Editorial: Wink in Nassau 11th District
Wayne Wink, candidate for the Nassau County Legislature 11th District (May 24, 2011) Credit: David Pokress
Democratic incumbent Wayne Wink, 44, an attorney who lives in Roslyn, is running for his third term. While he was reluctant at first to embrace the Nassau Interim Finance Authority's involvement in the county, he now welcomes it and the panel's role in getting labor to the table to find savings. He felt the county started trending in the wrong direction around 2008, under the former county executive.
Wink fears County Executive Edward Mangano's strategy to solve the tax refund problem by lowering assessments will build further inequities into the system, and he believes responsibility for assessments may ultimately need to shift to the towns. His Republican challenger, Eric Zausner, 28, of Port Washington, is a former fashion executive who works in the county's Office of Emergency Management. Zausner generally favors Mangano's policies. He suggests selling naming rights to the Coliseum and parks to generate more revenue, but his estimates for how much that could bring are unrealistic.
Zausner is one of the more knowledgeable challengers this year, but Wink's professionalism and smarts are needed now. Newsday endorses Wink.
