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Newsday's 2021 picks for Nassau County Legislature

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Newsday's 2021 picks for Suffolk County Legislature

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There are five proposed amendments to the state constitution on the November ballot. Make your voice heard on these important issues. 
PROPOSAL 1: Albany's Democratic supermajority is trying here to tinker prematurely with New York's new system for drawing state and federal legislative district lines. An 11-member Independent Redistricting Commission is just now working to draft lines for 2022. The process has months to play out, but partisan change is already on the ballot. This proposal would make the panel and the overall process more susceptible to one-party control. 
For example, the commission's co-executive directors could come from the same party. And the dominant party could overrule the commission's work more easily. Prop 1 allows a smaller legislative majority — 60% rather than the current two-thirds — to trash the commission's work and draw its own maps. Some elements of the proposal that have merit, such as counting prison inmates in the districts where they lived before incarceration, can be passed as separate measures in the future. Vote no. 
PROPOSAL 2: This would put every New Yorker’s right to "clean air and water and a healthful environment" on a par with free speech, worship and assembly. It would require regulators to consider clean air and water rights in approving development projects and help environmental justice communities plagued with incinerators and other polluting projects. Vote yes. 
PROPOSAL 3: Expanded ballot access is crucial to New York’s civic health. That is one benefit of this proposal, which would eliminate the requirement that prospective voters be registered at least 10 days before an election. Approval of this proposal would allow legislation setting up same-day voter registration, if lawmakers pass it. Let's at least have a debate in Albany to discuss the concerns and benefits of such a law. Vote yes. 
PROPOSAL 4: This also addresses voting access, removing the requirement that voters need an excuse, such as being out of town or ill, to use an absentee ballot. Those ballots, which were a boon during the pandemic, provide an efficient alternative option for voting for those who cannot make it to the polls for many life and work schedule reasons. Vote yes. 
PROPOSAL 5: This measure, which only applies to lawsuits in New York City, would allow its Court of Claims to hear cases involving amounts up $50,000, an increase from the current maximum of $25,000. It is a long-overdue adjustment for inflation and would shorten the time from many months to weeks for these matters to be resolved. Vote yes.

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Ballot proposals merit attention

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Four years ago, Nassau County Executive Laura Curran stepped into an extraordinary mess. 
Curran, a 53-year-old Democrat from Baldwin, inherited a county government rightfully distrusted by residents and battered first by accusations of corruption, then by convictions. 
Her predecessor, Edward Mangano, was found guilty of federal corruption charges, as was Mangano’s chief deputy, Rob Walker. Wiretaps of former State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos revealed he pressured Mangano to give a $12 million county contract to a company paying son Adam Skelos $10,000 a month, in a case that led to federal convictions for Adam and his father. 
And hundreds of contracts written for amounts just beneath the $25,000 threshold demanding legislative approval went to connected cronies of county leaders, for work that was often not needed, and was sometimes not performed. 
There has not been a whiff of corruption in Curran’s administration. That should not trigger kudos, yet in Nassau County, it does. 
But corruption was far from the only challenge Curran faced. 
Four years ago, the county’s finances also were in shambles, with annual budget deficits regularly exceeding $100 million. Nassau’s assessment system was a liability for the county and a boon to tax-grievance firms: The county no longer even tried to set values on properties, and let almost all tax challenges succeed. Mountains of such challenges over several decades were a primary driver of the county’s $3.5 billion debt, and unfairly increased the tax burden of those who did not grieve. 
The budget she wrestled into balance, even before COVID-19 brought massive management challenges and a big pot of federal bailout money, may be her greatest feat. Under Curran, Nassau ended 2019 and 2020 in the black. 
And during the pandemic, the long-term debt refinancing she worked out with the Nassau Interim Finance Authority secured a path forward for the county when tax revenue cratered, assuring the continued delivery of services even before Washington approved its COVID largesse. 
<h3>ASSESSMENT PLAN WAS GUTSY</h3> 
Her assessment plan, based on valuing properties accurately and smoothing the bills into fairness over five years, has been bedeviled by controversy over the rising obligations of those whose annual appeals had driven their taxes below their fair share. There were unforced errors of computation, communication and administration, and attempts to continue updating values annually have been confounded by a chaotic real estate market. 
Even so, Curran’s fix, a gutsier and more comprehensive one than anyone else had suggested, much less implemented, is happening. Barring more disasters, it should provide a workable system over the next few years. 
Looking to replace Curran, Republican Bruce Blakeman has made attacking Curran's assessment plan the centerpiece of his campaign. The Hempstead Town board member’s characterization of her actions as "raising school taxes" is untrue. And despite having decades to ponder the issue, going back to his time as the county legislature’s presiding officer in the 1990s, he offers no blueprint on how to fix the system. 
On issue after issue, Blakeman, 65, from Atlantic Beach, offers not solutions, but a search for solutions. He says he’ll gather the stakeholders and set the best minds to working on every county problem, but he has few concrete ideas on how to move Nassau forward. 
His one specific promise, a $120 million-per-year property tax cut, he largely owes to Curran. He reasons that the county can now afford it. Her leadership has made it so. 
<h3>BLAKEMAN LACKS SPECIFICS</h3> 
Blakeman’s myriad runs at offices, from state comptroller to New York City mayor to seats in the House and the U.S. Senate, paint a flighty resume. His lack of specifics on how to fix Nassau don’t inspire confidence. He could not even articulate any priorities or criteria for selecting the county's representative to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board. 
Curran’s term hasn’t been perfect and we have been very critical of some of her decisions. Many of the miscues with her assessment revamp were avoidable. She seems increasingly unwilling to ruffle political feathers, witness moves like refusing to mandate vaccination for police officers and other county employees who deal with the public. Her $375 checks for most Nassau households, funded with federal stimulus, appear more targeted toward appeasing voters than softening the economic impacts of COVID. That’s also true of her temporary $150 million tax cut, spread out over four years. 
On COVID, her work to help push the county toward a high vaccination rate is offset partly by her misguided refusal to mandate vaccines for police and others. 
But Curran has done a good job by any standard. On many important issues, the county is better off now than it was when she took office. She’s also kept the divisive political rhetoric to a minimum, which cannot be said of the Republicans who control the legislature and delight in deriding and obstructing her. 
Blakeman is smart, experienced, respected and successful, but he’s not prepared to take on the challenge of leading Nassau County, if only because he has not bothered to prepare. 
Newsday endorses Curran.

