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.
Yesterday, it surfaced that the Republican candidate for Nassau Country Executive, Ed Mangano, had several federal state and local tax liens stemming from a business that he claimed "has nothing to do with me". Well, apparently, it does:
Jacobs released parts of a March 1998 partnership agreement for the printing firm listing Edward Mangano as a partner and secretary of the company who, with his brother, could cosign checks. The document specified that while the other partners would work full-time, Mangano, a county lawmaker from Bethpage, would serve part-time.
Jacobs also produced a 2008 form listing one tenant of the Bethpage building as the printing firm, with Edward Mangano as president.
Jacobs also released copies of Mangano's financial disclosure forms, which, through 2008, listed him as the company's "secretary."
Mangano is proving that not only is he another typical patronage and corrupt Long Island Republican, he's also a LIAR.
Ed Mangano, the Republican candidate for Nassau County Executive, who is also running on the "Tax Revolt" party line hates taxes so much, he doesn't think he has to pay them- $900,000 worth of them, in fact:
The Republican candidate for Nassau's county executive, who is also running on a Tax Revolt Party line, had more than $900,000 in federal and state tax liens against his family business in Bethpage in recent years.
Edward Mangano, a member of the County Legislature from Bethpage since 1995, said Wednesday he no longer has an interest in the company, New Media Printing, although federal tax liens filed as recently as this year were addressed to him.
(snip)
Either he's lying on his financial disclosure forms when he says that he owns something that he doesn't, or he's lying now," [Democratic Chairman Jay] Jacobs said. "And who lists themselves on a disclosure form owning something when they don't?"
Aside from the irony that his company is called "New Media Printing," this is yet another example of the culture of corruption that pervades the Nassau Republican Party and its standard-bearer, Ed Mangano. I'm confident Nassau voters are smart enough to remember the cronyism, corruption, and patronage under Republican rule that nearly drove Nassau to bankruptcy until Suozzi saved it starting in 2002.
And on that note, the Nassau Dems just came out with 2 web ads reminging everybody about the differences between Republican rhetoric on property taxes and, ya know, the truth:
Suozzi is right to remind everyone how corrupt Nassau Republicans continue to be, and I don't think Nassau voters' memories are short enough to forget that or the excellent job Suozzi has done in the past 8 years.
Kudos to Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi for calling local GOP operatives exactly what they are- thugs:
Here's Suozzi's take on the day: "They're yelling like an angry mob, which is how Republicans have acted over the past 50 years. They don't have any ideas. They yell and scream, and the big thing they yell and scream is 'No. No. No.''" On his Twitter, he added: "GOP sent out the thugs."
Suozzi also expanded on his searingly accurate account of the GOP, extrapolating from the national to the local levels:
"This was a perfect symbol of what's wrong with the Republican Party from the national level to the state level to the local level," Suozzi said. "We don't need yelling and screaming. All I ever hear is no, no, no. All President Barack Obama hears on a national level is no, no, no. It's the same thing on the state level. Someone in that party has to have ideas and trying to scream and intimidate new candidates won't work."
What actions drew this response from Suozzi? Apparently it was another example of continuing exodus of all non-brain-dead individuals from the Christian Nationalist Republican Party; Nassau Democrats were announcing that the former chair of the Nassau Young Republicans, Nina Petraro Bastardi, is now running for the Nassau Legislature as a Democrat. This defection caused the adolescent, extreme right-wing base of what's left of the Nassau GOP to resort to outright thuggery, including pushing Bastardi's mother, challenging Dave Mejias to a fistfight, interrupting the press conference, shouting that Bastardi is "dumb as a rock," a "bitch," saying she "won't even get the minority vote" and threatening to bring their "friends" to Suozzi's next meeting.
If you don't believe me, just watch this shocking video of these sexist, racist blathering lunatics:
We all knew Tom Suozzi was running for re-election as Nassau County Executive, but he is having his formal announcement celebration at the EAB/RXR plaza tonight at 6:30:
Suozzi has been a transformational figure on Long Island over the past 8 years, being a major cause for the Democratic-enrollment edge achieved in Nassau County last year, which is a testament to the way he led Nassau out of its own local disaster that decades of Republican rule left it with in 2001. (Talk about leading a national trend.)
