A look at who&nbsp;Newsday&#39;s&nbsp;editorial board is supporting this election season.

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The Editorial Board

Sen. Chuck Schumer's&nbsp;stature and power has grown with&nbsp;the majority leader title that now precedes his name.&nbsp; 
 But he hasn't forgotten the communities that brought him to that place, including those on Long Island,&nbsp;and the ones that depend upon him for resources. The&nbsp;state and the region&nbsp;are better off with him in the U.S. Senate's leadership,&nbsp;currently as majority leader and before that&nbsp;minority leader. 
 It's that mix, combined with a dynamic and engaged presence even after more than four decades in Washington, that has helped Schumer, 71, mostly successfully navigate&nbsp;the choppy waters of a divided U.S. Senate, while&nbsp;always looking for ways to get more for his home state. 
 It hasn't been easy, but the wins have been significant, including&nbsp;COVID-19 relief amounting to $10.5 billion&nbsp;for Long Island small businesses and nonprofits and more than&nbsp;$15 billion for public transit,&nbsp;funds for theaters and municipalities, and&nbsp;significant dollars for infrastructure,&nbsp;technology, and the environment.&nbsp; 
 Schumer's leadership is in part responsible for a milestone for New York this year: The state finally got more than it gave to the nation's capital — $1.59 came back to the state for every $1 that headed to Washington. That's partially because of the additional funds related to COVID that Schumer as majority leader was able to&nbsp;secure&nbsp;for state and local coffers.&nbsp; 
 Perhaps one of the biggest recent victories Schumer can claim is the siting of the world's first electron-ion collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory. That $2 billion project will have an extraordinary impact on&nbsp;Long Island&nbsp;and on the science itself, not to mention the jobs and economic benefits&nbsp;it will produce.&nbsp; 
 Also key to the state's economic future: the CHIPS and Science Act that Schumer championed, which led to Micron Technology Inc.'s plan to invest up to $100 billion on a semiconductor manufacturing campus upstate. 
 Schumer has been particularly important to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, pushing&nbsp;forward and funding&nbsp;key projects, from the East Side Access connection to Grand Central Terminal to the East River Tunnels rehab. His role will remain particularly important on upcoming items like congestion pricing and Penn Station's remake. 
 Schumer's opponent is Yonkers Republican Joe Pinion, a former Newsmax television anchor who talks of building an &quot;uncommon coalition&quot; to focus on issues he said have long been ignored. Pinion, who turns 39 on Oct. 11, is right to highlight several enormous challenges, from crumbling and failing public schools to poverty. His passion&nbsp;is welcome, but he lacks concrete ideas on how to fix the problems he cites, and the skills needed to effectively serve New York in the U.S. Senate. 
 Schumer still has much to do, and is capable of getting&nbsp;it done, thanks to his flexibility and the relationships he has built.&nbsp;He pledges to hold a vote on the Respect for Marriage Act after the election, likely during the lame-duck session. That's important to codify legal recognition of same-sex marriages. But he's also looking to January, when he&nbsp;hopes&nbsp;Democrats will have more seats in the Senate and retain control of&nbsp;the House. If that happens, Schumer told the editorial board, there would be a lot on the table, including getting done critical but unfinished elements of the Build Back Better and Inflation Reduction Act efforts, such as funding&nbsp;early child care and universal pre-K. 
 If Schumer doesn't get the political edge he's hoping for, he'll have to find a way forward through often-rocky bipartisan terrain.&nbsp;He rightly notes the importance of the Senate's power to confirm judges at all levels; there are about 40 to be confirmed during the upcoming lame duck session. 
 But he also says there are items he can get done even in a complicated political landscape. Among them: comprehensive immigration reform, which Schumer hopes could be similar to&nbsp;the 2013 bill he and the late Sen. John McCain authored, with a path to citizenship for the nation's 11 million immigrants here illegally, additional border patrols, and more. Schumer is right to try to line up the support of&nbsp;key business leaders, who need workers and should recognize immigration's contribution to a&nbsp;healthy, growing economy. 
 Also crucial: the restoration of the state and local tax deduction, a promise he hasn't delivered on yet. Whether it's left to expire in 2025, or there's a way to unravel it sooner, SALT must continue to be at the top of Schumer's list. 
 Schumer rightly worries about the future of democracy. But his response to the issue is telling: &quot;One of the best things that we can do is show people that it works for them.&quot; 
 Schumer notes that his father, who passed away last year,&nbsp;left him with two key lessons — to always help those who need help and to &quot;persist and persist and persist&quot; when you know you're doing the right thing. If Schumer can continue to uphold those values, while keeping New York, and especially Long Island, at the top of his mind, there's still much for him to accomplish. 
 Newsday endorses Schumer.

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Chuck Schumer for U.S. Senate