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Laura Curran for Nassau County executive

Newsday endorses Curran for Nassau County executive

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Mailer puffery and accusatory television ads swarming around Long Island's twin district attorney campaigns prompt the basic question of whether there is a better way to select the chief law enforcement officers for Nassau and Suffolk counties. Winning one of the most powerful roles in local government, the ability to prosecute crimes and administer justice, shouldn't be reduced to another win-at-all-cost competition that distorts the reality of the day-to-day operations of the office. 
It was different at the start. The New York State Constitution of 1821 gave the judges of the county court the power to appoint a prosecutor for a three-year term. But that changed in 1846 when a new constitution established, for counties outside of New York City, a four-year term determined by popular vote. 
Nassau, originally part of the city, switched to the elected role in 1899 and has had only 14 different individuals serve as district attorney in 123 years. In Suffolk, 31 men have been elected as DA with 27 serving in the time frame comparable with Nassau, according to the Historical Society of the New York Courts. 
The less-frequent turnover in Nassau was a sign of the dominance and discipline of the local Republican Party, which stayed with its man and the patronage of all those assistant prosecutor jobs until 2005 when Democrat Kathleen Rice upset Denis Dillon after eight terms. Nine years later Rice was elected to Congress, and fellow Democrat Madeline Singas succeeded her until she left in June to take a seat on the state's top court. 
In Suffolk, for the last five decades, the district attorney's office has been surrounded by political intrigue and infighting between Democrats and Republicans that got so ugly in 1977 that Gov. Hugh Carey empaneled two grand juries to investigate the charges hurled around. Republicans controlled the office until Democrat Thomas Spota won in 2001. And he subsequently ran on ballot lines of all the major parties, a circumstance that bestowed a corrupting power. 
New Jersey's county prosecutors are selected by the governor and confirmed by the State Senate; it's one of three states that have kept the district attorney as an appointive office. Returning to that system might be an option New Yorkers should consider lest these campaigns further undermine confidence in a system that must ensure justice is fair to all, regardless of race, wealth, connections, or party affiliation. 
On Long Island this year, the district attorney contests are distorted but for different reasons. In Nassau, the fight is set in the national culture wars over policing and racial justice. In Suffolk, where the political fights are inbred, it's a primal brawl to keep the power of the office from the other side. 
It's against this disturbing background that the editorial board makes its recommendations.

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An indictment of the process

