Editorial: Jennifer Juengst for Suffolk legislature's 6th District

Suffolk County's 6th District, covering northern Brookhaven Town, offers candidates with a clear contrast in styles. Challenger Jennifer Juengst of Shoreham analyzes the legal and financial aspects of issues with the cold eye of a litigator. Incumbent Sarah Anker of Mount Sinai is more a conciliator, looking to bring parties together to talk about solutions.

Anker, 49, a Democrat, is a former director of Brookhaven's Office of Energy and Sustainability and worked in a variety of civic roles. Now finishing her first full term, she advocated for the 25-year, no-fee lease deal that the county signed this summer for a biking-walking trail along an old rail line between Mount Sinai and Wading River. She also sponsored a bill to help schools install crisis hotlines directly to police supervisors.

Juengst, 48, a Republican, is a lawyer who shares a general practice with her husband. She also has worked in various civic roles, including the budget advisory committee of the Shoreham-Wading River school district, and successfully fought the proposed Tall Grass mixed-use development in Shoreham.

Both candidates are ardent environmentalists, favoring preservation of open space and aquifer protection. Juengst's proposals are more detailed; she argues for state standards to protect water quality and for small sewage treatment plants built in the most densely populated areas to cut down on nitrogen pollution.

Both candidates are concerned about Suffolk's reliance on borrowing to deal with its serious financial problems. Anker wants to explore consolidation of agencies and would consider a merger of the sheriff's office and police departments if the move saved money. Juengst urges cuts of "mid-management" positions, including in the county executive's staff, but opposes a sheriff-police merger; she wants to keep the sheriff's office independent and worries about giving too much power to the police union. Juengst also says the new police contract -- which Anker voted to approve -- is "unaffordable."

Juengst says she would bring professional ability to contract negotiations and analyzing finances, a strong skill set at a time of severe fiscal stress.

Newsday endorses Juengst.