Newsday endorses Schumer for U.S. Senate

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New York’s 1st Congressional District is perennially considered one of New York’s — and the nation’s — real swing regions. It is a place of contrasts, between hard right and deep blue, between Hamptons wealth and people striving at the poverty line. In its current configuration, it stretches from the easternmost forks of Long Island to the Nassau County line.&nbsp;It includes farmland,&nbsp;town and village centers desperately in need of housing, and miles and miles of pristine yet endangered coast. 
 With Rep. Lee Zeldin running for governor, CD1 this year is home to an open race and even more potential than usual for a competitive contest, featuring two qualified, experienced candidates. 
 They are Bridget M. Fleming, a former prosecutor and current Suffolk County legislator,&nbsp;and Nicholas J.&nbsp;LaLota, a Navy veteran and former Suffolk Republican elections commissioner currently serving as chief of staff to the county legislature. 
 Both have long track records&nbsp;of service to their communities. LaLota, 44,&nbsp;is from Amityville which is outside the new district lines.&nbsp;Yet he has a background in the district, within which he attended high school, and he is looking at houses in the new zone. As an Amityville Village trustee in 2014,&nbsp;LaLota&nbsp;and other trustees wanted amendments to the village police contract concerning a freeze on high-earning officers’ base pay. Given the village’s financial constraints, this was an eminently reasonable idea, but one that has earned LaLota enduring enmity from some police union officials. 
 Fleming, a 62-year-old Democrat from Noyac, was a prosecutor in Manhattan before moving east where she served on the&nbsp;Southampton Town Council for more than 5 years&nbsp;before her nearly 7-year stint on the county legislature.&nbsp;Her knowledge of and commitment to local issues is outstanding, including the minibus&nbsp;pilot program&nbsp;in her district to help replace the loss of fixed bus routes.&nbsp;It’s an initiative for which she says she’d be eager to get funding on the federal level. 
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 That is precisely the kind of drive that CD1 needs in Congress, and why Fleming would be the district’s best representative. She knows that Suffolk County and its hundreds of miles of coastline are on the “front lines of climate change.” That’s not a hypothetical battle, she rightly told the editorial board in her endorsement interview: It impacts the day-to-day lives and budgets of ordinary Long Islanders. 
 Easy to say, harder to do, and Fleming is ready for the doing: mobilizing federal dollars and resources for electric vehicle charging stations, incentivizing good jobs in offshore wind, and pursuing nature-based solutions to protect shorelines, as opposed to thoughtless hardening that will only exacerbate erosion and push the problem to the next neighbor on the coast. 
 None of this is abstract for Fleming, who already has her hands deep in this kind of work. That includes the project she helped shepherd to identify vulnerabilities on Suffolk’s coastline and propose investments to mitigate the potential damage. Fleming said this was prompted by a parking lot in&nbsp;Shinnecock East County Park crumbling into Shinnecock Bay. Problem, meet solution. 
 She sees — and has worked on — the broad picture, from septic improvements to groundwater protection to a project she supported to map the places where solar arrays could be appropriately sited. 
 LaLota has brought up important concerns in his run, including the dangers of the federal budget getting wildly unbalanced. But Fleming outshines LaLota on granular district issues. One of his top priorities is what he calls “safe drilling on federal land” and loosening regulations toward more oil extraction. He also supports natural gas extraction here in New York.&nbsp;This is the wrong way to tackle the energy and climate problems to come. 
 LaLota said he would have voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed last year that was so crucial to Long Island’s interests. And as an election commissioner, he worked to certify the 2020 election here and said he’d never be “casting doubt on the national election to the point where the Congress should have voted not to certify.” 
 But — jarringly — he says he would have voted no on the original, bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol attack that passed the House but was blocked by Republicans in the Senate. In explanation, he told the editorial board there should be an analysis of a “more broad range,” including “what political rhetoric leads to.” Asked what kind of other rhetoric he meant, he cited confrontational statements by California Democrat Maxine Waters, whose comments are on a different scale from violent attacks on the nation’s Capitol and democratic process. 
 Fleming is ready to hit the ground running in service of the residents of CD1, tackling the real challenges facing the district, overcoming those obstacles to make the region a national leader when it comes to preparing for climate change and building infrastructure fit for a prosperous future. 
 Newsday endorses Fleming.

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Bridget M. Fleming for New York's 1st Congressional District

Newsday endorses Fleming for Congress

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The election in the newly redrawn 2nd Congressional District is a rematch between Democrat Jackie Gordon, a former Babylon Town council member, and&nbsp;incumbent Republican Rep. Andrew R. Garbarino, who won his first term in Congress after&nbsp;their 2020 go-round. 
 Gordon has a rare gift for showing moderation and careful consideration, as well as a commitment to interacting with and being a voice for communities she finds are still ignored —&nbsp;factors that figured in Newsday’s endorsement of her last time. The&nbsp;29-year member of the Army Reserve&nbsp;says the Jan. 6 insurrection was “devastating” to her as an American, a Jamaican immigrant, and a former MP in the service, and that it inspired her to run again. 
 As a Democrat, she expresses support for key party positions. Gordon would be a reliable vote, if her party’s House majority survives, for codifying abortion rights on a federal level, establishing new restrictions on the sale and proliferation of guns, offering paths to citizenship and legality for Dreamers, improving coastline resilience, and expanding voter access. 
 But&nbsp;Garbarino has the job now and has cut a commendably independent profile while quickly developing&nbsp;the know-how needed to operate in the House for the nonpartisan benefit of his district. He has&nbsp;often&nbsp;collaborated with Democrats now in the majority who may or may not be in the minority come January. 
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 Defying the famously violent extremists at the Capitol, he voted to certify the results of the election on Jan.&nbsp;6, 2021. He withstood senseless death threats from some constituents&nbsp;for the sensible act of voting this year for a bipartisan-crafted infrastructure bill worth more than $128 billion to New York.&nbsp;He fended off a GOP primary from his right to make this run. 
 On a topical crisis&nbsp;illustrated by the ransomware-related hack of Suffolk County government, the&nbsp;former Assembly member worked on a cybersecurity subcommittee to help craft a system of quick information-sharing among organizations affected by this high-tech crime to keep it from spreading in real time. Garbarino says he has developed great interest in this issue&nbsp;by serving on&nbsp;the Homeland Security Committee and is poised to take a leadership role on critically important cybersecurity work. 
 Garbarino has made it a goal in his second term to help start a &quot;cyber academy&quot; for training and certification of a workforce needed by both private and public sectors to wrestle with the shortage of skilled information technology workers. He's also ready to take part in discussions of&nbsp;the pros and cons of&nbsp;barring affected parties from paying ransom to release information hijacked by hackers. 
 On immigration, Garbarino agrees with Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer that this&nbsp;is one area where a bipartisan Congress could reach important agreements long in coming. In an endorsement interview with the Newsday editorial board, Garbarino cited several possible ingredients of consensus and trade-offs: beefing up border security, citizenship for the so-called &quot;Dreamers,&quot; expanding visas for immigrants offering needed skills, and reducing processing&nbsp;times for visa applications. 
 Many Republicans would support changes &quot;because of what we've heard from the business community,&quot; he said, citing employers who say&nbsp;they need more hires, whether for the farming, travel, tech, aerospace or tourism industries. 
 Garbarino shows he's developed a working knowledge of&nbsp;how to chase funds&nbsp;for sewer and road projects in the nexus&nbsp;of federal, state and local funding sources. In the infrastructure bill, for example, he said much of the money&nbsp;went to a state revolving fund rather than the direct grants he preferred, &quot;but at the end of the day the bill is very good for New York, and it gives me something to fight for next time.&quot;&nbsp;He's also used the return of congressional earmarks to supplement support for environmental projects in his district. 
 No part of the local physical plant seems to escape Garbarino's notice. He's conversant in granular topics from planned grade-crossing eliminations to the Ronkonkoma Hub.&nbsp;In Washington, as a member of the so-called Problem Solvers&nbsp;Caucus, he understands in particular how blue-state Republicans must perform to achieve results whether they'll be in the majority or minority. If he does succeed in his goal of getting a seat on the House Financial Services Committee, he will have a&nbsp;particular role to play regarding&nbsp;New York business. 
 As an incumbent, Garbarino expresses optimism that even in a party where support is dependent on so-called red states, he can deliver tangibly for Long Island constituents&nbsp;Hopefully, it isn't just a nice pitch from Garbarino. He makes us recall&nbsp;times when his predecessor Peter King played a&nbsp;practical role in working with Democrats across the aisle — as with 9/11 aid,&nbsp;for which Garbarino assumed responsibility and continues&nbsp;to lead on getting necessary&nbsp;benefits for ailing first responders. 
 Newsday endorses Garbarino.

