commerce businesses like Diapers.com, said he could best utilize his background and experience to help Nassau move forward on technology issues and to assess its own cyber readiness. 
 Yan brings a fresh, thoughtful perspective and a key skill set to a county that needs both. 
 Newsday endorses Yan.

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Weihua Yan for Nassau Legislative District 10

Newsday endorses Yan for Nassau Legislative District 10

The 11th District includes most of the&nbsp;Port Washington peninsula and the east side of Hempstead&nbsp;Harbor from Roslyn to Glen Cove. 
 Unlike Suffolk County,&nbsp;90% of&nbsp;Nassau is connected to sewers. The unsewered 10%? It's mostly in&nbsp;District 11. 
 So Delia M. DeRiggi Whitton, 55,&nbsp;saw an opportunity. Pandemic-related American Rescue Plan Act funds&nbsp;typically can't be used for roadwork or other non-recovery needs,&nbsp;but since COVID-19&nbsp;is found in sewage, the&nbsp;Glen Cove Democrat helped create a program to&nbsp;fund&nbsp;sewer projects.&nbsp;It took two years&nbsp;navigating multiple levels of bureaucracy, but DeRiggi Whitton got $1.5 million for&nbsp;sewer reimbursements of up to $7,500 per hookup for her district, enabling hundreds of&nbsp;constituents&nbsp;to&nbsp;get&nbsp;off septic systems. 
 The legislature needs this&nbsp;type of innovative thinking, especially with unspent opioid settlement funding. DeRiggi Whitton should channel her ARPA navigating skills to help get the opioid money where it is desperately needed, potentially to create&nbsp;new treatment services at&nbsp;Nassau University Medical Center. 
 DeRiggi Whitton also used her voice this term to oppose the casino proposal at the Nassau Hub, the only legislator to vote no on transferring the lease to Las Vegas Sands. She does&nbsp;not think a casino creates &quot;the right types&quot;&nbsp;of jobs, and believes that policing a&nbsp;casino will&nbsp;burden&nbsp;law enforcement. She previously supported the&nbsp;plan by developer&nbsp;RXR that included next-generation housing;&nbsp;she should support future&nbsp;developments elsewhere in the county that include housing. 
 Her opponent, John F. Stalzer of Sea Cliff, is an environmental scientist. This expertise is needed in the legislature to&nbsp;improve water quality, mitigate flooding and study environmental impacts.&nbsp;However, Stalzer is not &quot;running to change the world,&quot; he says, but&nbsp;to preserve the&nbsp;&quot;continuity of community character.&quot; The 64-year-old Republican admits&nbsp;he doesn't know a lot about&nbsp;issues like assessment, policing and the Nassau Hub.&nbsp;When asked what district issues he'd focus on if elected, he said none came to mind. 
 Newsday endorses DeRiggi Whitton.

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Delia M. DeRiggi Whitton for Nassau Legislative District 11

Newsday endorses DeRiggi Whitton for Nassau Legislative District 11

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The 12th District includes the southeastern part of the Town of Hempstead. 
 Michael J. Giangregorio is still finding his way in the legislature, after winning a special election in February in what was then the 19th District. After redistricting, the Merrick Republican now finds himself in the 12th district, but said the issues most important to him remain just as critical.&nbsp; 
 For Giangregorio, that starts with a commitment to the needs of the disabled community and others who are among the county's most vulnerable. Giangregorio, 58, said that as the father of a son who is autistic, he will advocate for new funding and services for those who are disabled, like parks and playgrounds and building accommodations. He also is interested in&nbsp;legislation that Suffolk County adopted that requires&nbsp;that new affordable housing developments include&nbsp;units earmarked for veterans and those with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and hopes to establish a similar program in Nassau.&nbsp; 
 In his short time in office, Giangregorio is already looking for potential spots where he could advocate for and encourage new housing, such as in vacant or underused spots along Sunrise Highway,&nbsp;and has pinpointed worrisome intersections in his district where new traffic signals are needed. 
 As a newcomer, Giangregorio has the potential to add new ideas and vigor to the legislature. In his first full term, he should bring the needs of those who are disabled to the forefront, particularly when it comes to housing.&nbsp; 
 Democrat Matthew Pasternak&nbsp;is not actively campaigning. 
 Newsday endorses Giangregorio. 
 CORRECTION: An earlier version of this endorsement had the wrong first name for Matthew Pasternak,&nbsp;the Democrat running in Nassau's 12th Legislative District.

