Be Careful What You Wish For

You May Just Get It

When the counting is finally over at the Nassau County Board of Elections (do you think they use fingers as well as toes?), Ed Mangano may just be Nassau's next County Executive.

Who would have thunk it? Certainly not Tom Suozzi, the pundits, the pollsters, or the Nassau County Democratic Committee.

No matter. It is what it is. The question now to be asked, what will it become come January 1?

With the Republicans in the driver's seat in all major branches of Nassau government (but for District Attorney) -- County Exec, Comptroller, County Clerk, and Legislature -- clearly the agenda (as well as the crises they will inherit, many of which resulted from the failures of the last Republican administration) will be theirs.

Good luck with that!

Anger over property taxes, big government, and too much talk, too little action, precipitated a change in party control. And yet, 500-some odd votes does not a mandate make.

What will be the GOP priorities for Nassau County? Just what is Ed Mangano's "plan" to "fix" Nassau?

Lower taxes? Certainly, the pledge to repeal the 2.5% energy tax is a given. Beyond that, do Mangano or the Republicans in the County Legislature have actual plans -- or any thoughts, for that matter, beyond, "now what do we do?" -- for lowering property taxes ala the platform of the Tax Revolt Party, for which Ed Mangano served as poster boy?

What of efforts to consolidate local government, including the hundreds of special districts that tax Nassau County residents to debt? Will the new County Exec use his power under the law to initiate either consolidations or, dare we say, disolutions?

Where will projects to revitalize and re-energize the county, such as the Lighthouse, be under a Mangano/Schmitt administration? What of efforts to renew our county parks and preserve Nassau's few remaining green spaces?

Will the Environmental Bond money, on projects still lagging, be utilized as the current administration, by legislative mandate, intended, or will there be further delay, and prehaps diversion of funds, all to the detriment of land preservation, watershed rehabilitation, and passive park redevelopment?

Where will Mr. Mangano, should he be our County Executive, stand on affordable housing, school finance reform/school district consolidation, and the "broken" assessment system, which the GOP has promised to "fix", or worse, to "freeze," leaving us with the old, if not cold, status quo? Will he "stop wasteful spending" and "create jobs and opportunities" (other than patronage) in Nassau?

We are linking here to Ed Mangano's campaign website (for as long as it remains active), just so you can hold Ed to his own words, whatever intrinsic meaning they may have or plan of action they may portend.

We wish Ed Mangano the best of luck (after all, his success would, presumably, bode well for all of us) should he prevail in his quest to become Nassau County's chief cook and bottle washer. Same for the members of the NC Legislature.

Just one more question, though: Who will Nassau Republicans point their fingers at, should, two or four years hence, we be no better off than we are today?