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Andrew R. Garbarino for New York's 2nd Congressional District

Newsday endorses Garbarino for Congress

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For six years, Democrat Thomas Suozzi has represented the 3rd Congressional District well.&nbsp;But Suozzi's decision to run for governor opened the door for new leadership in the district whose lines were&nbsp;altered to stretch&nbsp;across the north shore of eastern Queens and Nassau County, and then dip&nbsp;south. 
 Enter Robert Zimmerman and George Devolder-Santos. 
 Both candidates live in the district, and both, in what is believed to be a first for a general congressional election, are openly gay. That's where the similarities end. 
 Zimmerman, 68, of Great Neck, is a&nbsp;longtime political activist and fundraiser and a member of the Democratic National Committee. He founded and co-headed&nbsp;ZE Creative Communications before stepping down to focus on this race;&nbsp;he says he'll sell his portion of the business if he wins. His firm often has profited from government work on both sides of the aisle. His&nbsp;deal-making background could raise eyebrows for some, but also shows an ability to work with a competing caucus.&nbsp;His experience gives him a deep understanding of the enormous issues that face the district and the nation, from climate change and&nbsp;immigration&nbsp;to&nbsp;social issues and&nbsp;infrastructure. 
 Zimmerman speaks particularly passionately&nbsp;about protecting democracy and his desire to serve. 
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 &quot;I'm not going to Congress because I want to run for another office. I'm not going to Congress to play games or get a pension,&quot; Zimmerman said. &quot;I believe very deeply and proudly in the concept of a citizen legislature. I'm going to serve and hopefully, I can make a difference.&quot; 
 Zimmerman takes clear&nbsp;positions on issues, supporting &quot;reproductive freedom for women&quot; and a ban on assault weapons and limits to magazines. Zimmerman also advocates&nbsp;a path to citizenship for the millions of immigrants living illegally in the United States along with stepped-up border security, including the use of drones, and added staffing and infrastructure for the nation's asylum system. 
 Zimmerman appropriately spotlights the environment, noting that he'd like to see infrastructure dollars go toward&nbsp;protecting Long Island Sound and&nbsp;improving water quality. On issues where he's more hesitant, such as the plan to toll Manhattan's central business district, Zimmerman is at least thoughtful and nuanced, suggesting it should be delayed as former commuters still weigh a return to the office. 
 Devolder-Santos seems to lack such nuance.&nbsp;The Whitestone Republican has said he was at the Ellipse in Washington for the &quot;Stop the Steal&quot; rally and former President Donald Trump's speech on Jan. 6, 2021. Devolder-Santos'&nbsp;apparent defense of&nbsp;those who rioted at the Capitol is troubling.&nbsp;&quot;Imagine breaking into your own house and being charged with trespassing,&quot; Santos said on a recording made in February 2022 at a &quot;restore public safety&quot; vigil, adding that he was funding efforts to &quot;help some of them out.&quot; 
 That stance is more disturbing&nbsp;considering that Devolder-Santos&nbsp;has made fighting crime and backing law enforcement a top issue. He has tried to pin Zimmerman to state bail reforms in which the Democrat played no role. Devolder-Santos'&nbsp;rhetoric has been disingenuous at best. 
 On other issues, Devolder-Santos is more of a blank slate. Throughout the campaign, Devolder-Santos, 34, has pivoted to platitudes and vague promises, with few specific plans or new ideas. He&nbsp;distressingly supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' so-called &quot;Don't Say Gay&quot; legislation, saying it would &quot;protect values,&quot; and he recently compared abortion to slavery, calling both &quot;barbaric.&quot; 
 At other times, Devolder-Santos avoided taking a position altogether. When the Newsday editorial board attempted to interview him, Devolder-Santos, who works in finance,&nbsp;canceled a scheduled meeting and then rejected repeated attempts to reschedule. But he&nbsp;has said enough to show himself to be too extreme to skillfully or appropriately represent Long Island&nbsp;in Congress. 
 Zimmerman's ideas position him&nbsp;as a moderate Democrat with clear&nbsp;priorities and a path to getting them done. He differs in some ways from Suozzi, as when he expresses no interest&nbsp;in joining the Problem Solvers Caucus, saying he disapproves of its structure and requirements. But he promises to work with Republicans as needed.&nbsp;As a freshman, Zimmerman might be limited in what he can accomplish but by&nbsp;seeking a spot on committees like education and labor, or veterans' affairs, he should have a voice on topics that matter back home. 
 Newsday endorses Zimmerman.