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There wasn’t supposed to be a contest for district attorney in Nassau County this year. Madeline Singas was midway through her second term and seemingly settling in to hold the office comfortably, and non-controversially, for a long time. 
But earlier this year, Singas was appointed to an opening on the state's highest court. Both county political organizations were caught flat-footed, making quick and calculated choices. The Republicans didn’t have an obvious candidate but knew they had a good case to make. The Democrats had a candidate with name recognition, ambition and a war chest — who was an easy target. 
Now voters will choose between Anne T. Donnelly, 57, a Garden City Republican who spent her entire career in the office she is seeking to run, and State Sen. Todd D. Kaminsky, 43, a Long Beach Democrat and former federal prosecutor whose legislative role in the state's new bail laws is the dominant issue in this race. 
Donnelly was deputy chief of the Rackets and Enterprise Crime Bureau, with an emphasis on cyber crime, before leaving to run for the top job. Clearly, she is not a striver but someone who understands how the office works, how new lawyers must be trained, how the office must listen to all sections of its community about crime and policing, the importance of meeting the challenges of the opioid scourge, and the necessity of protecting the community's most vulnerable members. 
She says Nassau is a safe place but wants a greater effort toward stopping gun violence. Donnelly says some but not all changes to the bail law — which mandates release of a suspect in most misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies, the majority of criminal cases — were a mistake. She wants the law amended to give judges and prosecutors more discretion pretrial and judges more time to determine whether a person needs medical or mental health treatment. 
After a stint in the Queens district attorney’s office, Kaminsky joined the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District where he convicted former state senator Pedro Espada Jr., who looted hundreds of thousands of dollars from a community health clinic. Kaminsky used his credentials in prosecuting public corruption to win a special election to replace Dean Skelos, who himself had to resign from the Senate after a federal corruption conviction. 
In 2019, criminal justice reform advocates passed one of the nation's most advanced overhauls of a state justice system with the worthy goal of reducing incarceration. But the process was complex and rushed. Bills were revised, with Kaminsky playing a role, until the very last hours before the vote. The backlash was swift from police chiefs and prosecutors who claimed it went too far and would release dangerous offenders. 
Kaminsky later introduced a bill to allow judges to set bail for some sex offenders even if they were only arrested for misdemeanors, citing a problem in his home community. By January 2020, after a drunken driver who caused a fatal crash in Suffolk County was released the next day without bail, Kaminsky said, &quot;The prosecutors I’m talking to these days don’t feel they have the tools to protect the public.&quot; 
Swaying with the winds of the moment is a worrisome trait. If Kaminsky had concerns about the bills, he failed to speak out effectively against them, perhaps to stay in the graces of New York City progressives who hold the key to success for statewide office, becoming more vocal only as the law came under attack and suburban residents were alarmed. 
Last month, Nassau's acting district attorney sent a letter to Oyster Bay Town saying an official there may have violated ethics laws but there wasn't enough evidence to file criminal charges. Behind in polls, Kaminsky held a news conference demanding the official be fired, saying that in cases like this he would pursue charges. It was a stunt suggesting that Kaminsky may not yet have the judgment and temperament needed for the job. 
Donnelly has observed firsthand how professional, nonpartisan district attorneys operate. If she wins, she would be wise to keep the place hack-free and the experienced staff intact, resisting efforts by her party to hire political operatives who would undercut the accomplishments of the office. 
Newsday endorses Donnelly.

Endorsements

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Anne Donnelly for Nassau County district attorney

Newsday endorses Anne Donnelly for Nassau County district attorney

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In the wake of Thomas Spota's downfall for abusing the power of the Suffolk County district attorney's office, our endorsement of Timothy D. Sini four years ago was conditioned on his ability to rebuild public trust: 
End the political enemies lists and move past the clubby culture among judges, defense attorneys and prosecutors. Follow the campaign contributions to see whether public officials are being bought. Put in place measures to ensure that criminal cases are honorably and expeditiously pressed in court. Work cooperatively with federal partners to ensure that drug traffickers and gang members are aggressively prosecuted while giving low-level offenders with mental health and addiction struggles an opportunity to mend their lives. 
Sini's getting there. He's earned another term. While never short a news release about his work, the Democrat from Babylon is on the right track on hiring a new team, utilizing diversion programs to get repeat offenders services that may put them on a better life path, focusing on human trafficking, and making the prosecution of environmental offenses a high priority. In 2019, the murder conviction of Keith Bush, who had served 33 years behind bars claiming all the while that he was wronged, was vacated after Sini's office was able to document serious problems with the evidence in the case and misconduct by the police, evidence ignored by his predecessors. He must keep up these reviews. And Sini, 41, was among the first and most consistent prosecutors in warning Albany lawmakers about some glaring mistakes they were making in an effort to change bail and pretrial proceedings. 
Yet, we do have concerns. Sini relies too much on the detective investigators squad, where wiretaps can go up as fast as holiday decorations and overtime is clocked like crazy. Without significant oversight of this crew, the office could run amok again. Chief investigator John Barry ran into some problems in a union corruption case that Sini turned over to prosecutors in the Southern District of New York that required them to disclose to the defense counsel Barry's family relationship with an official of a rival union. Until recently, Sini's office continued plea negotiations and failed to indict county legislator William Spencer, a Democrat and physician, for supplying prostitutes with opioids in return for sex. That allowed Spencer to stay in the job. 
Republican Raymond A. Tierney, 55, of Holtsville, worked in the Suffolk DA's office for six years before joining the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District in 2008. His experience is considerable. He put Ed Walsh, the former head of the Suffolk County Conservative Party, in prison for cheating on his sheriff's department time, and convicted multiple members of the MS-13 gang for violent crimes and murders. He understands how to best work with other law enforcement agencies on complex investigations. 
However, he said he would not continue Sini's new public integrity bureau which reviews claims of innocence and prosecutorial misconduct in prior cases. Tierney said he would respond to such claims when a defendant files an appeal rather than considering it an obligation of the DA's office to initiate its own review. That is misguided. Most troubling, however, is how his run for this office came about. Tierney left the Justice Department in 2019 to take a top job in the Brooklyn district attorney's office, but it was not a job he could hold, ethically or practically, while running for the Suffolk post. Waiting for him was a plum attorney's job at Suffolk OTB that wouldn't materialize unless the party bosses, in this case the GOP's Jessie Garcia and Democrat Rich Schaffer, allowed it to happen. 
Tierney vows that he will not let politics creep into his DA's office but we are not convinced that he knows the reach of those tentacles. 
Newsday endorses Sini.

