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.

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.