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Robert Zimmerman for New York's 3rd Congressional District

Newsday endorses Zimmerman for Congress

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When Laura Gillen battled her way into the supervisor’s seat in the Town of Hempstead in 2017, she broke an extraordinary streak: The town’s uninterrupted leadership by Republicans stretched back at least 100 years. 
 Gillen, 53, a Rockville Centre Democrat, had substantial opposition from&nbsp;a Republican town council but fought her way to some significant&nbsp;wins in her two-year term&nbsp;via bully-pulpit messaging and a&nbsp;tireless, detail-oriented approach. The longtime corporate litigator pushed through ethics reforms that reduced nepotism and conflicts of interest. The required online posting of town contracts she championed added transparency, and rules changed to require bidding on all professional services contracts of more than $10,000 provided accountability. Funding for road repaving and repairs, long neglected, increased tremendously. Political mailers, traditionally sent out at regular intervals at town expense, and barely disguised as informational material, were reduced significantly. 
 Now Gillen is bringing that same tenacity, thoughtful planning, and crucial goal-setting to her run for the House to replace&nbsp;Kathleen Rice, who is not seeking reelection. 
 Gillen has a long list of issues that need addressing, and it’s the right list. She’s never been soft on crime or in favor of broad cashless bail, much as opponents would try to paint her that way. But she knows more attention needs to be focused on addressing and treating mental illness if street crime is to be reduced and public safety, and the perception of it, improved. The sweeping mental health crisis is devastating many Long Islanders. Her solution&nbsp;is&nbsp;driving more money to the problem, securing new beds, recruiting and training new workers, and focusing on the oft-ignored mental health needs of senior citizens and the often-underresourced treatment of young people.&nbsp; 
 She also knows, from her time at the Hempstead helm, how intractable the affordable housing crisis has become in her district. Her past experience partnering with Habitat for Humanity to repurpose “zombie homes” showed creativity. Her hope of pushing federal dollars toward incentivizing housing, revitalizing downtowns, and creating jobs gains credibility&nbsp;in light of the $10 million she helped secure from the state to redevelop Baldwin. The Memorial Sloan Kettering&nbsp;cancer center and accompanying parking garage&nbsp;she helped bring to the Uniondale Hub are further evidence she gets results. 
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 Gillen also has the right views on passing common-sense gun regulations, protecting women’s reproductive freedoms, guaranteeing secure elections nationwide, and addressing crucial environmental needs. She supports comprehensive immigration reform that would stop&nbsp;the uncontrolled flow of unmonitored people into our nation, but would create enough opportunity for newcomers to build lives here and strengthen our nation. And she’s not afraid to buck&nbsp;her party; she's dubious about any new deal with Iran to lift sanctions in return for assurances of no nuclear development. 
 Anthony D’Esposito, 40, has served on the Hempstead Town board since 2016. Before that he was a New York City police officer and detective. The Island Park Republican is also a longtime volunteer firefighter, and served for seven years as Island Park’s fire chief. 
 D’Esposito’s expertise in combating crime is deep. His proposal to bolster&nbsp;federal gun task forces and double down on federal gun prosecutions as meaningful deterrents to all kinds of crime makes sense. But his dark vision of a district and a region where criminals wreak havoc and mayhem without fear of retribution just isn’t real. 
 His campaign’s use of a graphic online video of FDNY paramedic Lt. Alison Russo being brutally stabbed to death was ill-considered, as is his refusal to repudiate that use now. And trying to connect that crime to Gillen and the issue of bail reform, when the suspect has no arrest record and Gillen is not soft on crime,&nbsp;is irresponsible. 
 But perhaps more importantly, D’Esposito,&nbsp;whose experience&nbsp;and skills seem better focused at the town level,&nbsp;doesn’t seem to have a deep understanding of the issues he’d have to consider in Congress outside of policing. He blames inflation on other nations perceiving the United States as “weak.”&nbsp;He says he wants to balance the nation’s budget, but did not specify a spending cut he’d support. He argues&nbsp;that whatever cuts can be found once he’s elected should be spent on beefing up border security, and that paths to citizenship for people already here must wait until the border is secure. 
 As an attorney, Gillen says&nbsp;she often found that seemingly opposed parties could only make progress through collaborative settlements that benefited both sides. In today’s Washington, that’s a message worth shouting from the rooftops. 
 And no one will be more aggressive, dogged and determined in fighting for her district. 
 Newsday endorses Gillen.

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Laura Gillen for New York's 4th Congressional District

