Taxing Tom's Trifecta

If you're a government, and you're in a jam, you've got three options. Pick one and swallow your poison. Bailouts, Bonds and Taxes. That's the trifecta.

Usually you pick one or two. Usually, you tax and bond in comnbination with service cuts and fee hikes. Tom did those two. But he also got a bailout from the state.

So let's get this straight -- he got a hundred million dollar bailout. He blew it. He raised taxes and invented new ones. And then that wasn't enough. So he went out and spent millions more on the credit cards (bonds).

When does it stop? The hole we're in is deep. And unless we get some real change now, we're never going to get out of the hole.

More Democratic Hypocrisy

Tom Suozzi's two good friends, Dennenberg and David Mejias, held a press conference condemning water rate increases as taxes on necessity.

Hmm. Maybe the water rate hike is due to the ten billion in taxes that Dave Paterson and Tom Suozzi enacted earlier in the year. Maybe they had to raise rates due to the 2.5% home energy tax.

I think its time we send a message. Tom, tell your friends to stop the smoke and mirrors. Focus on what is at hand. The 80% property tax hike since you took office and the insidious 2.5% energy sales tax.

Focus on YOUR BUSINESS, NOT EVERYONE else's

Suozzi's Shell Game

The shell game is a famous con trick where the con artist hides the shell through deft manuevers and slights of the hand. Tom Suozzi's gotten to be a master of the shell game. And he's using YOUR money to play it.

Suozzi's taking money from one account, moving it to the other and getting on the soapbox and claiming 'I FIXED NASSAU.' But we know that isnt true. And here's his game.

Here's an example. Suozzi tried to lay off all of the police mechanics and the hire them back at a lower rate. That's illegal and failed. So, he simply took the money from their budget, and moved it somewhere else. That's got to be illegal too, but the bottom line is simple. The money is being moved around. No one knows where its going. Is it going to fund the performance bonuses for county employees who spend their time handling the Suozzi machine political business (as detailed in the Morganstern case)? Or is it going to fund other stuff, like the 400 something patronage employees larding the payroll?


It makes you think. The county's in bad shape. Yet Tom's shifting money around trying to prevent disaster. How is that for transparency and open government? Suozzi needed money a few years ago, so he told the Assessor, his good friend Harvey Levinson to jack out assessments. So now, if you're living in a house worth 500k, the county thinks its worth over 700k! Amazing, isn't it.

But I'm truly worried about the next big thing. Consolidation. Suozzi's sitting on a bankrupt county. He needs money. When you're desperate and attention hungry, you start trolling around for money.

Suozzi thinks he's found a nice chunk of change in something called the special districts. Special districts are something that make Long Island special. Home rule. Local control. Direct democracy.

The special districts include villages. Villages control local zoning, and are staffed by none other than local residents who care about the community. Villages bring goverment closer to the people.

The special districts include the firehouses that form an integral part of the community. Suozzi and his friend in Albany, Pedro Espada and David Paterson, want to close those down too and merge them to form super districts. Super districts won't be able to offer the same localized and individual responses that we need in Long Island.

And finally there are sanitation districts. Suozzi claims, without any evidence to support him, that they are bastions of waste and patronage. He might as well claim that they are staffed by unicorns and Abominable snowmen. Special districts are staffed by hard working people. People who care about the community. In fact, they do their jobs much more efficiency and at a much lower cost than the county itself.

Suozzi or the special districts? I chose the special districts in a heartbeat. I chose the dedicated employees, rather than the embittered and angry County employees who go through the motions while cursing their bosses for laying them off and slashing their salaries to the bone. I chose the dedicated commissioners -- who for a small salary devote hours of their time to their jobs -- over a full time spoiled brat of a CE who devotes 98% of his time to touring the state selling snake oil, raising money from contractors and groveling for a new job rather than 100% of his time running the county he is paid to run.

This November, let's send a message to Taxing Tom Suozzi. We want home rule and local services, not pay to play, unbridled ambition, misuse of government resources, cronyism and taxation. Let's elect a real executive -- Ed Mangano.

The Ambition and the Ego

There's nothing wrong with ambition. It's part of the American Way. Ambition has led millions of people to come to America, take a menial job and work their way up. It's led to the American Dream of Long Island -- a house of your own, a car and some space for your family.

But Tom Suozzi's version of ambition goes well beyond your normal dose. His ambition, combined with his mammoth ego, are the main threat facing Nassau County. His toxic brew could be the thing that destroys the American Dream of Long Island.

An ego in search of an office. That's what they call Suozzi. So says Fred Dicker, a prominent Albany reporter widely known as the premier political reporter north of Bear Mountain. I've been following Suozzi's career for years. Frankly, I think Dicker was maybe too moderate in his characterization of Tom Suozzi.

Ambition is a good thing. But Suozzi has taken your standard ambition and put it in overdrive. The people who've suffered are the citizens of Nassau County. While Suozzi ran for governor in 2006, his subordinates took over the day to day management of the county. And without a strong executive, everything fell apart. The deficit, which had been wiped out, came back with a vengeance. This time, its worse than anytime under Tom Gulotta. And the State, which is pretty much insolvent too, cannot come in with a hundred million dollar bailout. Thanks in part to a Suozzi ally on the north shore, our Long Island Senate delegation doesn't have that juice anymore.

Running for governor costs money. A lot fo money. In 2006, Suozzi ran against a well funded and independently wealthy man. Spitzer had money, and was willing to spend it. Suozzi needed to match Spitzer. Sure, he could raise money from people on Wall Street who hated the guy, but that was a drop in the bucket. Tom's Dad has made millions off the broken tax cert system that Suozzi refuses to fix, but even those millions (which Joe Suozzi shares with his partners, including none other than Basil Paterson, father of David) couldn't bankroll a run against Spitzer.

So, Suozzi did something that he really shouldn't have done. He began to shake down contractors. I've covered the five digit donations that Suozzi shook out of big time contractors in past posts. Everyone gets money from contractors; but Suozzi turned it into an institutionalized shakedown racket. Pay to play is alive and well in Nassau County.

But that wasn't enough. Suozzi then began to lard the public payroll with patronage employees. These guys were hired for one reason -- to work for Tom's political ambitions. If you worked (check out the LI Press article on the Morganstern case), you got to keep your job and maybe get a raise or a performance bonus! Let the good times roll!

And Suozzi went on seeking higher office. He took over a state panel on property taxes, and appropriated a longtime Republican battle cry of tax freezes and tax caps. Then he came home from his upstate swing and jacked up property taxes at home. He didn't bat an eyelash.

Suozzi's eight years in office have been a disaster for the citizens of Nassau. It's time for a change. A change we can afford.

Desperate Times, Desperate Flyers

Today, Spin Cycle on Newsday had a stunning report. The Democrats, who after eight years of total control of County Government would by common sense be touting their accomplishments, have come out with a new flyer. It ties Chris Browne, a young Republican who was probably in law school back when Gulotta reigned supreme, to the Tom Gulotta machine.

I couldn't stop laughing. I saw the flyer last week. Browne has NOTHING to do with the Gulotta era. Neither does Ed Mangano. And the Suozzi corruption and pay to play makes whatever may have gone on during the Gulotta years look like kisses.

The real shark is Tom Suozzi. Eight years ago, he got a gift from the state that bailed him out. Now, he's dug a deeper hole. And there's no one to save him.

Tom isn't stupid. He knows what is happening. So he's touring the state promoting a surrealistic tax cap -- a cap that is ironic considering that Suozzi has taxed Nassau into literal submission.

His goal is to get out of here. He wants to get something statewide. So rather than focus on the county's problems he is focusing on his ambitions and propping up David Paterson.

But we need more than that. Tom Suozzi has been gorging himself on Nassau County like a he's shark and we're the bait. It's time the bait got together and turned on this shark and shows him who's boss.

Hired Guns and Grassroots Volunteers

Come and spend a day in the Ed Mangano for County Executive office. There are no paid consultants. There are no paid workers. Everyone there is a volunteer. Everyone there believes in Ed. And no one there is making a cent off this election.