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Tim Sini for Suffolk County district attorney

Newsday endorses Tim Sini for Suffolk County district attorney

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Four years ago, Nassau County voters elected Jack Schnirman as county comptroller, hoping he would focus on ethics and independence, only to have him embroiled in scandal dating to his old job after he was found to have been overpaid by tens of thousands of dollars for leave time while Long Beach city manager. 
Schnirman bowed out of a reelection bid, clearing the way for two challengers who are qualified for the job. But Ryan E. Cronin, a Democrat, is the one with the thoughtfulness, ideas and passion needed to be the county's fiscal watchdog. 
Cronin, 40, a corporate attorney, ran for State Senate twice — losing both times to incumbent Kemp Hannon. In his bid for comptroller, Cronin has found a position for which he is suited and one to which he clearly has given much thought. And while he applauded his running mate, County Executive Laura Curran, he also rightly critiqued her for maintaining a significant structural gap between recurring revenues and expenses and for not doing enough to work with the Republican-controlled county legislature on issues like getting rid of "ridiculous" fees. 
Cronin, a Garden City resident, also raised two key issues he said he'd watch as comptroller: Nassau's antiquated technology that won't be able to comply with coming accounting standards and the county's contracting and vendor payment processes. While not flashy, both are critical problems to address. 
Republican Elaine R. Phillips, who previously served as mayor of Flower Hill and as a one-term state senator, also has the necessary experience, including a long career in finance. But Phillips, 61, had few new ideas for how to use the comptroller's powers, falling back on the idea of auditing the county's assessment efforts while admitting Nassau is "on our way to fixing it." Phillips also was too quick to suggest getting rid of the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority without acknowledging the consequences. 
Cronin, a former Nassau University Medical Center board member, pledged to pay attention to NUMC, especially the hospital's footprint, services and mission — and its potential for failure. Cronin also said he would study whether county Industrial Development Agency tax breaks really created local jobs. He needs to follow through on those promises, while also serving as an independent watchdog. In addition, he should develop an online dashboard to provide taxpayers with a look at how much of the county's fiscal success might be due to federal stimulus funds. And he should continue to fight for county taxpayers on issues like absurd county fees. 
Newsday endorses Cronin.

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Ryan Cronin for Nassau County comptroller

Newsday endorses Cronin for Nassau County comptroller

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The Nassau County clerk doesn't usually find herself in the middle of a passionate discussion over anything. After all, many of the clerk’s duties revolve around adhering to New York State laws about maintaining property records and answering homeowner questions. 
But when it comes to the elimination of key Nassau fees, especially the tax map verification fee, current County Clerk Maureen C. O’Connell has a lot to say. She had spoken out when the fees were imposed and made certain her office didn't play a role. Now, she is urging County Executive Laura Curran to sign the bill to eliminate the $355 charge, required on property transactions to verify a plot's section, block and lot. 
After four terms, O’Connell, 70, has a rich knowledge of the clerk’s office, which is responsible for county land and court records. The East Williston Republican knows where paper records are stored, which records have been digitized, and the critical security needs involved. 
Democrat Justin R. Brown, 30, is a Baldwin health care administrator. Brown suggested bringing the digitizing of records in-house, so the county’s information technology personnel would handle it, rather than an outside vendor. But he couldn't detail how that would work. Brown is smart and should stay involved. His attention to the office's relationship with Nassau residents is welcome and his idea of adding help services to the clerk’s website is worth considering. 
In her next term, O’Connell should continue digitizing Nassau's older records, while doing more to make the office consumer-friendly. With an experienced hand, she should study best practices in other states, to potentially build Nassau’s land records into a searchable database, something that would be particularly helpful to research historical land use and identify properties that still have illegal racial covenants on file. And she should continue to be vocal about fees that are over the top. 
Newsday endorses O’Connell.

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O'Connell for Nassau County clerk