Newsday endorses Gillen for Congress

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Shortly after Kathy C. Hochul took office 14 months ago, it became clear that New York's&nbsp;first woman governor would have to face multiple state crises in short order. Continuing&nbsp;fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, declining &nbsp;revenue from a sprawling transit system, housing shortages, sharing the burden of migrants crossing faraway borders, and a disturbing uptick in violence of different kinds&nbsp;all greeted her. 
 Hochul rose to the office by succession&nbsp;after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, elected three times, resigned last year facing impeachment.&nbsp;She quickly moved to meet several political and governmental challenges in a credible way. 
 Now Hochul&nbsp;seeks a first elected term, and has moderate and pragmatic plans at the ready that encourage us to support her bid. 
 Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin's campaign to unseat her rests largely on a growing&nbsp;concern about street violence and criminality that is on many voters' minds. The GOP has&nbsp;made&nbsp;&quot;bail reform&quot; a campaign catchall for multiple changes to state law in recent years to stop overincarceration — changes&nbsp;they claim are&nbsp;the root of the recent crime spike. 
 Certainly, some legislative fixes were needed, and Hochul got&nbsp;some additional offenses&nbsp;made eligible for bail, for repeat offenders, hate crimes, and crimes committed with a gun. But Hochul knows&nbsp;this will not eliminate the problem. Getting guns off the street,&nbsp;increasing funding for mental health, and reducing the court's COVID-19 backlog so those who should be in prison are sent there&nbsp;swiftly are all essential. 
 Beyond symbolism, such as vowing to remove Manhattan's elected district attorney and reduce&nbsp;the number of people eligible for parole, Zeldin's crime-fighting strategy doesn't seem&nbsp;detailed or substantive or one that would have an immediate effect even assuming he could get the likely Democratic-controlled legislature to make changes. The executive orders he said he would sign on &quot;Day One&quot; to do so are implausible. 
 Given the shocking stabbing death in Queens of Lt. Alison Russo, an FDNY&nbsp;paramedic from Huntington, and other horrid irrational acts, Hochul rightly cites mental illness as a major factor in public safety and homelessness. She's driving changes in a state reimbursement system that gave health institutions disincentives to add psychiatric beds,&nbsp;which should result in 1,000 more of them in New York facilities, and she is finding ways to quickly get the personnel needed to&nbsp;staff those beds. Acting with the&nbsp;legislature, the state has expanded Kendra's Law to allow doctors stronger authorization to involuntarily hold people who have acted out and been brought in for observation. 
 Hochul arrived in the job rightly aware&nbsp;that it's the role of a governor to brake excessive spending plans. She successfully held out in the last budget for keeping a conservative 15% reserve despite shortsighted pressure to reduce that margin. With a blast of federal support due to the pandemic winding down, and signs of fiscal and economic stress and possibly more COVID challenges ahead, that decision looks all the wiser now.&nbsp;She can and must&nbsp;keep up such discipline. 
 In February, Hochul&nbsp;acknowledged error in — and thankfully withdrew — an ill-conceived proposal to have the state overrule&nbsp;local zoning to allow accessory dwelling units in the suburbs. But Hochul understands the current acute housing&nbsp;shortage and is&nbsp;more wisely exploring other options to expand housing availability in partnership with local governments&nbsp;and looking to new private incentives to build what's needed. 
 She also has a good grasp of&nbsp;Long Island's economic development needs and seems ready to apply the pressure needed to make the state's Downtown Revitalization Initiative effective. Perhaps&nbsp;the biggest impact Hochul may have Islandwide is deciding whether to sign legislation&nbsp;to make&nbsp;the Long Island Power Authority a fully public utility. She promises transparency in her decision-making. 
 Zeldin,&nbsp;a former state senator who is now a four-term member of Congress representing eastern&nbsp;Long Island, is well known in these parts as being bright, tenacious, and alert. He did not meet with the editorial board. The thrust of his campaign is that the state is going in the wrong direction,&nbsp;but rolling back the clock to another era&nbsp;is not workable.&nbsp;He supports fracking for natural gas in the Southern Tier, but has offered little in the way of proposals for moving the state toward greener energy generation. He called for restoring jobs and pay for government workers let go for refusing to be vaccinated, which raises the question of how firmly he might&nbsp;deal with a public health crisis. 
 On abortion, a recent Zeldin television ad said&nbsp;that despite his anti-abortion stance he would not change New York's very permissive&nbsp;state&nbsp;law. However, Zeldin could use his budgetary powers to stop funding for clinics, including their expansion and protection, and rescind regulatory guidelines that allow telehealth services as well as Department&nbsp;of Health programs to give guidance to abortion providers. 
 It must be noted that hours after the Jan. 6&nbsp;riot at the U.S. Capitol to stop the certification of Joe Biden as president, Zeldin&nbsp;voted against certifying the 2020 election results, choosing&nbsp;instead&nbsp;to link himself to a shameful episode. What's more, several months later, he acted directly against his own state's&nbsp;interests by opposing a bipartisan infrastructure bill that's financing billions of dollars in&nbsp;needed state projects, especially for his home district. 
 Those decisions by&nbsp;Zeldin&nbsp;have&nbsp;eclipsed his commendable past work on veterans' issues and oversight of funding for local projects, as well as the constructive bipartisanship he once showed as a state senator. 
 Newsday endorses Hochul.

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Kathy C. Hochul for New York governor