Everyone, from the campaign manager to the people answering the phone, loves Nassau County and wants to live here. Most have spent our lives in Nassau. Some were born here, others came when they were young or older. All are living here by choice. And all want to keep living in Nassau County.

That's why the people working for Ed are spending their days in the office. Everyone there has 'better' things to do, whether it's work at the day job that pays the bills, work on other campaigns, look for a job or sit at the beach. But go in any day and the office is hopping.

It's love for the county that's driving Ed's campaign. It's belief in Ed Mangano and his message of change that we can afford. It's the belief that Ed is Nassau County's last hope to remain solvent and a good place to live.

And the people in the office couldn't be more different than each other. There are people from Oyster Bay; others from Freeport. There are people from Woodmere and others from Hicksville, Hempstead and Levittown. There are African Americans, Irishmen, Italians, Jews and Hispanics toiling side by side for Ed. It's truly a homegrown campaign.

Many are Republicans. Others are Democrats. Some are independents. Some are registered conservatives. Others are Republicans who long ago abandoned the party of their heritage for political apathy. Many are union members and others are environmentalist members of the Sierra Club. But everyone is going all out for Ed not because their job depends on it, but because they believe in him. Many are ex Suozzi supporters who turned after seeing the County destroyed around them in the name of vanity and pride.

Take a look at Suozzi's campaign. He's hiring million dollar firms from the city. He's hauling in advisors from Washington with national experience. He's probably sitting in One West monitoring the news services wondering where the next vacancy is. Will it be in Washington, with another Senate seat or Cabinet office coming open? Or will it be in Albany, when Cuomo runs for governor? Will it be the job Ravitch had until last week? Or will it be a position of unrivaled power...on the bench?

His campaign is fueled by money raised by county employees on county time (check out the LI Press). His bankroll is aimed not at the county but at some amorphous higher office in Albany or Washington (check out last week's Times Union and last month's Capitol newspaper).

Sit down and think about. Do you want your county governed by people who don't care about your home and only care about the Next Big Move? Or do you want a county governed by people who want nothing more than to live in Nassau County and enjoy their lives with their friends and neighbors?

Think about it and put aside your biases and preexisting opinions. Read NIFA report and think about it. I think you'll come to the same decision I made 6 months ago.

Smoke and Mirrors Again

I was having lunch this week in a pizza joint, and was talking to someone about the problems facing Nassau County. Namely the $150 million deficit and Tom Suozzi's utter lack of action to combat it other than press conferences. So, someone overheard me and began to parrot the Suozzi line of the Lighthouse!

Of course, Ed Mangano supports the Lighthouse, and under Ed's leadership the Lighthouse would actually come into being. Ed believes strongly in working with local government, instead of bashing it and holding incessant press conferences about some miracle cure. But, let's be realistic here.

Nassau County is in serious financial straights. A deficit that will soon be over $200 million -- plus legal costs and settlements from the lawsuits Tom's political machine has generated -- can't be fixed by one project. Even a project like Levittown would have a hard fixing Nassau right now. Besides, most of the revenue from the Lighthouse would go to the local municipalities (Uniondale), unless Suozzi plans to abolish those villages and fire districts to steal that revenue to patch his own sinking ship.

What we need is real reform. Structural reform. An end to the hundred million in tax refunds that serve only the purpose of making a few lawyers on the North Shore wealthy beyond belief. An end to backdoor tax increases. Transparency and honesty from our leaders. Leaders who care about Nassau County, not their own ambition.

Tom Suozzi has dug a hole deeper than most mines. He took $100 million from New York State and squandered it. And no, this current hole is far too deep to fix with a miracle project.

We need Ed Mangano, a man who cares about Nassau County and isn't about to desert Nassau for greener pastures in the time of greatest need.

If you want to get involved in Ed's campaign, give the office a call at 605 0245

BIG NEWS!

Today in Newsday there was news that could change the course of the race. Ed Mangano and several other Republican candidates, including Christian Browne, Joe Belesi and Howard Kopel, filed thousands of signatures to start a new party line -- the Tax Revolt Party.

First I'd like to explain why the campaigns did this and what hurdles they went through. Due to Suozzi's close association with Conservative Party Chairman Roger Bogsted, Ed and Chris Browne, both fiscal conservatives with a track record of endorsements, were denied. Instead the Conservatives endorsed Scannel, a left wing Democratic legislator who has been complicit in the record tax increases that are killing the county in the Browne race. In something that would be illegal in New York City, Bogsted rammed through an endorsement of a candidate who literally WORKS FOR Tom Suozzi in the CE race. He did this four years ago against Greg Peterson -- endorse someone other than the GOP candidate and drain votes from the Republicans.

But this time, that wouldn't work. A massive outpouring of grassroots support for Ed and Chris ensued. Conservatives and Republicans and Democrats outraged by this travesty of democracy came up with an idea -- a new party to support Ed and Chris.

Getting a line isn't easy. You have to get thousands of signatures and survive challenges. And your petition gatherers have to have not circulated any party petitions, or be a notary. That knocks out most of the people who typically circulate party petitions, since your average committeeman is a simple working person or small businessman who hasn't taken the notary test. You need to find hundreds of people who haven't signed a prior petition (again, knocking out most of the regulars and usual suspects) and convince them to sign something that they probably don't understand and have no idea what it's for.

In short, it's almost an impossible test. But the grassroots effort was there. People got out and banged on doors. People took up the mantle of Tax Revolt and begged and cajoled for signatures.

The response was, to say the least, overwhelming. A spontaneous outpouring of support for the Tax Revolt Party has led to thousands of middle class and working people signing the petitions. They've learned more about Ed and the Tax Revolt. They've investigated Suozzi and his bossist ways. Now the shoe that Suozzi used to sprint to office is on the other foot.

Suozzi is getting nervous. He's hiring consulting firms and throwing fits. He knows he's in the Red Zone. Now, it's beyond that. He's in serious danger of losing his election.

But to make that happen we need your help. Give the office a call at 605 0245 and ask how you can help Ed Mangano take back Nassau County.

He's really our last hope...

Backdoor Tax Hikes

I just had a very interesting conversation with a man from Garden City yesterday. This man, a new and strong supporter of Ed Mangano for CE, had worked with Harvey Levinson, the last elected County Assessor in Nassau County in his 2003 election race. He made some good points that I want to share with you today.

Suozzi has raised taxes by almost 80%. But that isn't all. He raised it even more through the Assessor's Office. Levinson, at the behest of Suozzi, jacked the assessments up to unreal levels. Basically, there are two magic numbers. One's the value of your home. The other's the tax rate that NY state computes using the county fractional tax rate. Multiply the two together and you get the money you have to cut a check for. That's your tax bill.

There are two ways to raise taxes. One is to simply raise the rates. Suozzi did that by 80%. But it wasn't enough, even after the state wiped out the deficit of 2001. So, Mr. Suozzi called his political subsidiary Levinson in and said 'I need more money.' Levinson obliged.

He raised the first number, the hypothetical value of your home. He raised it to unreal levels that are laughable even by the 2006 Boom Years standard. This gentleman showed me a house that sold for $500,000 around the corner from him. Levinson had it assessed at almost $800,000. This gentleman had challenged his assessment 7 times.

Sound fair? It does explain why Suozzi has abolished the elected assessor's office. Now, the assessor works directly for him. Thaddeus Janikowski (I'm probably misspelling that name) can be fired if he doesn't raise enough money. Conspiracy? Maybe I'm crazy.

Or maybe I'm right and the only way we can fix this is to vote out Suozzi, get Ed Mangano elected and blow the system to smithereens and start from the beginning and Fix it.

By the way, this individual I spoke to had challenged his assessment 7 times on his own. He won all 7 without the use of counsel. But, if he had used a lawyer such one from the tax cert firm Mayer Suozzi, Mr. Suozzi's father would have taken at least a third. Sound fair?