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Michael J. Giangregorio for Nassau Legislative District 12

Newsday endorses Giangregorio for Nassau Legislative District 12

The 13th District includes Salisbury and parts of East Meadow and Levittown. 
 Whether it is a&nbsp;mundane&nbsp;issue&nbsp;like overgrown grass or a high-stakes Nassau Hub&nbsp;lease transfer vote, Thomas McKevitt relies on feedback from his constituents to&nbsp;govern pragmatically.&nbsp; 
 This term, the East Meadow Republican regularly&nbsp;took&nbsp;phone calls and held&nbsp;one-on-one meetings&nbsp;and&nbsp;community forums on these topics and others.&nbsp;Now he faces a redrawn district that is&nbsp;60% new and excludes North&nbsp;Bellmore, North&nbsp;Wantagh and North&nbsp;Merrick. 
 McKevitt, 52, said the Las Vegas Sands casino vote was the most difficult&nbsp;of his career, especially since the project sits adjacent to&nbsp;his district, and his yes vote came only after serious&nbsp;concerns about traffic and crime were somewhat alleviated. He said he plans to&nbsp;be a critical voice if problems arise in surrounding areas. 
 He wants to hire more police officers but use data to&nbsp;determine where to increase patrols. For example, he said Salisbury accounts for&nbsp;4% of the county's population but has 13% of recent catalytic converter&nbsp;thefts.&nbsp;He understands the need to change&nbsp;the county contracting process to get opioid settlement funding to treatment providers. 
 Democrat Biju Chacko, 53, of East Meadow, is making his first run for office. The respiratory therapist&nbsp;is&nbsp;tuned into district issues like the casino, affordability, traffic and catalytic converter thefts.&nbsp;He'd prefer a&nbsp;biotech campus instead of a casino at the Hub, but does not otherwise have concrete plans for addressing any of these issues. 
 McKevitt, considered a contender for presiding officer, has the&nbsp;potential to lead forward-thinking, bipartisan conversations that can&nbsp;move Nassau County in the right direction on assessment, Nassau University Medical Center and more. 
 Newsday endorses McKevitt.

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Thomas McKevitt for Nassau Legislative District 13

Newsday endorses McKevitt for Nassau Legislative District 13

The 14th District includes East Rockaway, Lakeview, Malverne, North Lynbrook, and parts of Lynbrook, North Valley Stream, Oceanside, Rockville Centre, Valley Stream and West Hempstead. 
 Redistricting has scrambled the lines of the 14th District, signaling a newly competitive battlefield for the seat. On this shifted terrain, C. William Gaylor of Lynbrook, a Republican first elected in 2015, seeks a fifth term. He’s a 60-year-old lawyer with a prior military career who is versed in the complexities of longtime local issues. 
 Opposing Gaylor is Democrat Jake Scheiner, an alert and knowledgeable Lynbrook resident. Scheiner, 28, a vice president at a local insurance brokerage, has political experience, including chief of staff to ex-Rep. Tom Suozzi, for whom he served as campaign manager in 2018, and upstate New York director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. 
 The candidates display differences in approach. While Scheiner stresses the urgency of moving county funds for opioid treatment right away to clinics and mental health professionals, Gaylor argues that some contractors aren’t ready to use funds already obtained. 
 Critiquing the status quo on property tax assessments, Scheiner calls for the state and county to impose a cap on fees real estate tax certiorari firms can charge homeowners to pursue grievances. Gaylor defends the county freeze on assessments until conditions become clear about the housing market and economy. 
 Gaylor says the current leadership of the Nassau County Police Department is credible on the matter of staffing and deployment in his district — NCPD asked for a minimal increase in positions — while Scheiner calls for 110 more officers in light of hate-crime concerns. And while Scheiner wants to keep Nassau Interim Finance Authority controls in place, Gaylor suggests the county’s long-term fiscal recovery has made NIFA’s role superfluous. 
 Scheiner walks on shakier ground calling for slashing fees on traffic summonses for red-light violations in the name of making life for constituents more affordable. Fee reductions are a running issue in Nassau, with postures changing based on which party controls the legislative majority and the county executive’s office. 
 Gaylor wisely wouldn’t oppose ending the practice by which executives and legislators promote themselves in public messaging by getting their names on signs for projects and events. He points to the unnecessary expense and bother of changing such signs when incumbencies turn over. 
 Scheiner shows promise for future public service, but the seasoned Gaylor has developed skills that constituents in the newly-drawn district should find useful. 
 Newsday endorses Gaylor.

