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Image provided by: Suffolk Cooperative Library System
3.0 ~ (I) § Executive edict was a bad idea ~ Last week, the Suffolk County Executivects office summarily decreed that no legislator ~woUld be able to make a request of the countyys various departments without first_goiilg § through the county executive's office. -~ Since then, Councy Executive Bob Gamt~y and menibers of his staff have been busy tripping -~over each other asth~y bac~ aW&N ~m this latestpoli~cal~oible. And with good~n. ~ The councy executive~s directive for legu;lators to check m wtth that office was originally ,, handed down in an effort to curtail spelfding, and prevent IS legislators from requesting what ~ could be expensive projects. In theory, it wasn't a bad idea, or at least a. horrendous one. But '< the way it was presented, and would have been enacted, would have flown in the face of ~good government. ~ It could have caused a massive backlogging of requests for basic services to the public, With ~the bottleneck forming directly on the ninth floor of the H. Lee Den,nisoa Building. More than ~likely, many of those requests would have gone unanswered. No wonder some legislators viewd it as a blatant political power grab by the executive branch, designed to limit the pow- ers and effectiveness of the county's legislative branch. Since its creation, the hallmark of the Suffolk Cotmty ~gisJature and its individual legisla- tors has been their commitment to constituent semce. At times, it has seemingly been tb.e only saving grace of that body of lawmakers. 1lte reason why we divided the county into 18 separate districts was to give residents a local representative in count¥ government. With the absence of councilmanic districts within the 10 towns ·of Suffolk, county legislators are the most locally based of~ elected officials in our area. Because of this, residents tum to their J~rs on a daiJ,y basis to ask for help on eveJ:Yt)Ung from placing a traffic light at a dangerous inteiSection to asking. the local fast food establislunent not to put their French fries upside down in the take-out bag. To curtail this basic function of our legislat»m flies in the face of constitu.ent semce, not to • mention that it was a massive political foible. Gaffney an.d his assistants realize ~ which is why theyTe backing away ftom the decree in such a hUlT)', explaining it away as a -misunder- standing.\ Whatever the reason for this decree, whether political or budget&ry, it appears to have beeR a power grab by the executive bnmch that failed. Suffolk legislatom were Jilht in whement1y and vocally eoming out against this, and because of this, ·it appealS that services requested by residents will not be diminished. • Letters to the Editor . -~ .. ~ '!~ .... We encourage readers to express their opinion, but request that letters be limited to 400 words or less and be submitted by the Monday befole publication. All letters should be signed and include the writer's name. add~ and a phone number for vedftcation. When writing letters, It is customary to specifY affiliation with the subject If one exists. AU submissions will be considered, but if letters are libelous or In poor taste, they will not be published. . -Editor A response to the recent mailing by senator Caesar Trunto To the Editor: As a resident and a taxpayer of the third senatorial district and New York Statei I find the recent distribu- tion of campaign literature (written under the guise of Legislative Report) by Senator Caesar Trunzo offen- sive, dishonest and an abuse of the mailing privileges afforded elected officials (more conunonly known as the \frank\). And being the Democratic candidBte for the third senatorial district, the challenger, I am not afforded the same opportunities to use the taxpayers~ money to respond to the senator, so I must depend upon the generosity of the free press to make my posi- tions clear.] am hopeful you will give me an opportuni- ty to address the senator's assertions. The July mailing of the senatorts Legislative Report is nothing more than a false advert.isement for the sena- tor, fuUy funded and financed by-we the taxpayem. Anyone with a fair understanding of language and its usage can identify language like, •1 helped secure ... the Senate Republicans and I are fightiilg .