Let's end this charade on November 3.

YOU DON'T HAVE TO BELIEVE US; ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS READ THE DEMOCRAT'S CAMPAIGN LITERATURE

I just got handed some literature announcing that Nassau County was in deep trouble. Property values are sinking. Jobs are fleeing. Young people can't afford to stay. Taxes are high. But it wasn't the GOP literature saying this. This was the Democrats.

That's right. Tom Suozzi's running mates are admitting that Nassau is in deep trouble. Yet they have the nerve to claim they can fix this. Imagine that; they create the problem and then claim they can fix it.

The problem is real. Now the question is how are we going to fix this? Suozzi's people are claiming they have the ideas to fix it. I'd like to go over these ideas for you and let you make the decision for yourself.

Suozzi: raise taxes 76% since taking office. Keep the assessment system that has cost us $100 million a year for the last several years and blame the homeowners who have the gall to dispute the county's figures. Institute a new 2.5% tax on all energy bills at a time of record energy prices. Fill the county with patronage employees, who do political work on the county's time. And by the way, since that's illegal, cover it up by terminating the whiners who sue and win big. Give out performance bonuses to the good workers who help the Suozzi ambition, bonuses that are matched only by AIG in their impropriety. Use Nassau as an ATM to support your own shameless ambition (and that goes for Tom Suozzi and Dave Mejias both). Cut spending on detectives and the police force in the name of austerity, only to hold press conferences when heroin use explodes. Eliminate local government (and take their revenue) and do the job half as good for twice to cost. Talk about a property tax revolution and start a facebook group about how young people should move to Nassau and then take no real action after the cameras turn off.

Mangano: Cut wasteful spending. Scrap the flawed tax assessment, and stop blaming the homeowners who ask for their money back. End the unfair home energy tax. Cut out the Suozzi machine that is running political operations on county time. Work with local governments, not against them. Develop and create jobs (like Ed did at the Grumman plant), instead of developing a neat new press kit and a nifty new speech like Suozzi has done. Support our detectives and police and actively fight crime before it happens. Bring jobs and opportunities to Nassau County through action, not talk.

Mangano -- results and good government.

SOS from Your Neighborhood Fire House

One of the things that makes Long Island great are its volunteer fire houses. I could go on forever about what makes our fire departments special. The spirit of local volunteerism -- and I mean how communities come together and unite people across all kinds of divides -- to serve their neighborhood. There's the dedication of all of these houses to their communities. These fire houses are the modern town greens of many communities. They provide a place for people to meet and gather; they host events where the community could come out and meet newcomers or long lost friends and unite them.

But most of all, the thing that makes our local fire departments great is the work they do. Members of the fire departments are members of the community. They respond to fire and ambulance calls quickly and with the passion that only a friend and neighbor can bring. Our fire departments are pillars of the communities and one of the things that makes Long Island great. Is it a stretch to say that they are the envy of the nation? I think not. Neither do most residents of Long Island.

Then why is Tom Suozzi teaming up with David Paterson to take a sledgehammer to our fire departments? Suozzi supports the Paterson consolidation bill. He'd love nothing more than to fold various independent community fire departments into several mega departments with expanded coverage areas.

What does this mean for you? Well, it will destroy your firehouse. It might be closed and merged into a bigger and 'more modern' firehouse a few miles away. Why? Well, the false nivana of 'efficiency.' Sounds good on paper, right? But its awful in reality.

Response times will be longer. Think about it; if the volunteers have to travel 2 miles from their office or home to the firehouse, suit up and get ready to roll and then have to go another several miles to a fire or emergency, response times have to be longer. Especially at rush hour, if you live in a remote area (like the North Shore) or a time when few people are around. The fire truck might sit around waiting for a crew to show up. Imagine that.

The trauma to our communities from the loss of firehouses would be enormous. These places are the anchors of many communities. They are one of the glues holding communities together. And now, Suozzi wants to rip them apart in an attempt to grab their tax dollars.

People are upset. They don't want this. They know what's at stake here. A grassroots group, Firefighters for Mangano, has been fighting the Suozzi-Paterson proposal to destroy our neighborhood firehouses. The response has been great.

But we need your help. If you know anyone who wants to get involved, give the office a call. Together, we can help Ed fight this proposal.

Lowest Bidder or Highest Contributor

Is it so much to ask that our government be honest and open? Apparently not if your name is Tom Suozzi. Take a look at these numbers from the County Legislature's hearing last week where Pete Schmitt (Minority Leader) and Ed Mangano questioned the Suozzi Administration and his lapdog Democratic majority over $8 million in pay to play contracts that the Democrats rammed through.

• $1.5 million to E&A Restoration - contributed $35,000 to Suozzi
• $2 million to RBA Group - contributed $4,500 to Suozzi
• $290,000 to Gibbons, Esposito & Boyce Engineers - contributed $4,500 to Suozzi
• $515,000 to Smith Valuation/Standard Valuation Services – contributed $18,500 to Suozzi

Well gee. Isn't this all just a little too coincidental? Don't we have the right to expect the government to give contracts to the lowest bidder, not to the highest contributor? Is Suozzi that desperate to win his reelection that he's resorted to making a buy-in to the county contracts like it is some kind of a poker game?

Let's send Taxing Tom and his fellow Spending Dems a message this November.

What Consolidation Means for YOU

Consolidation of special districts. If you listen to the governor and his top ally, Suozzi, its the Holy Grail of government. Pass this bill, they say, and taxes will magically fall. Services will improve. And all will be well in Nassau. That's the talk.

Here's the truth. The special districts targeted by this measure are the most efficient districts in the state. They're local. They're run by involved citizens, citizens who pay taxes and try to do the best job possible for the least amount of money. Basically, they reduce your taxes. They're districts run by local citizens who care. It is the purest form of democracy in American.

Paterson and his supporter Suozzi say that this will reduce taxes. Wrong. Do you really think that cutting the local districts and turning over their critical functions of local government and sanitation services to the county will do any good? First, Suozzi will lard the payroll with his friends and supporters. They will then proceed to milk your district for all its worth, use county time to support Suozzi's private political agenda, and divert the tax dollars that used to support zoning or the garbage truck to God knows what. Don't believe me? Check out your property tax bill from the county. Up almost 80% since Suozzi stormed Mineola eight years ago. I highly doubt your local special district has raised taxes by 80% since 2001. After all, the commissioners live in the community and to them, working in a special district is a labor of love. Why would they want to ruin their own standard of living to support their ambitions?

People at the county level have no such inhibitions. This administration is out of touch with the local residents and the needs and requirements of the local communities. That is why these special districts were created: to be more responsive and in tune with the residents.

Local districts like towns, villages and sanitation zones were created to empower residents. Residents, tired of dealing with bureacracies, wanted control. They wanted a cozy local board, made up of their friends and neighbors, to be able to sit down and run the village. Zoning decisions, in their opinion, needed to be made by people who knew what the local community wanted. Each village, with its own unique density, housing stock, residents and sense community, wanted to be in charge of their own destiny.

Now, after years of good government, politicians in Albany and Mineola want to take that away from you. Don't believe their rhetoric. Look at your property tax bills and look at the facts on the ground. Talk to your neighbors.

This November, let's send a message to Suozzi. Don't try to tax your way out of the deficit you've created by looting our vilalges and special districts. Let us be; don't punish us for your incompetence.

Energy Tax

There are a few things that people really need in life. Air's one. Shelter's another. We all need water, and we all need to heat our homes. Since that's a necessity, Tom Suozzi has decided to tax it.

Democrats are usually about 'progressive taxation.' Until they can't soak the rich enough to make it stick. Then, they soak everyone. A home heat tax, like the 2.5% tax the Democrats enacted earlier this year, is the worst kind of tax.

It hits everyone. If you live indoors, you're paying the home energy tax. Is that fair?

In the last five years, we've seen record increases in the price of natural gas and home heating oil. People are strapped as it is. But the county wants to add another 2.5% on top of these record increases?

