Your post election editorial on Ed Mangano, who won with 59 percent and an excess of 50,000 votes, states, “He… stood on his no-new-taxes platform. Apparently that rang a bell with voters.” How insightful and no kidding. Wonder how long it’ll take his congenital opponents to hear that ringing bell?
You continued, “We want the county executive to address the issue of the pay raises owed to police and other county workers,” followed by, “Mangano must repair his relationship with NIFA.”
The tone and temperament of your “want and must” list reminds of an incident involving Margaret Thatcher many decades ago. The ballot count from the previous day’s UK general election had resulted in a Tory triumph of some 450 seats in England, Northern Ireland and Wales. But in Scotland, Labour held, winning 110 of the 125 seats contested for Commons.
At a news conference in Glasgow, a persistent Socialist journalist crank, badgered the Thatcher with the question,” What are the Conservatives now going to do for Scotland?”
Thatcher halted her prepared remarks, turned to him and said, “Why absolutely nothing, of course. Scotland voted Labour. Now let them take their grievances, petitions and sorrows to Labour.” She then terminated the news conference and left the podium.
Ed Mangano, whose natural constituency is the long abused homeowners and taxpayers of Nassau County, would be wise to reflect on the audacity and wisdom of Margaret Thatcher, who refused to suffer any fool. To his barking opposition who have fought him hammer and tong since day one, he owes absolutely nothing.
Another sage, Sen. Daniel Moynihan (D-NY), once asserted that the secret ingredient in solving the unsolvable was time, so he coined the term ‘“benign neglect.” I suggest Ed Mangano consider turning off the lights, closing the doors and treating his opponents – relentlessly needy of attention from the media – with benign neglect by ignoring them.
The taxpaying homeowners of Nassau County would be eternally grateful.
Tom Coffey
Herricks
