Michael J. Fitzpatrick for New York's 8th Assembly District
Republican Assemb. Michael Fitzpatrick. Credit: James Escher
Find out the candidates Newsday's editorial board selected on your ballot: newsday.com/endorsements22
Includes town of Smithtown and Northern parts of Islip
In 20 years in the Assembly minority, Michael J. Fitzpatrick has often been a lonely voice calling for fiscal sanity. He says, “A lone voice shouting into the wind is better than no voice at all.”
Fitzpatrick, 65, is right that pension reform, caps on raises set in mandatory arbitration, and opposition to laws that give public-sector unions outsize power at the bargaining table deserve championing. But he knows he must do more, by focusing on areas where he can get Democratic support.
On a hyperlocal level, that means pushing hard for more sewer money in downtown Smithtown and Kings Park. On a broader level, the St. James Republican is energetically pushing a new idea: positioning Stony Brook University as a flagship University of New York, joining a top-tier athletic conference, and garnering a national profile.
His opponent, Democrat Jeanine Aponte, 60, of Hauppauge, is not actively campaigning.
Newsday endorses Fitzpatrick.
ENDORSEMENTS ARE DETERMINED solely by the Newsday editorial board, a team of opinion journalists focused on issues of public policy and governance. Newsday’s news division has no role in this process.