Newsday endorses O'Connell for Nassau County clerk

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In the Suffolk County sheriff's race four years ago, the editorial board supported the Republican Party nominee, Lawrence Zacarese, who then lost a close election to Errol Toulon, a Democrat cross-endorsed by the Conservatives. 
Our choice in 2017 was based not only on Zacarese's promise of independence in the post but also on our strong objections to the backroom party machinations that secured Toulon the nomination. 
This year brings a very different scenario. While Sheriff Toulon seeks reelection, on the D and C lines, Republicans have filled the ballot line with a nominee, William Amato, who isn't campaigning. 
Fortunately, there is no evident need to replace Toulon, 59, of Lake Grove. He has been applying his skills as a seasoned corrections professional to handle shifting challenges at the county's Riverhead and Yaphank jail facilities, the most prominent part of the sheriff's job. 
The twists and turns of Toulon's first term included the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of Albany's bail-law changes and — despite a lower inmate census — what Toulon sees as "a lot more insolence, a lot more disrespect, a lot more refusing, and inmate-on-inmate fights." On Thursday, he said the inmate population totaled 768. When he started, the total was about 1,300; between the reduction in cash bail that resulted in fewer detainees, and the pandemic, numbers had dwindled to 425 in the summer of 2020. 
That gave Toulon valuable experience in responding to circumstance. Toulon credibly notes the special initiatives he oversees. A human-trafficking unit looks to address a crisis that affects a number of female inmates. After an older male inmate was randomly attacked by a 19-year-old, Toulon created a senior pod for those 55 and over. 
Mental health is an issue in jails everywhere. Toulon says he would like a few more job lines for psychologists on staff to allow all inmates to be evaluated upon entry, not just those with referrals by medical professionals. The sheriff should aggressively push for that funding. 
Gangs persist as a special difficulty. Whether its threat is declining, MS-13 had the largest number of gang members in Suffolk jails with Bloods running second, Toulon says. He visited El Salvador and Los Angeles to get a wider sense of what his system faces. 
After a career supervising Rikers Island units and a stint as Assistant Deputy County Executive for Public Safety in the Steve Bellone administration, Toulon represents himself best when he talks of coordination with other relevant agencies and his office's wider role in the community. 
Newsday endorses Toulon.

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Errol Toulon for Suffolk County sheriff

Newsday endorses Toulon for Suffolk sheriff

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Four years ago, voters in Babylon Town were presented with a lamentable choice for supervisor: an incumbent who on good government grounds should not be running for the position, and a challenger who is not capable of properly filling it. 
Another election cycle has arrived and nothing has changed. That's unfortunate. 
The incumbent, Rich Schaffer, also is chairman of the Suffolk County Democratic Party. Once upon a time, he did the right thing when he stepped down from his previous stint as Babylon supervisor upon becoming county chair. But when his successor as supervisor, Steve Bellone, was elected county executive in 2011, Schaffer decided to return as supervisor — but did not abandon his party position. 
That's a no-no. Governance should be kept separate from politics, and while we're not naive regarding the difficulty of doing that under normal circumstances, it's downright impossible when the same person sits in the positions held by Schaffer. There are too many conflicts of interest to negotiate even for the best-intentioned leaders, and Schaffer has not been that. Witness the sordid deal-making that has at times made bedfellows of the Democratic and Conservative parties and turned elections into coronations because cross-endorsement deals engineered by Schaffer have left voters with no real choices. 
Schaffer, 57, of Babylon, has successes he could tout, like ongoing redevelopments in Wyandanch and Copiague and a plan to redevelop the old Republic Aviation site in East Farmingdale. But the ethical issues disqualify him. 
His opponent again is Republican Dan Martin, 71, an accountant from North Babylon. Martin is laser-focused on town finances and makes good points about the town's use of a connected subcontractor to provide dozens of nonunion workers to the town. But some of his charges are questionable, and too often his evidence consists of "I hear that …" and "Someone told me that …" 
Martin also is opposed to smart redevelopment and has an extremely limited view of the role of town government — maintain parks, plow snow, pick up garbage. He lacks the vision needed to run a town. 
As was the case four years ago, Newsday declines to make an endorsement in this race.

VPBABYSUPE211022

No endorsement for Babylon supervisor

Newsday makes no endorsement for Babylon supervisor

East Hampton Town might be located at the most eastern edge of Long Island, but it sits squarely at the convergence of numerous issues that will shape Long Island for generations. 
Managing our precious coastline as sea levels rise, incorporating offshore wind energy into our electric grid to fight climate change, building more housing that is affordable for residents — East Hampton is grappling with all of that right now, along with the future of its indispensable airport. Navigating these challenges requires smarts, common sense, and a steady hand. 
Incumbent supervisor Peter K. Van Scoyoc, 62, a Democrat from Northwest Woods, has been a deft and effective manager in his two terms. He understands the need to move quickly but carefully in meeting urgent needs, as in shepherding a proposed landing in Wainscott for the cable from the planned South Fork Wind Farm, overcoming the loud and well-funded, but minority opposition of homeowners in the hamlet. 
One of his two opponents, fellow Democrat and town board member Jeffrey Bragman, 70, of East Hampton, an environmental attorney running on the Independence Party line, says the environmental review was too quick and that Van Scoyoc gave away too much leverage in negotiations with developers. But his argument is undercut by environmental safeguards in the agreement and a $29 million community benefits package. 
Montauk Republican Kenneth I. Walles, 69, president of a hospitality and business management company, questions the wisdom of offshore wind in general and prefers a cable landing spot farther west where he says the construction would affect fewer people, an argument difficult to square with greater population densities there. 
All three candidates understand the peril facing places like Montauk from storms and rising seas, with both challengers embracing elements of Van Scoyoc's long-term plan which includes strategic retreat of development and more natural resiliency along the coast. While all three agree on the increasingly dire need for affordable housing, Van Scoyoc has the most carefully thought-out plan for using funds from a tax on real estate transactions that likely will go before voters next year. 
As for East Hampton Airport, the town can regain control from the FAA by closing it temporarily and then reopening it. Bragman wants to shutter it to all commercial traffic for one year and monitor the impacts. Van Scoyoc worries helicopters and planes will fly to smaller Montauk instead, creating more noise across the town, and proposes a one-month closure followed by curfews and other restrictions to see what works. 
There simply is no compelling reason to turn out an effective supervisor doing a commendable job. 
Newsday endorses Van Scoyoc. 
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the amount of time Peter Van Scoyoc proposes to close East Hampton Airport.

