Mangano could've stopped districting fight

The bloody redistricting battle in the Nassau legislature will be settled in courtrooms and taxpayers will foot the legal bills, but it didn't have to be this way. Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano could have, with a veto, brought the tussle to a quick and cheap end.

But that would have meant leading, and stymieing his Republican brethren, particularly Presiding Officer Peter Schmitt (R-Massapequa). Schmitt ran the legislature Tuesday with a characteristic abundance of rudeness. His electoral maps, slapped together by the Republicans weeks after the release of Census 2010 -- almost entirely without public input or adherence to the county charter, and two years early -- passed 10-8.

The new lines shuffle half the county's voters and divide communities. Blocking the plan would have done residents a service.

Mangano, largely silent on the battle to recarve the county and save GOP seats, could have vetoed it and helped a county already juggling an out-of-balance budget, a state control board running the checkbook, an aquatic center with $30-million of issues, a controversial Coliseum plan and a frozen casino negotiation. Instead, he signed the bill.

Mangano wields significant power and could lead. He should set the tone via the collegiality and consensus-building that were his greatest assets as a legislator. Here, he ducked a major battle he could have won, and cost taxpayers a victory they could have used.