Newsday endorses Hochul for governor

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Letitia A. James is a talented politician. Her terrific interpersonal skills, keen eye for the camera and ear for messaging, and a preternatural instinct for navigating the state’s cutthroat politics have served her well. Leveraging her base in Brooklyn and her background as a public defender, she won a&nbsp;seat on the New York City Council, and then, as the city’s public advocate, springboarded herself to statewide office. In 2018, she became the first woman and Black attorney general. 
 Unfortunately, these instincts generally have not served her well in her first term. But overall, she has been capable and effective. 
 Only the naive would believe that&nbsp;politics can be scrubbed from one of the most powerful offices in the state. James’ elected predecessors&nbsp;— Eric Schneiderman, Andrew Cuomo&nbsp;and&nbsp;Eliot Spitzer&nbsp;— were intensely ambitious. But at a&nbsp;time when trust in governmental institutions has collapsed and bad faith is assumed, the state’s chief law enforcement officer, who can bring high-profile&nbsp;criminal prosecutions and punishing civil litigation, must&nbsp;be especially careful. James hasn’t been. 
 Her lawsuit claiming millions of dollars in fraud by NRA leaders&nbsp;exposed self-dealing top executives, an important part of the AG’s charity and nonprofit oversight. But her further effort&nbsp;to impose the state’s “corporate death penalty” on the NRA was thrown out in court&nbsp;as too extreme, with a risk of infringing on the free speech rights of organization&nbsp;members. The office has not appealed. 
 James has not provided satisfactory answers as to how a confidential list of donors to a nonprofit headed by possible GOP 2024 presidential candidate Nikki Haley was leaked recently. James told the editorial board that an internal investigation determined that a switching of software systems caused the security break. While James said the confidential records of many nonprofits were exposed, she could not explain why those of Haley’s organization seemed to be the only ones disclosed. 
 James’ extraordinary role in the investigation of sexual harassment complaints against Cuomo, which led to his resignation as governor&nbsp;as the State Legislature started impeachment proceedings,&nbsp;raised her profile nationally. But a careful reading of the&nbsp;report&nbsp;spurs concerns about overreach. At a news conference, James claimed Cuomo “sexually harassed multiple women, and in doing so violated federal and state law.” But James made no referrals to federal or state prosecutors regarding the complaints of the 11 women listed in the report. No criminal charges have been filed against Cuomo; two lawsuits are pending. 
 Cuomo filed an ethics complaint against James and seeks&nbsp;the release of evidence he says is exculpatory. The outcome of that complaint and the pending civil cases could&nbsp;provide more clarity. But James’ fumbled gubernatorial run, launched shortly after Cuomo resigned, undermined her credibility. Her other well-publicized effort is&nbsp;a&nbsp;lawsuit against the Trump Organization which demands punishing sanctions against former President Donald Trump and his family. While the AG's complaint is strong, her public sparring with Trump is unnecessary.&nbsp; 
 Ambition&nbsp;aside, under James’ tenure, the AG’s office has done important work,&nbsp;leading multistate litigation to punish opioid manufacturers and distributors, and ensuring that&nbsp;settlement funds are used for treatment programs. She kept the&nbsp;office&nbsp;focused&nbsp;on penalizing&nbsp;construction firms that dumped debris in Suffolk County, an acute problem that needs continued enforcement. And she has rightly required&nbsp;Long Island real estate firms to take actions designed&nbsp;to stop racial steering in housing sales. James said that in a second term she would focus on whether some local zoning laws that stop new housing construction are exclusionary. 
 James, 64, has a&nbsp;multipronged program to improve public safety, including increasing psychiatric beds to treat those with mental illness, expanding pretrial services for those awaiting disposition of their cases, and amending the Raise the Age law to allow bail for crimes committed with a gun.&nbsp;But she is late in the game in espousing it. She needs to take the lead on this issue and use her statutory authority to present the legislature with a “program bill” that could spur changes. 
 Republican Michael Henry, 42, is a commercial litigator with almost no political footprint. He says James is “weaponizing” the attorney general’s office, citing the handling of the Cuomo probe. He said it would be a “tough decision” on whether to withdraw or continue the AG’s lawsuit against the Trump Organization. 
 Henry said&nbsp;he would evaluate whether to continue to defend some provisions of the state's new gun permitting law, which has had some of its key elements&nbsp;struck down by two federal courts,&nbsp;rulings&nbsp;he says are unwinnable on appeal. Continuing&nbsp;the lawsuit, he said, would be a waste of resources. 
 Acknowledging that New Yorkers are overwhelmingly pro-choice on abortion, Henry said he would defend the state’s expansive laws, regardless of his personal views which differ. 
 Henry praised James for&nbsp;enforcing&nbsp;fair housing laws but said he would see whether abysmal conditions in complexes operated by the New York City Housing Authority constitute discrimination. Additionally, he seeks to streamline the office's regulatory oversight of insurance and financial services. But Henry had little command of the AG’s role in enforcing environmental laws. 
 Henry’s ideas on invigorating the office are appealing. But he has little of the experience needed to competently manage&nbsp;this enormous public law firm nor the needed clout&nbsp;to get his changes accomplished. 
 Our concerns about James are considerable, but on balance surmountable. Newsday endorses James.

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Letitia A. James for New York's attorney general

Newsday endorses James for New York State attorney general

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If every New Jersey household were forced to cough up its share of that state’s unfunded pension liability, each would owe $27,000. In Connecticut, the cost per household to get the state’s pension funding to 100% would be $30,000. In Pennsylvania, $12,000. 
 In New York, on the annual day of reckoning that comes each March 31, the state’s pension funds held assets of $272 billion, or 102.9% of its total obligations. It is one of just a few fully funded pensions in the United States, and by far the largest. 
 Democratic Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, 68, of Great Neck, can take significant credit for that. The policies he’s put in place and decisions he’s made as sole trustee of the fund —&nbsp;including hiring and heeding top investment experts, lowering the expected rate of return to allow for more stable investing, and setting contribution rates from public employers at appropriate rather than politically popular lower levels&nbsp;— have served the state well. 
 For 685,000 active public employees, about 500,000 people getting monthly retirement checks, and every taxpayer who would pay if the pension fund runs low, that should be deeply reassuring. 
<h3> SCANDAL-FREE TENURE </h3> 
 DiNapoli also deserves credit for running a scandal-free office. His predecessor, Alan Hevesi, went to jail for abusing the power that comes with overseeing such a huge fund, and the two comptrollers before that sent business to campaign contributors. DiNapoli abolished that practice early in his 15-year tenure as part of a slate of ethics improvements that eliminated influence-peddling in the office. 
 His opponent, Queens Republican Paul Rodriguez, 53, works as a development officer, raising money for the Archdiocese of New York. He spent 25 years working in investing and finance, and ran for&nbsp;New York City comptroller on the Conservative line last year. 
 His biggest knock on DiNapoli is the assertion that the incumbent is too committed to “ESG” investing, where environmental and social issues and corporate governance are taken into account. Rodriguez argues that the only factor the comptroller should consider is profit, and points to fossil fuels investment as an area where DiNapoli has paid too much attention to politics. 
 But DiNapoli’s “ESG” stance is both moderate and responsible.&nbsp;He's attacked far more from the left flank of his own party for not basing decisions more on ESG than by Republicans for doing so too much. 
 DiNapoli argues that a sole focus on a product that could go by the wayside, like oil, makes a business too risky, while a similar company that is nimbly looking to new income streams or energy sources might be a better investment. He’s not afraid to use the power of the fund to push companies toward adaptation, or equity and diversity, because those are good business practices as well as good human ones.&nbsp;And on the rare occasions when&nbsp;he has divested smallish sums from businesses New Yorkers often abhor, like private prisons and gun manufacturing, he’s been right on both the principles and the profitability. 
 The comptroller is the state's auditor, with authority to examine&nbsp;the operations of any public entity that receives state funds, from fire districts to school districts to counties. DiNapoli has&nbsp;done mountains of work in those areas, but could do more. 
 He&nbsp;should be more aggressive in decrying political contributions when they go hand in hand with overpriced contracts, as happened recently with Gov. Kathy Hochul and a batch of COVID-19&nbsp;tests. It’s a blind spot worth eliminating. But he&nbsp;could also do more if Hochul signs a bill passed by the legislature that would restore much of the comptroller’s oversight of state contracts, as she should. 
 DiNapoli’s office could also be faster in turning around analyses of state agencies, school districts and municipalities, releasing reports before the information is obsolete. 
<h3> IMPORTANT LIPA TASK </h3> 
 Recently launched audits of cyber&nbsp;vulnerability are timely and laudable, as the attack on Suffolk County reminds us. After DiNapoli's office does enough of them, guidance should be issued&nbsp;on best practices. And the office’s access to massive troves of data creates opportunities for deep analysis of everything from who needs what Medicaid services, and what preventive medical steps that suggests in certain communities or demographics, to which industrial development authority tax breaks actually create jobs.&nbsp; 
 For Long Islanders, the comptroller’s most important upcoming task could be his legislative mandate to opine on the conclusions of a state commission created to examine the feasibility of fully municipalizing the Long Island Power Authority. The commission will report on&nbsp;system reliability, customer satisfaction, future utility bill costs, storm hardening, and the accelerating conversion to renewable energy. It's DiNapoli's job to make sure the panel's assertions&nbsp;are accurate.&nbsp; 
 It’s hard to imagine an official more perfectly placed to assess an issue so important to Long Island than DiNapoli, who this year celebrated the 50th anniversary of his first foray into public office, his election to the Mineola school board at age 18. Coincidentally, the Employees’ Retirement System celebrated its 100th anniversary last year. 
 DiNapoli’s longevity of service, and his contribution to the fund’s success and stability, are admirable. 
 Newsday endorses DiNapoli.