VPEHSUPE211018

Peter Van Scoyoc for East Hampton supervisor

Newsday endorses Van Scoyoc for East Hampton supervisor

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In the two years since Republican Donald X. Clavin Jr. became Hempstead Town supervisor, things have been a lot quieter around town hall than they were over the previous four. 
The single terms of Clavin’s predecessors — Democrat Laura Gillen and, before her, Republican Anthony Santino — involved constant accusations and battles both within and between political parties, some justified and some not, leaving too little energy for nuts-and-bolts governance and the needs of residents. 
Clavin, 52, from Garden City, exudes a trademark geniality. That’s great when it means services are being provided efficiently, and they often are in Hempstead. But it’s a liability when it means the town’s thorniest challenges — like poverty, inequity of services, clubby letting of vendor contracts, and endless delays in the redevelopment of the Nassau Hub in Uniondale — get too little attention. 
The Building Department is a fine example. Clavin has modernized and improved the office, making more services available online and cutting down on pointless roadblocks. But it's also an office rocked by the political problems in the town. Former department deputy commissioner John Novello pleaded guilty to felony charges after stealing $60,000 from the Cedarhurst Republican Committee for which he was executive leader, and seeking a loan under false pretenses. He'd been reassigned, then took a leave of absence as his case advanced. He should have been fired. 
Democrat Jason L. Abelove, 51, is an attorney from Garden City. He says he’s running to prioritize lower taxes, but has no particularly solid idea for how to do that. He’s right to decry the unequal quality of infrastructure between the town’s poorest and wealthiest communities. But Clavin’s retort that much of the disparity is because villages, Nassau County and the state control the assets is accurate. 
Abelove’s best argument against Clavin is that Hempstead, the only town in the nation to receive direct federal CARES Act funding, should have done more to help small businesses that suffered, and used less to fund reserves and salaries. He’s right, and Clavin also could have helped the Hempstead school district provide students the computers and broadband they desperately needed during COVID-19. 
Clavin is doing a good job managing a tough town. To do a great job making it a better town, he must upend the political coziness and be willing to make unpopular choices. Taking a strong role in protecting the 110,000 town residents paying outrageous fees to New York American Water, via municipalization, is crucial. Also key: pushing for town approvals as soon as Hub plans are ready, so groundbreaking can occur as soon as possible next year. 
Newsday endorses Clavin.

VPHEMPSUPE211022

Don Clavin for Hempstead supervisor

Newsday endorses Don Clavin for Hempstead supervisor

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Chad Lupinacci, elected Huntington Town supervisor in 2017, didn't make it to this Election Day ballot. Lupinacci is finishing his term, politically derailed by personal controversy, after a longtime aide accused him of sexual misconduct. 
The result is an open race among the Republican, Deputy Supervisor Edmund J. Smyth; Democrat Rebecca L. Sanin, who’s president and chief executive of the Health and Welfare Council of Long Island; and town board member Eugene Cook, who’s running on the ad hoc "Stop LIPA" line. 
Residents should seize this opportunity for a fresh start to move forward the town of more than 200,000, and its varied villages and hamlets, by choosing someone who will streamline and modernize services, upgrade technology, guide development, and alleviate parking and traffic challenges. 
That will take an expansion of vision and initiative at the top of Town Hall. 
Smyth, 50, of Lloyd Harbor, could be a steady hand on the tiller. "There's not going to be any surprises or drama in my administration" compared with the last couple of years, he told the editorial board. He's well-versed in town operations. He calls infrastructure his top priority and credibly defends the town's settlement of the property tax appeal lawsuit involving LIPA's Northport power plant. 
Cook, 59, of Greenlawn, follows his own drumbeat, and the three-term town board member has his supporters. Cook disagreed with Smyth’s vote to accept the LIPA deal, and warns about the fiscal future, vowing to hold the line on taxes and to borrow for projects only as necessary. 
Entering the electoral fray for the first time is Sanin, 43, of Huntington Station. She makes a persuasive case for upgrades in the town, saying justly that residents should not find it necessary to pay "expediters" to get building permits. Sanin recognizes the woeful lack of data and metrics that would help town officials better govern and, channeling voter dissatisfaction, emphasizes the need for a 311 nonemergency system and information technology that track services and complaints and accept filings and applications online. 
She adds, insightfully, "When you talk about downtown, it's not just Main Street in Huntington. There's lots of commercial establishments all throughout our township of 98 square miles that we want to expand economic investment in." 
Heading a major nonprofit gives Sanin executive experience as well as a useful sense of what resources can be brought to bear for providing services, especially for poor and vulnerable people so all communities can thrive. 
She will need seasoned, high-quality top appointees to help implement her ambitious plans to re-imagine how the town's 17 departments can better deliver services. 
Newsday endorses Sanin.

