Compromise, transparency needed

Races for the Nassau County Legislature were as tight as ever this year, and in the end, control of the Legislature boiled down to the two most hotly contested matches –– in the 14th and 18th districts.

At press time, after all absentee ballots were counted, it appeared likely that Republican Joseph Belesi would keep his seat in the race against Democratic challenger Eva Pearson in the 14th District by the slimmest of margins. But in the race in the 18th District, it appeared that Democrat Delia DeRiggi-Whitton had taken a lead against Republican Robert Germino Jr. If those two races hold, Republicans would maintain control of the Legislature, 10 seats to nine.

Two years ago, Republicans ran on a tax-revolt platform and trounced Democrats, taking back control of the Legislature after Democrats had reigned for a decade. For the past two years, Republicans have had 11 seats to Democrats’ eight. That has given the GOP the ability to pretty much do as it pleases, with no need for compromise. That hasn’t been good for the people of Nassau County.

We expect the Legislature to act as an independent body, checking the county executive’s powers. Instead, the Legislature has fast-tracked and rubber-stamped any and all of Republican County Executive Ed Mangano’s proposals, most often with insufficient notice of public meetings and hearings. The Legislature has done so even as hundreds of county residents and workers have crowded legislative sessions demanding greater transparency.

Case in point –– redistricting. Every 10 years, the county must redraw the lines of its 19 legislative districts, in accordance with a process outlined in the county charter. First, after U.S. Census figures are released, the Legislature must review the numbers and look for dramatic changes in individual districts’ populations. Districts whose populations have swelled above or dropped below the target population of 70,000 must be redrawn. Thereafter, the charter calls for a series of public hearings to allow the public to comment on the reworked map.

Last spring, however, Mangano and the Legislature attempted to skirt the process, approving a map without the hearings. That map surely would have given Republicans control of the Legislature for the next decade. Democrats challenged it in court over the summer, and after a protracted legal battle, the courts struck down the Republicans’ plan to enact the new map in the 2011 election.

The court battle was costly –– and unnecessary. Clearly, Republicans had attempted to grab power without following the statutes mandated by the charter. That was wrong.

If we look back over the past two years, we see example after example of Republicans pushing an aggressive agenda, without the public’s involvement. Over the summer, Mangano and the Legislature proposed a $450 million plan to redo Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum with public money. They put the plan up for a vote in a special election –– on a Monday in August. Architectural renderings of the new Coliseum were made available to the public only days before the vote. The Herald endorsed the plan because we believe there will be no development at Nassau’s Hub without a revamped Coliseum. But the county clearly bungled the vote, which cost $2 million when it could have been held for free in November. In the end, voters shot the plan down.

Most recently, residents attended legislative sessions to express anger that Mangano and the Legislature have held details of a plan to privatize Long Island Bus close to the vest. Questions about whether fares would go up and routes would be reduced under a private company have lingered for months. The public was told that a hearing would be held in December, only weeks before Long Island Bus’s contract with the county is set to expire on Dec. 31. Now we hear that the company that is set to take over the bus system –– Veolia –– is also bidding for the county’s sewer system.

We attribute Republicans’ lack of information and compromise to arrogance. The 2009 election apparently gave them the mistaken impression that they had a mandate to do whatever they pleased. We believe this year’s election showed otherwise. If not for a handful of Republican votes in the 14th District, Democrats would now control the Legislature.

We hope to see better from the Republican majority over the next two years. Otherwise, they may find themselves out of power once again.