By Samuel Rubenfeld
After seemingly pitched battle, nothing really happened on Election Day 2007.
The Nassau County Legislature didn’t change hands, at least not yet, pending an absentee ballot count. The Suffolk County Legislature increased its majority. And both Hempstead and North Hempstead Town Supervisors survived, despite huge scandals involving their respective buildings departments. Democrats took over Islip for the first time in 40 years.
“The fact that Democrats maintained their majority in Nassau and expanded it in Suffolk…just goes to show you how out of touch the conventional wisdom was with the reality on the ground,” June O’Neill, the state Democratic Party chairwoman said to the New York Observer’s Politicker blog.
Legislative control of Nassau County for the Democrats hung on the shoulders of David Mejias (Farmingdale) heading into Election Day.
Mejias, the first Hispanic elected into Nassau County government, was attacked by his opponent, Joseph Belesi, on an issue Mejias didn’t support:?giving licenses to undocumented immigrants, which was put forth by Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
Mejias had said it was a state issue, and not a county one, but that did not stop the county Republicans from dropping campaign mail tying Mejias to Spitzer’s policy, since he had not signed a letter opposing it.
Mejias also serves a district in which party registration is 3-2 Republican. But after the ballots were counted, Mejias held a 222 vote lead, and he declared victory. State GOP chair Joseph Mondello challenged the victory, since 300 absentee ballots weren’t counted, although, absentee votes usually follow the same trends as those cast on the machine.
The Democrats aren’t wasting any time with the re-elected majority either, having already named a new presiding officer, Diane Yatauro (Glen Cove). Judith Jacobs (D-Woodbury) served the last eight years in that position.
In Suffolk County, Democrats increased their majority from a two-vote margin to a four-vote margin, 11-7. The difference came with one seat change: Legis. Joseph Caracappa (R-Selden) left due to term limits, and an aide to County Executive Steve Levy, Brian Beedenbender, from Centereach, took his place in a surprise victory. He was outspent 2-1 by his opponent, Thomas Muratore.
The Democratic surge on Long Island was typified by Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, who ran on five party lines, including both the Democratic and Republican lines. Levy received 96 percent of the vote, with the other four percent split between two insignificant opponents.
All three Nassau Town Supervisors were re-elected. Both Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray and North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman faced scandal, and still survived. A probe of the North Hempstead Building Department resulted in the firing of three former employees, and the department inspector. In Hempstead Town, a former building commissioner illegally added a second story and an apartment to his house.
Yet, both won with more than 60 percent of the vote in their respective towns.
The biggest change came in the Town of Islip, where the town board switched hands for the first time in 40 years. In 1968, the Democrats held control of the town board for less than one year before losing it to Republicans. Other than that furlough, Republicans had held the board since 1931, making this the first real Democratic majority in Islip in more than 70 years.
But the most notable occurrence on Election Night was the lack of change in the air.
Sure, Democrats won, but they didn’t slaughter anyone. Turnout was low due to inclement weather, and the fact that it was an off-year local election cycle.
Citizens feel removed from the politicking in Albany, and from their own backyards as well, said Joseph Skurnick, a consultant for Prime New York, a firm that advises Democrats.
“Overall, there certainly wasn’t the big Republican surge somebody thought would happen because of Troopergate and the driver’s license issue, but the Dems did not continue to make gains as they did the last few years,” Skurnick told Politicker.
Samuel Rubenfeld is a junior print journalism student. You may e-mail him at [email protected].