Brookhaven Cry
04-08-2008, 09:55 AM
April 8, 2008
Search Newsday.com Web enhanced by Login or register Home Delivery Editorial: Brookhaven GOP should work for future
April 8, 2008
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Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Fark Google Newsvine Reddit Yahoo Print Reprints Post comment Text size: It covers more area than all of Nassau County, and it has more room to grow - therefore more of its future is up for grabs than any other town on Long Island. But right now, Brookhaven is focusing way too much on the political past.
At the start of the year, it looked as if the new Republican majority on the town board was planning an all-out assault on the powers of Supervisor Brian Foley. But they backed off a bit, and calm prevailed. The well-regarded new finance commissioner appointed by the Republicans, Charlene Kagel, worked well with Foley on a package of needed budget cuts that Foley and the Republicans embraced.
But as the GOP keeps replacing Foley people, the truce is dying. Republicans say Foley is bng a crybaby, that he threw out GOP appointees in 2006, and they're just doing the same. But Foley ran on a reform agenda after decades of GOP rule, and he and another Democratic townwide official won re-election in 2007. So he can make a fair case that voters liked his reforms and Republicans are misreading one town council victory as a mandate to march backward.
Why should voters care? For one thing, the town is so closely divided that changes of control can occur almost every two years. That turbulence will scare off good public officials. In at l one case, both sides wanted to reach outside town government to recruit a talented official to run a key department, but he chose to stay right where he is.
NEWSDAY IS A LIBERAL CRYBABY SUCK ASS PAPER
And some replacements seem to be more about loyalty than resumes. The previous deputy public safety commissioner was a lawyer with a long career in the NYPD. The new one is a well-liked employee, but a driver-messenger.
If the Republicans want to keep a majority, they need more vision for the future, less nostalgia for the past.
Search Newsday.com Web enhanced by Login or register Home Delivery Editorial: Brookhaven GOP should work for future
April 8, 2008
Article tools
E-mail Share
Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Fark Google Newsvine Reddit Yahoo Print Reprints Post comment Text size: It covers more area than all of Nassau County, and it has more room to grow - therefore more of its future is up for grabs than any other town on Long Island. But right now, Brookhaven is focusing way too much on the political past.
At the start of the year, it looked as if the new Republican majority on the town board was planning an all-out assault on the powers of Supervisor Brian Foley. But they backed off a bit, and calm prevailed. The well-regarded new finance commissioner appointed by the Republicans, Charlene Kagel, worked well with Foley on a package of needed budget cuts that Foley and the Republicans embraced.
But as the GOP keeps replacing Foley people, the truce is dying. Republicans say Foley is bng a crybaby, that he threw out GOP appointees in 2006, and they're just doing the same. But Foley ran on a reform agenda after decades of GOP rule, and he and another Democratic townwide official won re-election in 2007. So he can make a fair case that voters liked his reforms and Republicans are misreading one town council victory as a mandate to march backward.
Why should voters care? For one thing, the town is so closely divided that changes of control can occur almost every two years. That turbulence will scare off good public officials. In at l one case, both sides wanted to reach outside town government to recruit a talented official to run a key department, but he chose to stay right where he is.
NEWSDAY IS A LIBERAL CRYBABY SUCK ASS PAPER
And some replacements seem to be more about loyalty than resumes. The previous deputy public safety commissioner was a lawyer with a long career in the NYPD. The new one is a well-liked employee, but a driver-messenger.
If the Republicans want to keep a majority, they need more vision for the future, less nostalgia for the past.