Maybe I sound like a stuck record. I probably am a stuck record. But I can't understand this. Nassau County is unaffordable enough already, with property taxes that rank as THE highest in the nation. And in this economy, people are strapped. Oil and gas are up -- again. Where's the extra money going to come from?

We need a change.

The Bosses and the People

Tom Suozzi made a career out of haranging 'bosses' and people who work for the 'boss.' Eight years later, he's made bossism a central point of his administration. And I'm not talking about his abusive patronage practices or his notorious abuse of County resources.

Suozzi's run his campaign by sitting in his office in Mineola and cutting deals. He's cut deals with everyone. Leaders of organizations. Community leaders. Party leaders and officials. Contractors and other donors. The people, the ones who pay the taxes that pay his salary -- and the salaries of the people working on his next campaign -- well, they don't really matter much to Taxing Tommy.

But the people are out there. And they matter. They're disgusted by Suozzi's government. They're disgusted by his style of leadership. They're disgusted by his utter lack of leadership or interest in the county. They're disgusted by his ambition and mismanagement of the county.

And they are turning to Ed Mangano. I've spoken to countless people who voted for Suozzi once, or even twice, but this time are turning to Ed. They're middle class, working class, or 'wealthy.' They're male, female, African American, Italian, Jewish or Hispanic. But no matter who they are, they care about their community. They want change. They want honesty.

They're volunteering for Ed. They're putting out lawn signs, slapping a bumper sticker on their car, and attending Ed's events.

If you're someone who wants to get involved with Ed's campaign, is sick of Suozzi or interested in The Mangano Plan for Saving Nassau, give the office a call or stop by. They'd love to hear from you over there. They're looking to get the message out.

What a Week!

Ed's had a great week. He's got the momentum, had a couple of great fundraisers with a great turnout and a great crowd, and he's managed to get Tom Suozzi on the defensive.

Ed's forced Suozzi to reconsider his capricious decision to remove the red light cameras based solely on revenue considerations. He's exposed Suozzi's lies flip flops on what his motivation was. But what's most important is that Suozzi's reacting to Ed.

We, as concerned citizens, have to help Ed capitalize on this momentum. Tell your friends and neighbors about Ed. Have them visit this blog. Get them to swing by headquarters and pick up a lawn sign or 2x8. Get them to give a small donation. Get them to check out Edmangano.com and learn more about Ed's plan to Save Nassau.

But most importantly, make sure they remember Ed on election day.

24x24

I'm a blogger, and a concerned citizen. I'm not partisan. And I don't lightly do this.

Ed's got the momentum. 3 positive articles in Newsday in 1 day. LI Press has basically indicted Suozzi 2 weeks in a row for cronyism and lying to the people.

But the message has to get to 1.5 million people, the residents of the great County of Nassau. To get the message out, that costs money.

Ed's holding a low-cost fundraising campaign. 24x24. Ed's trying to collect as many small, affordable $24 contributions in 24 hours as possible. It's a small amount, and Ed needs as much help as possible.

I've already contributed by $24. I considered it a down payment, of sorts. A down payment on a new and renewed Nassau County, a down payment on good government, honesty and a tax burden that won't be as oppressive as it is right now.

Please contribute $24 by sending a check made payable to Friends of Ed Mangano PO Box 337 Bethpage NY by going to Ed's website at www.edmangano.com/PublicFormsView.php?uF

I=570327501 and help Save Nasau

thank you.

Suozzi's talk and Ed's results

Tom Suozzi's got a jazzy website. It talks about his environmental record. Tom's got a picture of himself cleaning up a garbage dump. That's talk. Let's talk results.



Suozzi's policies have led to the increase in pollution and destruction in county owned land. Just go to a county park. The places are falling apart. He's cut the budget, closed down county parks and generally neglected the environment.



Ed Mangano's list of environmental accomplishments goes far beyond anything Suozzi can claim. Ed preserved parkland and athletic fields throughout the county. He took the lead in the preservation of the Underhill Property, working with the county, private owners, preservationists and the Town of Oyster Bay to acquire the property and preserve it for the future generations. For that, and his long and extensive record on preservation and e



Government is about results. Ed Mangano took the initiative time and time again. He didn't court the cameras or play to the press. He set a goal. He figured out what he had to do to get the job done. And he got the job done.



The end result: Ed has saved thousands of acres, preserving Nassau's natural beauty for future generations. Tom Suozzi? Well, he talks the talk and shows up to get an award from groups looking to curry favor.



But at the end of the day, his record pales in comparision to Ed. On election day, if you're thinking green, think of Ed Mangano.

NIFA in Long Island Press

Once again...the Long Island press has scooped Newsday! Today, the Press ran an extensive article detailing the NIFA report and how it impacts you, as a citizen of Nassau County. Now, what does this article mean for you?

Well, the first thing that strikes me is how nonchalantly Suozzi views the report. His Deputy CE basically says its a 'risk analysis.' I think its a realitistic analysis. Suozzi, living in the hazy fog of his ambitions and dreams, doesn't seem to get it. He boasts about how his plans have surpluses (which are mirages generated by bonding and deferrals) and how NIFA has approved each budget (only after Suozzi submits Doomsday contingency plans).

Well, Doomsday is approaching. The County's at the end of its rope; the end of the line. Gap closing -- the Press' words, not mine -- can only work for so long. Eventually the rope runs out.

Suozzi the CPA doesn't seem to get it. He hasn't done anything to fix the long term structural deficiencies in the county budget. When these stop gaps fall short, he sits down and comes up with even more 'revenues.' Translation -- more new taxes! Only to hide the true cost, he's got to be inventive. These new taxes (fast food and a levy on gaming) rely on Albany. No one who relies on Albany these days seems to get anything. Especially since the current crop of leaders in Albany with real power all come from the City, are of dubious ethics or even more dubious competence. He'd be better off buying a lottery ticket.

Suozzi, according to the Press, relies heavily on the sales tax. Doing so defies the imagination. How can Suozzi, as an educated accountant and attorney, bank on money from sales taxes when sales are plummeting? Does he even read the ledger sheets coming in from the county's accounting department that show a stunning collapse in sales tax revenues?

In a rainy day, governments rely on reserve funds. Nassau can't do that, since Suozzi has burned through 220 million in reserve funds since 2004. And those were the good times!

The results of drained reserves are two fold. One, you have no money in rainy days. Two, when you go to S&P, Fitch and Moody's to borrow money, you get dinged in your credit report. Since the rating agencies use banked reserves as a gague of the health of a county's financial situtation, when you have nothing in the bank, you pay more. Think of it like a mortgage...if you've got some savings, you're going to get a better rate. If you're broke (like Nassau is), you pay more. A lot more.

Thanks to Taxin' and Mismanagin' Tom Suozzi, Nassau is broke. And our ratings are going to get even worse. Nassau County's ratings are going to be as low as Detroit's. And it is going to cost us two arms and two legs.

Tell your friends about this article. NIFA and its dire predictions have been ignored by Suozzi (who is a master at ignoring things that don't help him) and his buddies over at Newsday. Spread the word of this website and the Press' article.

http://www.longislandpress.com/2009/08/13/nifa-roasts-suozzi/

More Budget Problems in Nassau

Tom Suozzi's website talks about Nassau's 'miraculous turnaround.' Newsday and the county legislature, and the comptroller, all say otherwise. The county is broke. Again.

With a turnaround like that, I'd love to see the disaster that the NIFA report predicts is right around the corner.

Newsday

You know you're onto something when Newsday comes out and credits you with getting the Suozzi Administration to change its mind on the red light camera issue.

http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/nassau-reconsiders-red-light-camera-placements-1.1365248

Tell Tom Suozzi to be honest -- is it about the money or the safety? If we're going to have red light cameras just to raise, fine. But don't claim its about safety.

Call Suozzi's office and tell him to be honest. Tell him to do what's right for the county, not what's good for him or just convenient.