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C. William Gaylor for Nassau Legislative District 14

Newsday endorses Gaylor for Nassau Legislative District 14

The 15th District includes Farmingdale, Plainedge, South Farmingdale and parts of Bethpage, Levittown, North Massapequa and North Wantagh. 
 Incumbent John Ferretti, seeking his fourth term, is a son of Levittown. Redistricting, however, sliced away half that iconic community from his district. 
 Ferretti, 40, favors keeping&nbsp;the tax rolls frozen and waiting for any new assessments until housing prices settle down. He advocates for filling all county police department vacancies so overtime can be reduced. 
 Farmingdale, now in his district, is a model of redevelopment near transit that Ferretti says should be replicated in other suitable locations. In distributing the Nassau County's opioid settlement money, he said the need for more resources has to be balanced with safeguards&nbsp;to make sure the cash&nbsp;is well-spent. On balance,&nbsp;however, he acknowledged the grant process needs to be streamlined;&nbsp;it's an issue he should address with heightened urgency. 
 While Ferretti's lawmaking record is scant, in 2021, he shepherded to approval &quot;Benny's Law&quot; which&nbsp;creates&nbsp;a registry of dogs ruled&nbsp;dangerous by a judge and requires that&nbsp;notifications about the dogs be sent to those who live nearby. The database for which less than a dozen dogs would be&nbsp;included&nbsp;has yet to come online. He also worked to pass&nbsp;a law to prevent&nbsp;bicycle &quot;ride-outs&quot; and impound the bikes of those who violate&nbsp;the law. He said it has successfully&nbsp;stopped the dangerous practice by teens. 
 Matthew W. Malin, 31, of Wantagh, who is deputy executive director for the Nassau Democratic Party, ran for state Assembly in 2016 and against Ferretti in 2021. He is not actively campaigning. 
 Newsday endorses Ferretti.&nbsp;

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John Ferretti for Nassau Legislative District 15

Newsday endorses Ferretti for Nassau Legislative District 15

The 16th District includes Old Westbury and Brookville northeast to Syosset and Woodbury and south to Old Bethpage. 
 Arnold W. Drucker, 66, tends to push for legislative initiatives on many fronts at once. The Plainview Democrat is seeking his fourth full term since taking office in 2016. He plays up bipartisan cooperation and an ability&nbsp;to work with Republicans in the chamber majority to achieve results. Drucker is an attorney with a practice in Queens. 
 Opposing Drucker for the seat in the revised 16th District is Republican James S. Asmus, 64, of Syosset, whose campaign statements reflect his successful private-sector career in the construction field. Asmus has served as&nbsp;an elected commissioner&nbsp;of the Jericho Water District, and makes the need for infrastructure development a large part of his messaging. 
 The big issues both candidates cite from their different perspectives include sidewalk repair, the expense and scarcity of affordable housing, and the difficulty of travel and traffic.&nbsp; 
 Asmus essentially suggests that well-planned improvements from better roads to&nbsp;sewers&nbsp;must be carried out before bringing in too many&nbsp;people to use the infrastructure.&nbsp;Big concerns for both candidates include road congestion and flooding; Asmus&nbsp;puts more emphasis on using private expertise in that planning. 
 Drucker shows a nuanced sense of the county's fiscal challenges. He urges ending the Nassau Interim Finance Authority's control period&nbsp;— but says that due to bond refinancing, NIFA itself will be around for 20 years, enabling it to keep&nbsp;playing a&nbsp;needed monitoring role. 
 Drucker knows the process. Over the years he has sought to make progress against housing discrimination, vaping by youth, and other problems. 
 For the Hub casino proposal, Asmus withholds judgment before seeing&nbsp;results of&nbsp;the plan’s environmental impact review. Drucker&nbsp;expresses confidence that if the Las Vegas Sands project is approved it would be “transformative” for the surrounding area.&nbsp;The incumbent expresses urgency for rewarding opioid treatment contracts and for hiring a qualified expert assessor to create a fairer property-tax system. 
 Drucker says&nbsp;he’s seeking reelection&nbsp;because “there’s a lot of unfinished work to do. No other elected official has the unique connections to the district that I have.” 
 Newsday endorses Drucker.

