(Photo: Tom Suozzi's facebook page)
In two days, Tom Suozzi will no longer be the Nassau County executive.
After a recount and falling short by some 200 votes, Suozzi conceded defeat last month to his little-known republican challenger, Ed Mangano. Despite polls that had him up by 15 points heading into election day, the anti-incumbent tide that among other things, swept Suozzi's Westchester counterpart, Andy Spano out of office by 20 points, was too much to overcome.
After Suozzi beat what was once called the most powerful Republican machine in the country in 2001, he saved Nassau from the brink of bankruptcy . He had the county achieve 11 bond rating upgrades and instituted nationally-recognized smart government reforms like No Wrong Door, a streamlining of county social services into a comprehensive approach that attacked social ills from all angles. In 2004, he waged a "Fix Albany" campaign to primary Democratic Assemblymen and take out Republican Senators in the general election. In knocking off one of each, he helped send a clear message to Albany that the status quo was unacceptable. In 2006, he unsuccessfully challenged Eliot Spitzer in the gubernatorial primary, and had the chutzpah in that campaign to say what many NY politicians felt but never had the cajones to: that Shelly Silver and Joe Bruno should resign their leadership posts for the good of the state. Although he lost that race, he found vindication of sorts when Spitzer co-opted many of his ideas and later appointed him to head the NY State Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness.
Suozzi was a rising star and many believed that he would run again for a statewide office in 2010. But instead the anti-incumbent tide swept this innovative reformer out of office and replaced him with a tax-cheating Republican hack who ran an essentially ideas-free campaign. I am completely certain that Nassau voters will eventually come to regret this huge mistake, but it doesn't change the fact that on the day after tomorrow, Ed Mangano will be the County Executive of Nassau. Suozzi might still have a future, but a dark cloud now hangs over Nassau in the form of Republican cronysim, mismanagement, and fiscal irresponsibility. Both Suozzi and Nassau County deserved much, much better than this. |