Tom Suozzi's Credit Card

As county executive, Tom Suozzi has been spending a good deal of time maxing out the county credit card. He's not doing it literally, but playing a dangerous game of bonding, deferral and reserve depletion.

As a municipality, Nassau relies on the bond market. Its normal. But Suozzi's reliance has gone from a normal use of the bond market to get some cash before the flood of tax dollars comes in to using the bond market to pay for running the county.

Suozzi has been going out and borrowing money like you can't believe. Some of these bonds were supposed to be floated to retire older bonds. Suozzi didn't do that (NIFA, page 4). Instead he pocketed the revenue, kept the older bonds out there. What's the result? We're paying a high rate of interest on older bonds, a lower rate of interest on newer bonds when we should have only been paying one set of interest on the newer bonds!

Suozzi has protected a failed assessment system. This system coincidentally raises a good deal of money for Tom Suozzi's reelection campaign. The firms that handle tax cert, espeically commercial, make a good deal of money off their contingency fees. Those firms, including Jaspan Schlesinger and Mayer Suozzi, employ powerful Democrats including Basil Paterson (the governor's dad), Suozzi's Dad, and the chairman of the Democratic Law Committee. They're also big time contributors to Suozzi's Ambition Fund. Maybe its coincidental. But after eight years of broken promises and canned campaign slogans, don't you think its a little too coincidental?

How does this relate to bonding? If you're taxes are overassessed and you grieve it and win, you have the right to a refund of the excess. NIFA suggests (p. 7) that the county pay that refund out of general revenue. That makes sense. If you got a check from a client or customer and it was accidentally too high, you'd draw the difference out of your checking account. You wouldn't bond it -- or put it on a credit card. Suozzi, the man who claims that being a CPA qualifies him to be a public servant, must not have been a good CPA. His track record over in Glen Cove, which he left as one of the most indebted municipalities in the entire country, leaves much to be desired.

Suozzi's made a big deal out of the layoffs of county workers that will save some money. Sure, we'll save some tomorrow. But 2 days from now, we're going to go broke. Part of the buyout contract was that the workers got some money up front. The idea is if you amortize it over time usuing an actuarial table, the county winds up saving some money.

Guess not! Suozzi's put us on the hook for the money over time. So we're going to be paying a lot of interest over a long period of time. Thanks, Tom! You're plan to save us money is going to end up costing us even more over the long term.

And since, as NIFA points out, Suozzi has looted the county's reserve funds and relied on one shot revenue raisers to generate some spare income, we're back at square one. No money in reserve for a real rainy day (right now). No money to raise by hocking county property. Declining property tax revenues. A broker property tax system. A sales tax that is raising less and less money every year.

Who is Ed Mangano

People are probably wondering...who is Ed Mangano? Why does Ed want to be County Executive, and what are his qualifications to be our county's leader. Especially in these trying trying times, don't we need a leader with experience?

Well, Ed Mangano is a normal guy. He was born in New York, and has lived here all his life. Ed's got experience in business, and he's a practicing attorney at a Long Island law firm. He's a civic minded guy, and has extensive experience in government.

Why does he want to be County Executive? Well, he cares about the county. He knows the county government inside and out, and he knows the deep trouble we're in. And Ed knows he can make a difference.

Ed Mangano has a plan to fix Nassau County. Cut wasteful spending. Eliminate patronage positions that have larded our county's payroll. Fix the wasteful and inefficient property tax assessment system that costs the county over a hundred million dollars a year in refunds, and loots homeowner's wallets. Eliminate the home energy tax. Create jobs and revitilize the economy.

Ed has a record of creating jobs. He understands the unique nature of Nassau county government, and he has experience in working with the multitude of local governments to best serve the people.

That's who Ed Mangano is. And that is his plan for Nassau County. He's going to bring real change to Nassau. Change that we can afford.

Another Day, Another Scandal

Check out tomorrow's Newsday. There's going to be an article on yet another scandal in the Suozzi Administration. This time, people are fixing parking tickets for their friends and relatives. Suozzi's response is to immediately terminate, and his best buddy over at the DA's office is looking for

Suozzi's response was immediately and appropriate. But it's like he's treating the symptoms of a tumor rather than going after the tumor to destroy it. Suozzi has created a culture of cronyism and looking the other way while abuses go on in his own office. Just take a look at the LI Press last week.

Think about it. If those kind of abuses are going on under his nose, what message does that send? It tells people that it's ok to break the rules. It's the 'if you can do it, I can do it too phenomenon.' With abuses like that up in his office, Suozzi and his sanctimonious pronouncements and once in a cycle promises of money and aid, Suozzi has set a new low for cynical lying politicians.

Is it any wonder that his employees feel they can flout the law and do whatever they want?

NIFA Part 2

Tom Suozzi has to be one of the most trusting people in the world. He, in his plan to 'balance the county's budget,' he relies on three things. One is the red light cameras that have been installed throughout the county. Another is a cigarette tax of $2 a pack. Another is a tax on fast food. All require the approval of Albany.

The one thing that all of these ideas have in common is that they require the approval of Albany. When was the last time Albany approved anything? Especially for Nassau County? The majority party up there seems to spend most of its time fighting amongst itself. The governor is apathetic to Nassau's need. Even the NIFA report, an official and independent agency, casts doubts on the ability of Albany to get the job done and 'help Nassau.'

But will these taxes help us or hurt us. In the long term, they won't do any good for the county. Why? Well, they are short term fixes.

A cigarette tax does nothing to help the county raise money. In addition to being a horribly regressive tax, over time, cigarette taxes have not been shown to raise money. People can simply shift their spending from cigarettes to other things. Or, they can go out to the reservations on the East End of the Island and simply get them much cheaper. It's an income stream that diminishes over time. That's not the way to fix Nassau.

The second one of Suozzi's income streams is red light cameras. The residents of the county are split on the propriety of these cameras. Some think that they are a good thing and promote safety. Others think they make the roads more dangerous. That debate is entirely legitimate, but its neither here nor there.

I'm focused on Suozzi's motivations. Why is he so eager to get red light cameras installed in the County? First he said it was safety. That's fine and legitimate. Debatable but legitimate. But then, Suozzi goes out and literally rips the cameras out of a couple of intersections.

Why would he do that? Does he really care about safety? Nope! It's all about the money! Suozzi wants the revenue from those cameras. He wants the people to run the light and pay the price. If the county doesn't get the money, Suozzi's not interested. He wants it all. The Mayor of one of the hamlets (a local village that Suozzi wants to destroy, by the way) offered to split the money. Suozzi said no. He wants everything.

Finally, there's the fast food tax. Suozzi's betting it passes Albany. That's a longer shot than betting on a the Mets to make the series this year. But how about the justifications?

A fast food tax hits local businesses hard. Each one of these fast food restaurants is not owned by McDonalds or Burger King international. It's owned by a local businessman. He might live next door; she might work out next to you in the gym. And Suozzi wants to tap into the 'revenue' he thinks these businesses will generate. What's next? A tax on your morning cup of coffee?

The people who support this fast food tax cite all kind of 'public health' reasons for a tax. But do we really want Nassau County dictating what we can eat and for how much? But I don't want to debate on that. Rather, I focus on the real justification for the tax (simply to raise money) and the results. The result won't be to raise any more revenue. People will adjust their lives to the new tax. Instead of a burger, they'll go to the diner or just bring lunch from home. In the end, that won't lead to any more revenue for the county.

And the day of reckoning will come. Maybe it will take a few more years. But we're going to have to confront the consequences of the choices that Tom Suozzi has made. Suozzi has taken money out of the county's reserves during the good times. That leaves nothing in there for the rainy days. Suozzi has raised property taxes to unsustainable levels. He raises the sales tax, only to be caught in a bad economy and the inevitable result of increasing sales taxes (declines in revenue). He borrows for all kinds of expenses that aren't capital expenses, and leaves old and expensive bonds unrefinanced while he raises ever more money by selling off new bonds.