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Arnold W. Drucker for Nassau Legislative District 16

Newsday endorses Drucker for Nassau Legislative District 16

The 17th District includes Hicksville and parts of Bethpage, Jericho and Syosset. 
 With over a decade of experience in the legislature, lifelong Hicksville resident Rose Marie Walker, 72, finds herself reevaluating her stance on redevelopment in light of new district changes. She is now reconsidering her previous lack of support for downtown redevelopment provided it aligns with the wishes of the community. 
 Notably, she endorses the “99 Newbridge” project in Hicksville, a 36,000-square-foot, four-story mixed-use development comprising 189 mixed-income residential units, amenities and retail space, and two levels of underground parking. Beyond recognizing the needed housing it provides, Walker said she appreciates that the project addresses the community’s parking concerns and that it includes new restaurants residents can enjoy. 
 Additionally, Walker approves of the enhancements to Kennedy Park as part of Hicksville’s $10 million downtown revitalization effort. She envisions the park becoming a hub for various community events, including street fairs and small concerts. Walker also lends her support to the Las Vegas Sands casino project at the Nassau Hub. 
 Walker, a Republican, wants to ensure the Nassau County Police Department is fully staffed. She underscores her past efforts in disseminating information about the new police exam to diverse communities, with the aim of fostering a more inclusive and representative police force. 
 Democratic opponent Raja K. Singh, a 39-year-old practicing attorney and small-business owner, serves on the board of the nonprofit organization SIKH Hoops. Singh received Newsday’s endorsement in the 2021 election because he wanted to turn Hicksville into the “center of Long Island” where people would want to live, shop, dine, and have access to housing that is affordable — something Walker was resistant to at the time. But her new willingness to embrace change, particularly her increased support for affordable housing, now gives her the edge. 
 Newsday endorses Walker.

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Rose Marie Walker for Nassau Legislative District 17