VPHUNTSUPE211021

Rebecca Sanin for Huntington supervisor

Newsday endorses Sanin for Huntington supervisor

slVOTE210424

North Hempstead is the answer to the question: "Which Nassau County town is deploying five goats, whose alternative path was a slaughterhouse, to tackle the problem of poison ivy in its parks?" Supervisor Judi Bosworth said the solution is environmentally friendly, and the rescued goats will get "quite the smorgasbord" chewing the underbrush. "It’s a win-win," said Bosworth, who is leaving after four terms. 
North Hempstead has a strong financial balance sheet and muted controversies. Its events programs rival those offered on cruise ships. So, it's not surprising that the race to succeed Bosworth reflects the town’s prevailing tone. Jennifer S. DeSena, 52, a registered Democrat from Manhasset who is executive director of the area’s Community Coalition Against Substance Abuse, is running on the Republican line. It’s her first run for elected office. Democratic candidate Wayne H. Wink Jr., 54, of Roslyn, is finishing his second term as town clerk, having previously served on the town board and, before that, in the Nassau County legislature. 
Wink, chair of the town task force holding hearings on whether North Hempstead should opt out of a state law allowing retail sales and on-site consumption of marijuana, doesn’t have an official position yet. However, he is inclined to allow sales from stores tucked away in industrial areas. Wink said if there is a ban, residents could drive a few minutes to Queens or nearby towns to buy pot, depriving North Hempstead of the tax revenue for enforcement, education and treatment programs. 
DeSena, who has done much of her community work making parents more aware of the dangers of drugs and alcohol abuse to teens, opposes any recreational-use sale of pot in the town. She fears easy availability will increase underage use and especially cause older teens to drive under the influence. 
Both candidates agree that fixing the town’s beleaguered building department is the top priority because red tape hinders small businesses from prospering and outrages homeowners who spend years trying to get routine permits. Wink says he'll streamline the process and limit "historical review" of new applications, so seeking a new fence doesn’t require going back decades to review homeowner compliance in myriad categories. 
DeSena had few specifics on how to change the notorious bureaucracy, and a slim understanding of how government works. 
Wink has detailed knowledge of how the town works and a specific plan to reform the permitting process. But he must be bold enough to put it into place. 
Newsday endorses Wink.

VPNHSUPE211013

Wayne Wink for North Hempstead supervisor

Newsday endorses Wink for North Hempstead supervisor

slVOTE210425

In Oyster Bay, where the Republican Party and the municipal government often operate as one entity, determining who really calls the tune has been difficult for decades. Town employees often do double or triple duty as GOP officials and campaign volunteers; where one role begins and another ends is anyone’s guess. That never seems to change, no matter how many sour notes are sounded. 
Two years ago, writing about a supervisor race incumbent Joseph A. Saladino went on to win easily, we criticized Saladino for hiking Deputy Supervisor Gregory Carman Jr.’s pay from $134,750 to $167,500 and disclosing neither that nor raises for 86 other employees, until Newsday wrestled the information away via New York State Open Meetings law. 
Now Carman, also executive leader of the Farmingdale Republican Committee, has been soliciting political contributions from town employees, with the size of each request determined by the workers’ town salaries. It's Tammany by the Bay, and further proof that you don't get a job without tithing something back to the organization. 
The district attorney’s office says it does not have enough to prosecute Carman, largely thanks to shoddily written election law, but that he "may have violated" town ethics code. He clearly did, and should be fired, but Saladino refuses to take any action against Carman until the town ethics board rules. 
That’s Oyster Bay under Saladino, and long before him. The town runs, bills get paid, taxes are rarely increased, roads and parks are good (enough), redevelopment in Hicksville and other downtowns lags, elections are almost always uncompetitive, and most voters don’t seem to mind. 
Democrat Amanda R. Field, 45, is calling, correctly, for Carman’s firing. A Plainview Water District commissioner, she also is right to hit Saladino on his often highhanded manner toward residents in town meetings. Field has a good feel for the issues, but lacks the experience and knowledge she’d need to run a large, complex town. 
Saladino, 60, of Massapequa, is gregarious, hardworking and responsive to resident needs, as long as the residents don’t criticize him. He has been passionate about working on the Grumman plume. Now, he must bring change next term to Hicksville. For too long, he has blamed others for the lack of action, while his own thinking about what's possible there and elsewhere has been limited. Then, Saladino must put the same effort into revitalizing downtown Oyster Bay. 
He also needs to draw a hard and clear line between his party and his administration, if he wants Oyster Bay to start moving to the right beat. 
Newsday endorses Saladino.