But by then, according to Suozzi's way of thinking, he'll be gone. He'll be in Albany or DC. And we're going to have to pay the piper. We don't want that. This November, vote for ED MANGANO.

Commercial Real Estate Crash?

Take a look at the Newsday website. It's predicting that the commercial real estate market will continue to decline over the next few years. There's no end in sight, according to the experts.

What does this mean for you? Well, it means that the county won't be making as much money off property taxes from these lots. Prices stay stagnant; revenue goes down. Couple that with a collapsing sales tax base, a new cigarette tax that over time will only cut revenues as consumption is cut and the probable failure of Suozzi-gimmicks (video poker, fast food tax and red light cameras) in Albany or practice, we have a bad situation.

That means more of the county's revenue will be coming from your property tax dollars. Translation -- taxes go up. And keep in mind, this article came out after the NIFA report announced that the deficit (download the NIFA report at edmangano.com and check back here daily for summaries and highlights) was going to go as high as a quarter of a BILLION dollars.

With this in mind, don't you think we need a county executive with a proven track record? Don't you think we need a county executive with the discipline and knowledge to focus on our fiscal troubles? For eight years, the current county executive has: run for governor. Begged for the Senate seat that went to Gillibrand. Begged for Dick Ravitch's job. Been tagged as a potential AG.

If you or I spent all of our time on the job looking for our next job, we'd be shown the door. As a public servant, Suozzi should be held to a higher standard. Show him the door this November.

Suozzi International Group

Here's the scenario...there's a group that is on the verge of bankruptcy. Yet, it pays out a significant amount of money to a select group of favored employees. Sound familiar?

You're probably thinking...AIG. And you're right. This is exactly what went on over at AIG a few weeks ago. It's also going on in Nassau County.

Since 2004, Tom Suozzi has paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars in performance bonuses. How do you get this boodle? Well, first you've got to be a Suozzi Democrat. Then, you've got to do some political work for Suozzi.

Performance bonuses in Nassau County are done by how useful you are to Tom Suozzi. Support him -- say by working on his campaign for governor, you get a Christmas bonus. Don't, and, well, if you still have a job, you're not getting a bonus.

The legality and morality of paying bonuses to people who do campaign work aside, how is Suozzi, the man who 'turned Nassau around,' paying out bonuses at all? The county is on the verge of fiscal disaster. Yet he pays bonuses to his favorites.

Its just one more reason why Nassau needs a change. For eight years, people have put their own self interest before that of the people who elected them. For eight years, the people of Nassau County have been forced to literally subsidize and pay for one man's political ambitions and agenda.

No more. This November, there is going to be a real change in Nassau County. It's time to vote out the whole Suozzi International Group.

The Next Generation and Nassau County

Over the last few months, Mr. Suozzi, our county executive, has made quite a to-do over the future of Nassau County. On facebook, in meet and greets publicized only to the most faithful supporters and at his (very few) public appearances, he has spoken about how he, and only he, can keep young people in Nassau County. I think that these claims need to be examined.

Mr. Suozzi has a flair for the dramatic. He's talked a lot about 'cool downtowns' and the Lighthouse. He's mentioned a bogus property tax revolution and talked about a turnaround. But let's examine each of these claims.

First, for talk about a property tax revolution, I refer you to three places. One is an earlier post where we debunked any talk of a property tax revolution as simple lies. The second is to your property tax bill. Compare the 2009 one with the 2001 one. You'll see that property taxes at the county level have gone up 76%. That's several times the rate of inflation. The third is to the NIFA plan. Go to EdMangano.com and download it. Read it. Or come back to this website every day and we'll highlight the important parts. But in two words -- we're broke. And thanks to Tom Suozzi and his political subsidiaries in the legislature and Comptroller's office, we're really broke. That's a fact; not spin.

Second, a 'cool downtown' isn't everything. To even suggest that the only reason young people and young families move to an area is because it has a hip downtown is insulting to those people. People factor a cool downtown into their decision. They also include property taxes, affordability, quality of life, schools, and neighborhood.

Nassau has the last three. But the first two? Forget it. Property taxes have made Long Island unaffordable. Put in all the lighthouses and cool downtowns you want. If you cannot afford to move into the neighborhood, you're going to move elsewhere. And what has Suozzi done to make Long Island affordable?

Nothing! Instead, he's raised taxes. He's allowed our roads to deterioate. He's turned the county government from a government out for the good of the people into something that is constantly looking for more 'revenue.' Translation -- TAXES!!!! The county can't suck enough out of strapped homeowners through the property tax system, so it hires a new assessor whose first action on the job is to rip homeowners who dare to question his department and appeal their inflated assessments. That doesn't work, so he raises the sales tax. Then he taxes home heating oil. Then red light cameras. What's next?

There's one more thing that I want to mention. That's jobs. That's the one thing people looking to settle down want. And that's a job and a steady economy.

Ask yourself. Are there more jobs on Long Island then there were 8 years ago? The answer's going to be no. And then compare Ed Mangano's record of job creation in Bethpage, where he brought 15,000 jobs into an area decimated by the closure of the Grumman plant with Tom Suozzi's. Suozzi's spent eight years creating jobs for his friends and contributors, jobs that you pay for. His Dad's firm makes a small mint off the reassessment program that he has refused to take on for years. By the way, Mayer Suozzi is a big backer of his various political intrigues.

Its time for government for the people, not the contributors and the connected. It's time we had a government that creates jobs, instead of creating a lot of talk for nothing. It's time Nassau County got a government dedicated to actually saving Nassau.

For our residents and young people....this is our last hope.

Wrongful Firing, Increased Taxes

Today, a jury out in Islip found that Suozzi's administration wrongfully fired an employee. We discussed this earlier in the week, just scroll down for the details and visit LIPRESS.COM.

Anyway, you're concerned about two things. One is the verdict. The other is the Suozzi culture of corruption.

The verdict? 1.8 million dollars. Emotional damages to come. Total bill? Her lawyer estimates $5 million. So, we can add $5 million to the already bloated $200 million deficit and $5 million to the amount of your property tax dollars that Suozzi is probably going to raise to pay this off and hush it up in time for 2010.

And the culture of corruption? Keep an eye on the courthouse. From what I hear, there's more to come. And check back Monday.

The Truth According to Tom Suozzi

Tom Suozzi's website, like his tenure as County Executive, is chock full o'features. He's got a great looking flash introduction, complete with a picture of himself walking on the screen and selling his snake oil medicine. He's got plenty of talk about the lighthouse, a twitter feed and a blog. All of this is great, for a man who's running for governor.

Suozzi has a strange way about the truth. He's got four things highlighted. One is the lighthouse. Well, I haven't met anyone who outright opposes the Lighthouse. Everyone who has concerns and caveats and wants them addressed by the Town and the villages, the proper forums to deal with zoning concerns. Suozzi either doesn't get that or just doesn't care, since the actual governing part of being CE seems to be beneath him.

The second is Nassau's tremendous turnaround. That's almost as big a lie as the third, property tax relief. Suozzi's spent eight years hiking spending and raiding the kitchen cabinets of the people. Just look at your tax bill and how it has exploded since Suozzi took office. Turnaround? The county's infrastructure is falling apart. NIFA cites Suozzi's shaky statistics countless times. If this man worked in the private sector, he'd be under investigation by the SEC and Cuomo for his fuzzy stats. And he claims to be a CPA! Finally, we have Suozzi's claims to be environmentalist of year. How do you reconcile his imaginary initiatives with the fact that county parks, the places where most people in this county experience the environment, all have browned grass or are at the cusp of closure?

His cuts to the police have led to a heroin epidemic in Long Island. Yet, here he is holding a 'summit' that accomplishes no good at all while getting his name in the NY TIMES. What's needed today is a strong police effort aimed at weeding out heroin dealers, trying to look good and impress the good government types. There's a big picture of Suozzi cleaning up the trash. Rather than clean up the trash that the towns and sanitation districts do a fine job of collecting -- and I say that intending to compare their stellar service with subpar service offered by Suozzi's County -- maybe he should clean up the trash he's collected at 1 West, as revealed in open court yesterday.