Newsday endorses Walker for Nassau Legislative District 17

The 18th District includes most of northern Oyster Bay Town plus Roslyn Harbor, Roslyn Heights, East Hills, North Hills, Albertson, Herricks, Searingtown and Williston Park. 
 Woodbury Democrat&nbsp;Joshua Alexander Lafazan, 29, was Nassau County's youngest legislator when he was elected in 2017 and he has been a whirlwind of energy during his three terms, proposing legislation, conducting rallies, and exploring two bids for the seat in the 3rd Congressional District. Now he says his focus is mainly on&nbsp;reforming the legislative process to make it easier for members of the chamber's minority party to move bills forward and have them considered for approval. 
 Lafazan asserts that he has sponsored approximately 45 pieces of legislation that have met resistance&nbsp;in the Republican-dominated legislature. Lafazan says&nbsp;the process&nbsp;is “undemocratic and unfair,” and he's proposing&nbsp;a rule change to stop the presiding officer from blocking measures.&nbsp; 
 Among the bills he has championed that have not moved forward is&nbsp;a Veterans Bill of Rights designed to combat discrimination in veteran housing and establish transitional housing. Additionally, he has put forth legislation aimed at supporting individuals with disabilities and codifying reasonable accommodations into law. His legislative endeavors also include a proposal to equip new senior citizen communities with generators, ensuring that in the event of a power outage, our&nbsp;most vulnerable citizens can preserve their medication,&nbsp;mobility, and life-sustaining equipment. Another&nbsp;proposed bill addressed the availability of EpiPens in restaurants; these devices can save the lives of&nbsp;individuals at risk of anaphylactic shock. 
 Not all of his legislative efforts have been met with resistance. As a freshman legislator, Lafazan successfully passed a bill to establish a 24-hour hotline exclusively dedicated to addressing substance abuse concerns. Lafazan emphasizes his particular attention to next-generation housing, noting his efforts to promote such units when discussing previous plans for the Nassau Hub.&nbsp;Though that&nbsp;idea ultimately fell through, and Lafazan recently supported the transfer of the Hub lease to pave the way for&nbsp;a new casino resort project&nbsp;for the area, Lafazan remains open to exploring other&nbsp;county initiatives that could either incentivize development or expedite certain projects as a solution to the housing supply shortage in the county. 
 Locust Valley Republican Samantha A. Goetz, 35, is a Nassau County&nbsp;deputy&nbsp;attorney and a former assistant town attorney in Oyster Bay. Goetz declined to be interviewed.&nbsp; 
 Newsday endorses Lafazan.

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Joshua Alexander Lafazan for Nassau Legislative District 18

Newsday endorses Lafazan for Nassau Legislative District 18

The 19th District includes southeastern Oyster Bay Town and part of Seaford. 
 As a result of redistricting, both the number and the boundaries of&nbsp;James D. Kennedy's district have changed&nbsp;for this election. 
 The&nbsp;Massapequa Republican is the five-time incumbent of the former&nbsp;southeastern Nassau District 12, and he's now vying for the seat in District 19, which no longer represents Farmingdale, but extends&nbsp;into&nbsp;Seaford. 
 Kennedy, 51, remains in the background, lacking focus and leadership on any specific legislation. He blames New York State for&nbsp;many county problems,&nbsp;arguing&nbsp;that state&nbsp;criminal justice reforms are inflaming&nbsp;the opioid crisis, Nassau University Medical&nbsp;Center is a state issue, and that Gov. Kathy Hochul's housing plan was the problem with the housing shortage. 
 But pointing fingers does not fix these situations, and Kennedy offers no solutions or ideas to tackle these challenges. Despite being on multiple influential&nbsp;committees like Veterans, Economic/Community Development/Labor, and Minority Affairs, he can't point to movement in any of those areas.&nbsp;Especially troubling is his lack of focus on&nbsp;environmental initiatives&nbsp;like flood mitigation,&nbsp;since he represents a&nbsp;flood-prone South Shore constituency. 
 His opponent, Nicholas Andrew Passaro of Massapequa Park, moved to the district three years&nbsp;ago. The 31-year-old Democrat&nbsp;promises independent thinking and&nbsp;to carefully review the details of legislative proposals, which he is qualified to do as a lawyer. 
 On housing, he laid out a step-by-step&nbsp;consensus-building approach that&nbsp;is exactly the tone the county needs. He understands that&nbsp;many of his neighbors fear that change will hurt property&nbsp;values, since most of their&nbsp;wealth is tied up in their homes, but he says legislators have an&nbsp;obligation &quot;to be a force for both education and&nbsp;community building.&quot;&nbsp;His tactic would be to point to areas like Farmingdale and Rockville Centre that have successfully built more housing and show how&nbsp;housing values there rose after development projects. 
 He admitted not knowing every detail about the Nassau Hub casino project and the assessment situation, but that's more understandable&nbsp;for a newcomer than for someone like Kennedy, who should have a command of these topics&nbsp;after nearly a decade serving&nbsp;in the legislature.&nbsp; 
 Newsday endorses Passaro.

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Nicholas Andrew Passaro for Nassau Legislative District 19

Newsday endorses Passaro for Nassau Legislative District 19

Newsday's 2023 picks for Nassau County Legislature 

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