VPOBAYSUPE211025

Joe Saladino for Oyster Bay supervisor

Newsday endorses Joe Saladino for Oyster Bay supervisor

slVOTE210513

Two months into Yvette Aguiar's first term as town supervisor, the emerging coronavirus pandemic upended her revitalization plans for Riverhead. Now as normalcy begins to return, the Republican incumbent seeks another term to complete key development projects such as Town Square, which involves demolishing two decrepit buildings and renovating another on Main Street to provide pedestrian access to the Peconic River. 
Her other priority is to accelerate efforts to fix up the shabby area around the Long Island Rail Road station for which Aguiar is seeking a $10 million state grant, while also building more housing nearby to encourage commuter use of public transit. 
Catherine A. Kent, 65, the lone Democrat on the town council and a retired Riverhead teacher from Baiting Hollow, has worked diligently with the town’s Downtown Revitalization Committee. A frequent critic of Aguiar, Kent notes the installation of security cameras in the business district is not complete, saying many which would provide 24/7 images to police are still in boxes. 
Kent also claims that the supervisor is slow in tracking approval of what is known as the Pattern Book plan which would require new construction to adhere to specific historic details and design, while fast-tracking other developments to avoid adherence to the new guidelines, especially when it comes to five-story height restrictions. 
Both candidates agree that constant vehicle traffic due to an increase in agritourism in this Twin Forks gateway is detrimental to residents. Kent wants the LIRR to run scooter trains frequently between Riverhead and Greenport with bike rentals available at the stations. Aguiar, 62, of Riverhead, says she is working with a regional task force, which includes the LIRR, county police and Southold Town, to mitigate traffic at major choke points. 
Aguiar and Kent are both frustrated with the lack of progress on the sale of the former U.S. Navy property known as Enterprise Park at Calverton. But Aguiar is concerned that walking away from a 2018 contract could cost the town millions and wants to give the purchasers more time. Kent wants financial statements from the Triple Five Group and would be ready to walk away if they are not provided. 
Their starkest disagreement is on the commercial sale of marijuana, with the town board voting 3-2 in July not to opt out of a state law permitting retail sale and consumption sites. Aguiar is against such sales but Kent believes the town should start by allowing them in limited areas. Aguiar should reconsider her approach. 
Aguiar has earned another term to complete her revitalization agenda. 
Newsday endorses Aguiar.

VPRHSUPE211015

Yvette Aguiar for Riverhead supervisor

Newsday endorses Aguiar for Riverhead supervisor

slVOTE210501

When Republican Edward R. Wehrheim primaried Patrick Vecchio out of the 2017 Smithtown supervisor race, and then won the general election, it marked a huge change in leadership, but not a break in continuity. 
Vecchio had been town supervisor since 1977, and his 40 years in the role are believed to be a state record. But Wehrheim, 73, from Kings Park, started working at the town’s parks department in 1972, only retiring as director in 2003 to assume the council seat he’d just won. 
That long tenure and the variety of his experience have resulted in an unusual blend of pragmatism and vision. In a community where change often lags, Wehrheim’s common-sense approach to infrastructure, development and town finances have delivered significant progress, and laid the groundwork for more. 
Wehrheim is as intent on improving Smithtown’s recreation assets as you’d expect given his background: About three-quarters of the town’s parks and beaches have been renovated or repaired. And Smithtown's fiscal condition also remains strong, a Vecchio tradition Wehrheim has wisely upheld. 
But Wehrheim’s biggest success has been in shepherding improved infrastructure and the development it allows in central Smithtown, Kings Park and St. James. Sewer projects are moving forward, more parking has been added, and multifamily housing — both rentals and owned units — is springing up near the train stations to support downtown businesses, feeding the synergy dynamic commercial districts need. 
Wehrheim’s opponent, Maria C. Scheuring, 50, also evokes memories of Vecchio — who died in 2019 at age 88 — but in a different way. A Democrat and attorney who plays electric guitar on the side, Scheuring wants development stopped in the town, and in some cases even reversed. She argues that Smithtown’s infrastructure is so overburdened, from sewers to roads, that a halt is needed on new homes and businesses until traffic and environmental concerns are brought to heel. 
She’s so devoted to slowing things in the town that time forgot that she supports demolishing empty Main Street storefronts to create green space and pocket parks. She opposes large development projects, like what's been envisioned for the Gyrodyne property, now and for the foreseeable future. And she rejects apartment construction, deeming renters less rooted in the community. 
Scheuring is caught in the same paradox as many Long Islanders: She wants her three kids to be able to stay in Smithtown as adults but doesn’t support building the housing their offspring would need to be able to do so. 
Scheuring has a keen eye for discerning problems, and an obvious passion for her community, but she does not have the right answers for Smithtown. 
Newsday endorses Wehrheim.

VPSTSUPE211019

Edward Wehrheim for Smithtown supervisor

Newsday endorses Wehrheim for Smithtown supervisor

slVOTE

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