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Thomas DiNapoli for New York State comptroller

Newsday endorses DiNapoli for New York State comptroller

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New York needs all the funding it can get to improve drinking water, prevent floods, and preserve our&nbsp;threatened environment. That’s why it’s so important that voters approve the Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs&nbsp;environmental bond act on their ballots this election season. 
 The proposal would pave the way for the state to borrow $4.2 billion through the sale of bonds, with the money going to specific capital projects for restoration and flood risk reduction, open space land conservation and recreation, climate change mitigation, water quality improvement, and resilient infrastructure. 
 What all that means for Long Island is enormous. 
 Environmental advocates say some of the crucial projects that could be funded by this proposal include initiatives like more sewers in places like Mastic Beach or Smithtown. Septic tanks and cesspools which exist mostly in Suffolk County&nbsp;could be replaced.&nbsp;The funding, which could support existing environmental programs or new programs to which&nbsp;municipalities could apply, could aid in the purchase of&nbsp;state-of-the-art drinking water filtration systems to protect against cancerous emerging contaminants, while still making water affordable for ratepayers. Thousands of acres of undeveloped land could be preserved. Wetlands along our coasts could be bolstered, restoring our ecosystems and protecting against climate change. 
 The money might be used to restore sea grass beds&nbsp;and fight algae blooms, while boosting the economy&nbsp;by&nbsp;creating jobs&nbsp;and making Long Island a better place to live, work, and visit. 
 It’s about time. 
 This particular environmental bond act is the first of its kind in more than 25 years. It has been long in the making, first proposed under Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and delayed during the pandemic. Given new life by Gov. Kathy Hochul and approved by the State Legislature this year, it now goes to voters. New York has often relied on bond acts like this to achieve big, crucial environmental projects, from the establishment of parks&nbsp;to protection against pollution. These acts tend to pass easily, but not always.&nbsp;This one must fly through with ease. Our current needs are staggering, not just from climate change but the aging of infrastructure that protects such daily necessities as our drinking water. The bond act would&nbsp;complement environmental funds already allocated in the state budget&nbsp;and available from the federal government through the Inflation Reduction Act.&nbsp; 
 This year, however you vote on candidates, don’t forget about this proposal on your ballot. In Suffolk, the bond act is on the back of the ballot. In Nassau, it’s at the bottom of the front. 
 Find it, and vote yes&nbsp;to approve the&nbsp;environmental bond act.

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Vote yes on environmental bond

Vote yes on green bond

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EndorsementsSenateSG2022

New York State Senate endorsements 2022

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New York State Assembly endorsements 2022

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Suffolk Comptroller John M. Kennedy Jr. has been busy since the county's computer system was hacked by cyber thieves demanding ransom.&nbsp;With no ability to send electronic payments to vendors, particularly nonprofits that employ&nbsp;hundreds of people, Kennedy signed&nbsp;about 600 paper checks to make sure payments were timely. His office also cobbled together a workaround to complete&nbsp;delinquent tax&nbsp;searches so the county clerk could&nbsp;clear titles&nbsp;for real estate closings. 
 The cyber-hack created a detour from the job's main responsibility:&nbsp;making&nbsp;sure county spending is proper, all the more important now when Suffolk is&nbsp;flush with cash. The American&nbsp;Rescue Plan sent&nbsp;$286 million in COVID-19 relief funds, and the initial $25 million from opioid&nbsp;litigation&nbsp;is the bank. 
 The times call for an&nbsp;experienced and steady hand to oversee&nbsp;county&nbsp;finances. That's why Kennedy deserves a third and final term in the job. 
 Kennedy's entire career has been in government, starting as a vocational rehabilitation counselor for the state before&nbsp;joining the Suffolk County&nbsp;clerk's office. He served 10 years in&nbsp;the county legislature&nbsp;before winning the comptroller's seat in 2014. He lost a bid for county executive to Steve Bellone in 2019. 
 The comptroller's statutory duties to audit county spending&nbsp;are key, and Kennedy has&nbsp;aggressively ensured that&nbsp;money&nbsp;for&nbsp;homeless shelters and residences for&nbsp;domestic violence victims goes to its intended&nbsp;purposes. Kennedy shut down three&nbsp;shelters because &quot;they were horrible facilities,&quot; he said, and failed to deliver proper services. Overall, he&nbsp;has reclaimed&nbsp;more than $8 million improperly used for staff salaries and benefits. 
 The anonymous tips&nbsp;hotline Kennedy established earlier in his tenure, so the public could be the &quot;eyes and ears&quot; for reporting wasteful county spending,&nbsp;proved fruitful, he said. If reelected, he should promote it more aggressively.&nbsp;Kennedy seeks state authorization to be a co-auditor,&nbsp;with the state comptroller,&nbsp;of the county's Industrial Development Agency and local development corporations. That's a smart move.&nbsp; 
 Kennedy said that Suffolk, which was dangerously close to running out of money before COVID&nbsp;hit, is financially flush with enough cash for 2023. But 2024 could&nbsp;be a problem, he said, if&nbsp;an expected recession is severe and the county has to pay higher interest rates on its borrowing. All the more reason to have a wise eye on the ledger. 
 While Kennedy, 66, has tinged some of his criticism with political rhetoric and has been a&nbsp;thorn in the side of&nbsp;Bellone, he says&nbsp;now he tries to &quot;stay in my lane.&quot; That's a good path. Four years ago, Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman ran a spirited and close race against Kennedy. This time,&nbsp;Suffolk Democrats are not really&nbsp;trying. Thomas&nbsp;Dolan, a financial planner from Babylon, is not actively campaigning. 
 Newsday endorses Kennedy.