So if you can make it to the announcement tonight, I'm sure it will be worth your while.
Yesterday, the New York State Commission on Property Tax Relief's final report was delivered to Governor Paterson's desk for his review and consideration. The commission, headed by Tom Suozzi and Cassie Prugh, has investigated one of the most difficult and inter-connected challenges that faces New York government, especially now during a time of considerable economic turmoil.
I know how personal and difficult the issue can be. When I ran for the State Senate in 2006, I heard about property tax and education reform on almost every doorstep I visited...and I visited thousands.
Over at The Washington Post's blog, The Fix, a variety of contenders are given odds on filling Senator Clinton's (presumptive) vacancy. One interesting name at the top of the list is Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi. While I didn't consider Suozzi a likely contender at first, his name is now at the top of this list for a variety of political and electoral reasons.
If there is one thing you can associate Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi with, it is the property tax cap that he has pushed for in New York. But Suozzi knows, as a county executive, that the financial crisis that has provided us with plenty of media attention on how the federal government will deal with it also trickles down to the state and local governments.
Suozzi authored an op-ed featured in Politico today about the federal government should address financial woes that are not only impacting the nation's economy, but are also impacting state and local economies.
As chief executive of a county with a budget larger than 16 states, I've seen and successfully managed through some challenging situations. But during the current economic crisis, I'm doing everything wrong.
Like Governor Paterson and Mayor Bloomberg - and hundreds of governors and local leaders across the nation who are responding to rising costs, shrinking revenues, and massive projected budget deficits - I'm cutting jobs, eliminating programs, and in the case of Nassau County, reducing capital spending and raising property taxes for the first time in five years. We have to. Because unlike the federal government, states and localities must, by law, balance our budgets every year, leaving us no choice but to make difficult decisions. These efforts are necessary in the short term, but we are undoing any national efforts to stimulate the economy.
In the war to save America's economy, the local, state, and federal governments are all on the same side but pulling in opposite directions.
State and localities need our federal government's help. As Governor Paterson so articulately made the case just one month ago on Capitol Hill and again earlier this week, the American public needs Washington more than any time in recent memory. Hundreds of billions of dollars are being spent to bail out banks, insurance companies, mortgage firms, and maybe even the automobile industry. Why can't Washington spend $50 billion to help the beleaguered American taxpayer by stabilizing their state and local governments?
I included the rest of Suozzi's op-ed below the fold so that you can read the whole thing. It is an interesting read.
A state and local government bailout would be helpful. Surely the governments would be more responsible handling the money and the money would be easier to track. With private corporations, you can't say the same thing.
I do think that state and local governments have to be more responsible. Cutting taxes is a must and there are certain things you need to keep spending money on. However, there are some things you don't have to spend money on. There are useless expenditures and perks that are afforded to elected officials that need to be taken away during these tough times. Removing such perks would send a clear message to their constituents. Hopefully they realize that.
Suozzi's op-ed is a must read. Again, I posted the rest of the op-ed below the fold. He presents plenty of great ideas and thoughts, along with the suggestion that there be a "bailout" of state and local governments.
Those following the latest in the property tax saga are familiar with the war of words that erupted today between WPF Chair Dan Cantor, David Paterson, and Tom Suozzi. Adding to the dispute, NYSUT decided to deny their endorsement to any Senator who voted for the property tax cap.
Basically, both sides have good intentions. Paterson and Suozzi know that property taxes in NY are through the roof and are stifling growth and are making in unaffordable for many people to continue to keep living in their homes. WPF and NYSUT rightly argue that schools need more resources and teachers are underpaid when you look at their salaries in the context of the cost of living downstate. Unfortunately, both sides are now digging in their heels and the discourse is taking a nose dive.
In a nutshell, the property tax cap is a very blunt instrument. And I can see why people would be supporting desperate measures in a desperate time. However, the real debate has just become over the pros and cons using a very blunt instrument instead of a discussion of why property taxes are so high outside of NYC in the first place. If the state doesn't address these issues, we are all forced into this paradigm of the false choice between high property taxes vs. education cuts.