By the way, who created this website? I sure hope it wasn't done on county time.

Tom Suozzi's New Suburbia

Well, its finally come out. Tom Suozzi's vaunted New Suburbia is nothing more than the Jersey Rules of Thumb under a New Boss in a new state. These allegations are shocking by themselves, and are inexcusable.

But the most shocking thing is how Suozzi has systemically brought to the county. While in government there are sure to be occassional lapses -- an occassional lapse can be excused as an accident. Not so here. There were repeated violations -- for at least two fundraisers. Suozzi apparently made it his business to dissapear during the day and encourages his underlings to lie. The CE doesn't have a cell phone? That's almost as believable as the Tammany official who collected hundreds of thousands in bribe dollars in a magic box and claimed that he 'saved it.'

And the media is complicit in this disaster. They've abdicated their responsibility to report on these things. They ignore all mention of Suozzi's fiscal hijinks, and bury his public corruption under the carpet. Newsday, as the local paper, has a responsibility it continues to shirk. The Times has ignored it, devoting its shrinking Metro space to covering private lawsuits over similar harrassment at Bloomberg LP.

Furthermore, where exactly is the Nassau DA and the EDNY US Attorney? Public corruption is rightly targeted as the most nefarious ill public officials could inflict on the people. And here we have systematized campaign activity being conducted on public time. So much so that people made jokes about it. In New Jersey, we'd have had some indictments already.

I've always looked on public service as the most noble calling. People like Ed Mangano, a guy who could do something else and make a lot more money with no public scrutiny, were always something that I admired.

Suozzi has a different definition. His goal is to get somewhere fast. He wants to be governor. He's willing to loot the county to get there. He spends most of his time campaigning for other offices or chasing headlines as the chairman of Paterson's Property Tax committee -- an ironic position for a man who is the greatest taxer in county history. He'd rather be playing political games with minor parties than govern.

Perhaps this is why our county is in such miserable financial shape. We're one of the highest taxed counties in New York and the nation. Yet, we're still broke. Suozzi rams through an increase of the sales tax, and the condition gets worse. So, he hits everyone in the pocket by taxing home heating oil. When does it end?

Well, what's the result of this lawsuit? The county is likely to have to pay a multimillion dollar judgment. In fact, if you run something called a verdict search on similar cases, I think you'd see that similar cases could go into seven or eight figures. So, don't be surprised if we have to pay out many millions to cover Tom Suozzi's political operation.

And our taxes go up yet again.

Abuse of Power

It seems like the Long Island Press, alone among the numerous newspapers in Long Island, has been covering this story.

http://www.longislandpress.com/2009/08/06/skeletons-in-the-closet/

More on this in just a few minutes.

Suozzi's legacy

If you haven't done so already, I recommend that every single reader of this blog log onto Ed Mangano's homepage (edmangano.com) and download the NIFA report. This blog is going to going through the NIFA report line by line, item by item. As a citizen, you deserve to know what is in the report. As a voter, you need to know what your elected leadership has been doing; and how the county executive and the legislature have mismanaged the county . And as a taxpayer, you need to know how your hard earned tax dollars are being spent.

Eight years ago, Tom Suozzi took office and promised to fix Nassau's finances. Call it another broken promise. NIFA found that Suozzi's administration has relied with increasing frequency on one shot revenue gimmicks. When that proved insufficient, Suozzi simply dipped into reserve funds and played around with the due dates on debt service payments.

I don't need to tell you what happens when you do that kind stuff when you balance your checkbook. In fact, its one of the reasons that California is nearly bankrupt. Nassau County cannot afford, for its citizen's sake, to play such games.

As if that weren't bad enough, Suozzi has resorted to even more fiscal gimmickry. He's booked as revenue programs that the legislature, controlled by Democrats subservient to him, have not approved. Some of those same programs require approval by Albany. These days, Albany is controlled by City politicians who are very unfriendly to suburbs. Suozzi, who's got his eye on all of their jobs, is not someone that they are going to be inclined to help much.

NIFA has cited Suozzi for failing to generate new revenue. Instead, he's simply relied on ever high taxes on property and sales. Check your grocery bills. He's not exactly heading down a sustainable path. He's also failed to save any money, but has

Where is the County Comptroller when we need him? Or better yet, where is a competent and qualfied County Executive who is going to devote his entire schedule and all of his energy to saving Nassau?

This is only in the introduction. Check back tomorrow for more.

The Nassau Off Road Experience

Nassau County was at the forefront of developing roads. The first modern parkways, the Northern State and Southern State, wound their way through Nassau on the way to the beach. Our infrastructure, much of it maintained by the county, was one of the things that made the county a business friendly environment.

Then came Tom Suozzi. Suozzi has systemically underfunded County roadway repair. Roads, once spotless and flawlessly paved, now are falling apart and cracked. Giant potholes line the medians. And the county, the entity responsible for maintianing these roads, has done nothing to

The costs of poorly maintained roads are enormous. Delays and increased traffic as cars slow down to avoid the obstacle. Increased risks of accidents as cars seeing an obstacle slow down and try to evade it. Increased repair costs when, due to lack of basic maintnance, a road's condition collapses and requires a total repaving. Increased maintnance bills as cars and tires are damaged by contact with potholes.

It's not an issue that grabs press. It's nothing that will get you on the cover of Newsday, the NY Times or on the evening news. Therefore, Tom Suozzi, who has a driver and county car complete with a siren has ignored it.

While Suozzi doesn't care, this is something that matters to every person who lives and does business in Nassau. Our time is one of our most valuable commodities. Yet we waste it in the repair shop to fix the damage from a pothole or sitting in traffic on a county road as drivers slow down to avoid the potholes or crews labor to fix something that lack of maintnance has turned from a minor repair job into a complete makeover. But the current adminsitration doesn't car.

Pomp and circumstance and press release do little good for an average taxpayer sitting in traffic or the repair shop. It's time that we have a county executive who pays attention to the little things. We need a government that cares about the people's concerns. That cares about our day to day lives and concerns. That is why we need to elect Mangano to save Nassau.

NIFA REPORT

In May, the Nassau Interim Finance Authority Report came out. You're probably wondering what exactly NIFA is and why they are issuing reports and what that means for you. For the next few weeks, we're going to be running a series. We're going to explain what NIFA is, what it does, and what it means for you. But most importantly, we're going to discuss how Tom Suozzi's fiscal policies are leading us down the road to disaster, and how the nonpartisan experts at NIFA have pointed that out, but to no avail.

NIFA stands for the Nassau Interim Finance Authority. Eight years ago, it was set up to help out Nassau County when it had some financial problems. Then Tom Suozzi took over. A bad situation became worse. And now, after eight years of mismanagement and spending sprees, we're on the verge of disaster.

NIFA's latest report came out last May. In all honesty, the picture it paints is terribly scary. If we don't get real change NOW, Nassau may be beyond saving. Bankruptcy, something that no one wants to even think about, could be a real option.

Tom Suozzi has offered no alternative to this disaster. His policies created a disaster. His policies exacerbated a disaster. And he has no idea how to fix it.

And does Suozzi really care about fixing Nassau? He has been focused for the last 4 years on his political career. He ran for governer in 2006. He spent years working on his FIX ALBANY campaign, all while Nassau continued to break down. Last month, he spent a good deal of his time pressing Governor Paterson to make him Lt. Governor. Next year, he is sure to run for some state office.

Doesn't Nassau deserve better? We need a full time leader with the ability and willingness to confront the real issues facing our county. We need real leadership. Leadership willing to make hard choices that will fix this county. Ed Mangano is the only man in the race who recognizes the problem and is willing to confront it.

Check back later for an in depth discussion, issue by issue, of the NIFA report and the challenges our county must face, and how the Mangano Plan is the only way to save our county and restore it to its glory days.

