Laura Schaefer for Nassau Legislative District 14

Running for a fifth term, Laura M. Schaefer is well-versed in district concerns from water quality to property tax assessment. She discusses goals and services without resorting to slogans.

Membership in the Republican majority gives Schaefer, 53, of Westbury, clout in pushing for her district. Perhaps she can make headway with industrial development authorities by chipping away at the opaqueness of granting tax breaks. Her stances on better funding and coordination of mental-health programs, county-town collaborations and fact-based police reform ring realistic.

But nobody should lightly dismiss Democrat Robert T. McCarthy, 25, of Garden City. He campaigns vigorously and articulates credible, and even outside-the-box, positions on subjects like the need for new comprehensive traffic plans and suggests a 23-year-old cannabis sales age. McCarthy, now a law student, clearly shows the right stuff for public service — hopefully in the not-too-distant future.

Newsday endorses Schaefer.

Nassau Legislative District 14 covers Garden City, Garden City South, Carle Place, Westbury, Hicksville, part of Bethpage.