There are really two main reasons for high property taxes, and this whole discussion has almost completely ignored both of them:
1) Under state law, the only kind of taxes that municipalities are allowed to raise without the legislature's approval are property taxes. With a framework like this, of course property taxes are through the roof.
Municipalities have to go hat-in-hand to the legislature if they want to raise any other type of tax, like sales or income taxes. To his credit, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has been pushing for raising state income taxes on the highest earners. However, a much more beneficial effect would be obtained just by giving municipalites this power. The only two municipalities in the state with progressive income taxes are NYC and Yonkers- I'm not sure about Yonkers, but I know NYC has significantly lower property tax rates than the rest of the state in part because NYC collects a progressive income tax on its residents. And NYC still has to get the legislature's approval for any adjustments it wants to make to this.
Allowing other municipalities to at least have the option of levying progressive income taxes in lean times would go a long way towards taking the tax burden off of property taxpayers, which is a regressive burden in many ways.
2) The truly redicioulous inefficiency and redundancy that is caused by dividing up municipal services into towns, villages, fire districts, sewer districts, library districts, water districts, ect.. and allowing all of these districts to levy property taxes in the residents in their jurisdiction is essentially just flushing property tax money down the toilet.
The New York State Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competiveness made an attempt to adress these issues, though in my opinion, it didn't go far enough. Suozzi's property tax commission adopted the NYCLGEC's recommendations in full, but they have essentially been forgotten in this debate since then.
A good way to put this in perspective is to look at it in reverse. I know I might be being a little NYC-centric, but bear with me:
Imagine if tomorrow, the Mayor, City Council, and State Legislature decided to take NYC's Department of Sanitation and divide it into several different sewer districts, each with their own executives and boards making six-figure salaries and maintaining their own parts of sewer infrastructure with little or no coordination with eachother. And then imagine if the same powers decided to break up the 5 boroughs into towns and make each one have their own independent municial govenments. And furthermore, allowed seperate villages to form within the towns and maintain their own seperate snowplowing fleets, police forces, and everything else. Now imagine doing the same process with libraries, fire departments, and all the rest. That would be an absolutely terrible idea. The different property taxes levied on the residents of the former NYC would be through the roof- just like they are everywhere else in NY.
If doing that to NYC is clearly such a terrible idea, then getting rid of all these disparate municipal entities outside of NYC and putting them under wider local government economies of scale, like counties, is clearly a good idea. And this is the type of idea that this debate should be centered around.
Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi was at the NYSDRC convention I attended this weekend and he was introduced to a decent response. He is also being mentioned as a possible gubernatorial candidate - even if Governor David Paterson chooses to run.
Ask Tom Suozzi if he's running for governor again, and he won't go anywhere near it.
"David Paterson is our governor, and I support him - and I expect him to be running in 2010 and expect to be supporting him in 2010," Suozzi told the Daily News.
Ask anyone BUT Suozzi if he's running for governor again, and they've got little doubt he could be - especially if Gov. Paterson falters or decides not to run.
"If he had the opportunity, he'd do it tomorrow morning. The question is: Is there going to be an opportunity?" asked veteran Democratic political consultant Hank Sheinkopf.
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo was asked a similar question and he denied it. I have a feeling that Paterson will be held to a high standard. If he does the slightest thing wrong, at least one candidate (Suozzi) could pounce. It looks like 2010 will be an interesting year.
Elizabeth at Capitol Confidential reports that a date has been set for the special election to fill the Legislative seat vacated by new State Senator Craig Johnson. The special election to replace new Comptroller Tom DiNapoli may be held on the same day, March 27th.
Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi has called a March 27 special election to fill the vacant seat of former Democratic Nassau County Legislator Craig Johnson (11th LD), who, as you will recall, won the 7th SD special election on Feb. 6.
According to Nassau County Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs, it's likely the special election to fill ex-Assemblyman Thomas DiNapoli's seat in the 16th AD will be called for the same day.
That would make sense, Jacobs said, since the local and state districts overlap.
An aide to Gov. Eliot Spitzer said he will formally call special elections in both the 16th and 61st ADs (the second is to fill the seat of the late Assemblyman John Lavelle, a Staten Island Democrat) within the next few days. It's likely the 61st AD special would be March 27, as well.