The Suozzi Way

Tom Suozzi is many things, but first and foremost he is an expert at lecturing other people. It's almost as if he has made a second career out of lecturing everyone else in government, business or the country on what they should do. Of course, Suozzi holds himself out as the most successful public servant in America.

Nassau County has many different forms of government. Each has a different purpose, a different focus. Contrary to what many say, there is very little overlap of purpose. Except where people create trouble where trouble doesn't exist. Then, government comes into conflict. And the only thing that happens is that we, the taxpayers and voters, lose.

For the last 5 years, Tom Suozzi has been scolding the Town of Hempstead over the Lighthouse Project in Uniondale. Suozzi wants to allow Charles Wang, the Islanders owner, to be handed a parcel of land for a dollar. On that land, Wang is going to build a 'new suburban development,' whatever that means, and in theory use the revenue from real estate development to keep the Islanders in Long Island and refurbish Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Suozzi has never explained why he believes that a developer should be handed a multimillion dollar piece of prime Uniondale real estate for a dollar. How could he justify that windfall to a big supporter? Especially when he has driven the county to the brink of bankruptcy. Why the property should be sold for market value is another story for another time.

But I'd like to compare Suozzi's method of promoting development with Ed Mangano's. Ed, whose district includes Bethpage, has a proven track record of working with local governments, involving the local citizenry in the process of zoning approval, and creating jobs and smart development. In the 90s, Grumman's sprawling campus in Bethpage was closed down. Thousands of people lost their jobs. The County's suffered a blow that many people thought would cripple it.

Ed Mangano didn't flinch. He didn't hold press conferences attacking everyone in sight. He didn't blame anyone for the disaster. He looked at the situation as a leader and a legislator, and took action. Ed saw a 600 acre campus and had a vision of a new modern business park.

Ed worked with the Town of Oyster Bay to attract business and development. He worked with local leaders -- of both parties -- and with the community leaders to fix the problem. There was no discrimination; no easy access for the politically connected. And the results speak for themselves. The property was rezoned and redeveloped. The property was marketed as a business park. Businesses moved in -- including Cablevision, movie studios, homeland security firms, high tech R&D and aviation firms.

Ed saw a problem, worked out a solution and got the job done. He didn't chase PR; he chased results. And now, thanks to his work, we have thousands of people working on the old Grumman campus. Even the famous actress Angelina Jolie spent some time in Nassau County filming a movie over the summer.

Suozzi, on the other hand, immediately turned to demagoguery. Rather than sit down with the Town of Hempstead Board and the Zoning Board, he immediately took to the airwaves. He promised untold benefits -- without any justification -- and raised a good deal of a ruckus. The Zoning Board -- whose job it is to foster common sense development -- raised their hands and said wait a second. We need to get an environmental review; we need to get local community input. We need to make sure this is the right way to use this piece of property. We don't want to leave the citizens behind.

Suozzi ignored that. He just kept right on holding his press conferences. He has made no effort to work with the Town or the communities. Garden City and Uniondale had concerns over traffic. Suozzi simply tried to steamroll right over them. It didn't look good to go through the process and LISTEN.

Government and leadership are about listening and leading. Tom Suozzi can't listen. He can only talk and sell. Tom Suozzi hasn't led the county to a better tomorrow. He's driven us to the edge of the cliff for the benefit of a few political favorites.

Its time for a change. Tom Suozzi just doesn't care about normal, hardworking citizens who are just trying to get by. Ed Mangano on the other hand, cares about Nassau County. He's spent years working for it. And he has the results to prove it.

Remember that in November.

WHY I AM VOTING FOR ED MANGANO

For almost a hundred years, Nassau County was the most desireable county in America. We had almost everything going for us. Beautiful beaches, beautiful parks, great quality of life, well maintained roads, a solid business climate anchored by a well run, non intrusive government and a growing young population base. We still have the beaches and natural vista. But everything else is changing, or has changed. And it’s changed for the worse.

When Tom Suozzi came to office eight years ago, he promised a revolution and change. We got change alright; change of the worst kind. Nassau County went from being an affordable county to the highest taxed county in the nation. He promised to cut patronage and waste, but doubled it. He is spending $22 million of borrowed money more on patronage that any of his predecessors. Suozzi, after raging about the ‘GOP machine’ went on to build a machine of his own. A costly machine with one purpose: to put him in the governor’s mansion at the cost of our once great county.

But where has that left the people of Nassau County? Well, the budget deficit hasn’t gone away. It’s gotten worse. When Suozzi took office, we had a budget deficit of $100 million dollars. Now, after eight years and a state bailout, the budget deficit is $150 million and will be $225 million in 2012. Nassau County’s fiscal condition is much worse than it was before he took office in spite of massive tax and fee increases.

For years, people were drawn to Nassau County by our services and well run government. Under Suozzi, nearly all government services have deteriorated. But my pet peeve is our transportation system. Once, our roads were the envy of the world; under Suozzi, they are literally falling apart. I can’t drive down any road in the county without hitting at least a pothole every other block. In fact, I’m tempted to go and trade in my car for an SUV, since Suozzi’s inability to keep a county road paved has created a situation where even a drive to the grocery store is an off road excursion.

Over the last few weeks, Suozzi has been claiming that he has a plan for a ‘Property Tax Revolution’ and a master plan to keep young people from leaving the county. It sounds like change that we can believe in! Haha. The big secret is that he is planning to increase taxes for the next four years! And if you don’t believe me, just take a look at Suozzi’s ‘plan’ and the nonpartisan NIFA report.

Suozzi has had eight years to enact his property tax revolution. He’s eliminated the office of the Tax Assessor and turned it into a patronage job. If you want to have government without accountability, it’s brilliant. Angry voters won’t be able to vote their wallets and turn on an assessor who has been defending a system that costs the county $100 million a year. Suozzi, who since taking office has raised taxes by sixty something percent, can claim that the expert is responsible.

But let’s be honest with ourselves. The problem of keeping our young people in Nassau is directly related to the problem of high property taxes. High taxes make mortgage payments unaffordable. High taxes and obstacles to development make starting a new business untenable. The most stunning example is how Suozzi, after years of ranting and raving about how he was going to ‘Fix Albany,’ did absolutely nothing to fight the jobs-killing payroll tax levied on all local businesses and governments. Most jobs in America are created by small businesses and by entrepreneurs.

Suozzi has ignored the interests of small businesses and homeowners and lavished time, attention and money on large contributors. Suozzi’s ‘revolution’ is a plan of perverse redistribution that takes money from the people who pay taxes try to live their lives and hires people connected to the Suozzi organization and could possibly help Suozzi become governor.

Suozzi, who clearly has no ideals other than expediency and what is good for his campaign accounts and press releases at the moment, has sacrificed Nassau County on the alter of his ambition to be governor. He’s larded the public payroll with people whose sole purpose is to provide foot soldiers for his next campaign, and even rewards them for the efforts with a taxpayer funded ‘performance bonus.’ I object to his method of paying performance bonuses to cronies on principle, but it’s made even more outrageous by his poor judgment. Does anyone really think that an organization should be paying bonuses when it is at the brink of bankruptcy?

Is this the government Nassau needs? Can we really afford to be led down this path to disaster by a pied paper who just has good hair and a good press office?

There is a better way. A way that doesn’t pay people a Christmas bonus when our county is on the brink of bankruptcy; a way based on good governmen, lower taxes, a business climate that allows small businesses to flourish and thrive; a way that keeps property taxes low; a way to keep young people on Long Island and a way to make Nassau County what it once was: the greatest county to live in America.

This blog is going to sound the alarm exposing Suozzi’s smoke and mirrors. We’re going to talk about real solutions, the solutions offered by Ed Mangano, what they mean for you, the taxpayers, and make Nassau a better place to live.

Together, we can save Nassau County. We look forward to your reading this tomorrow. Please join me in supporting ED MANGANO FOR COUNTY EXECUTIVE.