Letter: Private-sector unions for Suozzi
The headline "Unions stay out of race" [News, Oct. 22] was very misleading.
On Long Island, there are more than 120 local unions, with more than 300,000 of our Long Island neighbors carrying union cards. Of those, 36,000 are in the building trades.
Thomas Suozzi, the Democratic candidate for Nassau County executive, has earned the endorsement of the Long Island Federation of Labor, the AFL-CIO and the Nassau Suffolk Building Trades Council -- that is, every union on Long Island except three.
The Nassau County Civil Service Employees Association Local 830, which is part of the public workforce, has not endorsed either candidate, and the organized labor community understands why. CSEA is bargaining for its survival, so why jeopardize progress in negotiations during an election?
This doesn't mean that Nassau County's public employees, even as they are bargaining with County Executive Edward Mangano, won't go out and support Suozzi.
George Bloom, Farmingdale
Editor's note: The writer is the president of Communications Workers of America Local 1104, which represents telecommunications technicians.
Federal and NY situations differ
I read Peter Goldmark's column "Lessons from New York's near-default" [Opinion, Oct. 20]. I remember when New York was on the brink of financial collapse, and I appreciate his role in fixing it.
But it seemed strange that Goldmark didn't note the difference between the New York situation and the federal situation. New York had to balance the budget, and although it borrowed money, the funds had to be repaid. The federal government can continue printing money and push the obligation down the road, until it reaches the point of no return.
Fitch Ratings warned that it might downgrade the federal government's credit rating, and if we did not do something, it could drop. The battles between Congress and the president are more important than your opinion, which seems to denigrate the reasons behind the bickering.
The truth is that we are spending and creating debt faster than any time in our history. The Senate and the president have given lip service to cutting the deficit, but either they await a miraculous growth of the economy to bail them out, or they hope a future administration will do the unpopular work of cutting entitlements, both personal and corporate, so our children and grandchildren don't suffer from our profligate spending.
Alan Kristel, Cold Spring Harbor
Dismayed over Glen Cove coverage
Shame on Newsday for continuing to bash the Glen Cove school district ["New trustee in Glen Cove district," News, Oct. 22].
This story, announcing the results of the school board election, again rehashes the test-fixing allegations from spring 2012. This news has been mentioned many times, in depth, whenever possible.
Glen Cove is trying to recover from this reeling situation. Give us a break!
Ruth Dichiara, Glen Cove
Editor's note: The writer is a retired Glen Cove school district employee.
Alternatives to raising judges' age
Matthew Didora's opinion piece on Oct. 18, "Don't force our judges to retire at 70," was very interesting but in some respects misleading. For example, he includes Learned Hand as a Supreme Court justice who worked past 70. However, as great a judge as he was on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, he never served on the U.S. Supreme Court, and in his later years, he sat as a senior judge, which enabled him to limit the number of cases he heard.
The situation is not that bad for New York Supreme Court judges, who today can get extensions to serve up until they are 76.
The comparison between state judges and lifetime federal judges is somewhat unfair. Federal judges can take senior status and choose the number and types of cases they wish to hear, while receiving full pay even if they choose to hear no cases.
There is an alternative to extending the age limit to 80. That would be to increase the number of judicial hearing officers, who are former judges wishing to continue service. Age is, so far as I know, no restriction on such service.
Ira Zuckerman, Great Neck
Editor's note: The writer is a lawyer.
Neglect of fracking dooms NY economy
The legacy of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's tenure will be that of naive leadership and feckless guidance. Pennsylvania is experiencing a boom in energy production, productivity, employment and prosperity due to the unlimited energy being tapped from the Marcellus Shale deposits.
New York, on the other hand, has placed its future in the hands of gamblers ["Casino expansion a key referendum before voters," News, Oct. 20] and start-up firms with unproven abilities to turn a profit ["10-year no-taxes offer," Business, Oct. 23].
Cuomo will be remembered as the governor who could have done something remarkable for New York's economy and its taxpayers, but chose instead to sit on his hands in fear of the environmental lobby.
He has chosen handouts and special deals for the chosen few instead of supporting vital national interests by tapping a cheaper, cleaner and relatively unlimited energy source for all New Yorkers.
His behavior is almost un-American and should qualify him for immediate recall if the state had such a process.
David Barth, Huntington