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John M. Kennedy Jr. for Suffolk comptroller

Newsday endorses Kennedy for Suffolk comptroller

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The position of Suffolk County clerk has been somewhat unusually in the public eye recently for two reasons. First was the backroom political struggle that led to a tightly fought GOP primary loss for the incumbent clerk, Judith Pascale. Pascale has been in the role since her appointment by former Gov. George Pataki in 2006, and did not get the backing of the county Republican and Conservative parties this time around. 
Second was the cyberattack detected in September that resulted in the shutdown of a host of Suffolk County services. 
Pascale’s office has pushed to restore crucial services, but major questions remain about how to protect residents’ data and paperwork in the future. 
That’s a prime concern for Vincent Puleo, 68, a Conservative from Nesconset who has identified the need for secure records “from the top all the way down.” Wisely, he wants to follow IT best practices, have better defenses for the county at large, and ensure sufficient IT training for the office. 
Puleo has a wealth of experience in this line of work due to having served more than 16 years as Smithtown Town clerk, an office that he calls a “hub” that residents often cycle through when they need something from local government. He sees constituent service as the key issue for any clerk’s office, and has the right ideas for how to make those services better. They include improvements to the clerk’s website, more of a “one-click operation” that’s less clunky for Suffolk residents, and more online consultations to walk people through their bureaucratic issues. 
Commendably, he is in touch with the modern impulse to online access. 
“Those records that are able to be accessed online should be accessed online, but securely,” he said in an endorsement interview with the editorial board. 
Puleo also is ready to push for more funds for his office when needed, a fairly perennial issue that has even more resonance in light of the need to protect residents’ information. 
His opponent is Lisa Jimenez, 59, of Medford, who has worked at Suffolk Off-Track Betting Corp. for more than four decades. She, like Puleo, sees the clerk role as largely nonpartisan, one where the officeholder should be focused on improving the experience of constituents — in particular, groups like veterans and those who have handicaps — no matter what information or application or document they need. Jimenez has interesting ideas about bringing the office to alternate locations in the county, but she does not have Puleo’s wealth of experience and readiness to hit the ground running right away. 
Newsday endorses Puleo.

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Vincent Puleo for Suffolk County clerk

Newsday endorses Puleo for Suffolk County clerk

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Fifty million dollars. That's the estimate of&nbsp;how much funding&nbsp;would have been generated for affordable housing in 2021 had a&nbsp;new tax on East End&nbsp;housing transactions&nbsp;been in place.&nbsp;The influx of city dwellers buying homes&nbsp;on the Twin Forks during the COVID-19 pandemic led to a spike in home&nbsp;prices&nbsp;that has made housing even less affordable.&nbsp; 
 That has made&nbsp;it more difficult&nbsp;for local businesses to hire and retain workers, and gave longtime renters&nbsp;few options other than to leave&nbsp;the area, Sag Harbor Assemb. Fred Thiele said. 
 Thiele argues that the&nbsp;lack of affordable housing has reached crisis proportions.&nbsp;He's&nbsp;correct.&nbsp;Thiele&nbsp;is the principal architect of legislation&nbsp;that allows each of the five East End towns to create a community housing fund fueled by a 0.5% increase in the real estate transfer tax. Residents&nbsp;in East Hampton, Southampton and Southold towns&nbsp;will vote&nbsp;in November on the plan, whose revenue could be used for such incentives as jump-starting new construction or offering zero-interest loans to first-time homebuyers. 
 Long Islanders&nbsp;have long argued about the type&nbsp;of housing the region needs, and where to locate it. A May 2019&nbsp;study by Newsday's nextLI found that younger Long Islanders favor more affordable housing units to accommodate skilled workers and others,&nbsp;including mixed-used multifamily housing to help revitalize&nbsp;downtown areas. NIMBYs&nbsp;(not in my backyard) and YIMBYs&nbsp;(yes, in my backyard) agree that no part of the Island should&nbsp;become an extension of New York City with tall buildings and high density.&nbsp;They also agree that the&nbsp;Island must become&nbsp;a lot more affordable, or young people will continue to leave for cheaper locales.&nbsp;According to 2019 American Community Survey data, 74.3% of Long Island homes are either owner-occupied or for sale, and only 18.3% are for rent.&nbsp; 
 The East End housing fund is a good step forward. It allows residents of the towns involved&nbsp;to have a say in what housing and affordability will look like. 
 The referendum builds on efforts already underway. Earlier this year, the East Hampton Town board voted to adopt an affordable housing district overlay in the Wainscott school district. East Hampton has the highest cost of living in Suffolk County and not enough affordable units. This results in the daily trade-parade of skilled workers who have to commute to work in an area where they cannot afford to live. 
 Building more housing is integral to growing Long Island's economy. As the Island continues to gray, it's essential to develop solutions that will help keep more young people here and attract new residents. By approving this referendum, residents would help make that possible, and have a say in the process. 
 Newsday recommends a yes vote on this proposal.

Newsday Opinion endorsements 2022

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