•• and .. l was able to restore ... \ as nothing more than political rhetoric- not objective reporting of legislative accomplishments. Ironically, this is the same man (Tnmzo) who has con- sistently voted against public financing of campaigns and broadened campaign disclosures, but has been identified Publlsber ................................ Jc;hn T. Tuthill, Ill EdiDial as one of the most notorious abusers of the mailing privi- leges over the years (source: Senator R. Dollinger's report on Senate Refonn). So Senator Trunzo is just duplicitous in his stand on using the tupa.yers to fuRd campaigns; they ean fund his but not his-challenger's. The good senator likes to cloak himself in the cape of conservative ideology. The senator likes the people to think of him as an advocate for smaller govemment, a deficit hawk, and a senator who has fought to reduce the tax burden on Long Island residents. That i$ the myth. Here is the tmtb: Senator Trunzo is indeed a big government tax-and-spend liberal --Rockefeller Republican\ who has been at the epicenter of an expansive government that has given us more taxes, more government programs, more mandates and his partnership with teacher unions over the years have dramatically illereased the real propertr taxes we pay to local sehool diStricts. The time has come for this senator to be umnasked and exposed to the scrutiny of the public spotlight. Beneath the veil ·of conservatism lurks a liberaL Taxpayem beware! In the fourth paragraph of the senator's recent mail- ing he says, \'Your property taxe$ are set by the local governments, not by my colleagues and lin the State Legislature.\ Almost fifty percent of our school taxes go to teacher salaries-and benefits. Now let's look .at who the most significant oontributots to the Senatol' are and we find the teacher unions and the public employee PACs checking m·with$3,000 and·~,ooo respectiVely. $5,000 is not a lot of moaey to give the senator when you coosider as the chailman of tile, pub- lic employees' Pension Committee, tbe lfJOd senator was able to secure Qlilli<>ns for the. teachers in step salary increases, pension benefits; and. has done Httle to nothing to curb the escal8ting ·abuses of fraud and .abuse8 of the public employee pension QStem· we have read so much about lately. In fact, when interViewed by Newsday recently., Senator Ttunzo said there was little or nothing he could do about these abuses. I say there is :much that can be done, if we had a senator who stood for leadership for a change, instead of .,emg a \'back-bencher.\ · In addition to the above, the good •conservative\ sen- ator has voted to increase the budget-of senate oftices and adminiSiration; the senator has·voted against Jimits on contributions· he can receive from PACs and: special inte~ and while l'iUildDg a minor reductim on 'the tax~ imposed on busin~ the senator.._ balaneecl these revenu~ by giVing ~date relief tO· local.gov- \-•\\\ 1D fJII/1811 23 Candee Avenue., PO Box 367, Savvllle, New York 11782 (616) 58M20o • Published by Johnlor ~119• enterad at the PQst Office in sayville as SecOnd,.QassMiltter Subscripliocd24.oo·per ve• inadv~. S3t000ut t.i Suffo!k·Cqunty. Single·eopy: 50 cents ··--· fD ..,..,...,10 ~.,.,,.,.,.,with lctotllot,andloiMtellt,.,..,...,., t:OIIIIflltdiOfttit ... 1Jpllelllng......, ................ .JdAnn LaRue ltepot1ers ·- ........................ Scott R. Greenbelg, Anthony J. fWard Editor ........................................ Kevin B. Molloy General Manager/ Acc:o~~~~tlllg ....... ., ............. e ••••••••• ~anr.e lb.rca. Staff Wrltlall·-.,, ... ,,,e••••~••III•••••••••••.,.••••••••••'Qilf- SusanKane . Clerlbll A.hie ••• u••••a ....... lt .............. Antlette l&IV'er «evm-O'Neill . . . .(mice _ . . · _ Art~ ··:············ ... Joseph C. Fazzingo, Jr. Clas$Hied Advertising ................ Eien Coakley Asslltll\tArt:~ . .., ............ ,. .. .James Leo ·Dal'kt1)om Tech ..................... Joseph A. Abbate Adwedlllng Sales Account!iecubes .......... Kate Heissenbi.lttel, ~rgia McDowell. ~ ··~~~································~··St~Jf11l C..lst ...... ~······················i······Jsson ·~ - • t ' .. \ ~ ... ! • t ~ '\' • • Cl c.- The Ten COt,) AUI cha For re9IE Ad~ be Chu July COlll driVI aBC I .... ~ Tlt a.. is Cl for.l half olcb info AI • St. Bol fro: COli Edi Smi SOD and will pre mol vati E\ peg Ste, Esb lsla:l pile Aug Bas Acti lect deii1 pr01 Esb call T•4 Nil ets .wes bel Job eve Say per: Botl SOill 4'1z. Ali aatl MOJ tak, Coli 12-j intJ me1 and For • Cia the Ch1l 11.1 . edi1 cla. and . ·:T.4 C.t ·ana ·sua at• • '' .• . '
