Suffolk the ‘premier’ legislature?

Forty years ago this year the Suffolk County Legislature was formed, based on 18 districts of equal population, to replace the centuries-old Suffolk County Board of Supervisors, made up of the supervisors of each of the county’s 10 towns.


As this year began, William Lindsay, in an acceptance speech on his re-election to a fifth term as presiding officer of the Suffolk Legislature, declared: “In my opinion, this legislature is the premier legislative body in this country. It’s the birthplace of legislation that has been emulated around the state, around the nation and, in fact, around the world.”


Rather lofty praise, a distinction Democrat Lindsay attributed to the legislature’s “lack of partisan politics … When the elections are over, the issues of the people take precedence and coalitions are formed and dissolved around issues that are important to our citizens,” he said, adding: “It’s my hope that the style of governing continues and that the political leaders stick to what they do best and that’s the election process.”


Is the Suffolk Legislature the country’s “premier legislative body?” Surely, there are other governing bodies that have done much. Still, in a time of extreme polarity on the national governmental scene — with the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives deeply divided along party lines — and with rigid partisanship still the name of the game in the New York State Legislature, his point about the Suffolk Legislature not being based on partisan politics is valid and illuminating.


Partisanship has been noticeable at times. For example, when Democrats in 1976 first became the legislative majority, then Suffolk Democratic Chairman Dominic Baranello demanded, successfully, that the county executive not have a seat on the legislature’s horseshoe table. He did not want attention given to an eloquent Republican Suffolk County executive, John V. N. Klein. 


That bad decision continues to have impacts to this day as seen in miscommunication between the legislators and county executive. When Mr. Klein or his predecessor, County Executive H. Lee Dennison, participated at legislative meetings, the face-to-face contact led to the settling of many an issue.


Still, coalitions have been the general pattern for the legislature historically. Perhaps the most remarkable stretched through the 1980s when independent-minded Gregory Blass became the panel’s presiding officer leading a coalition of some fellow GOPers and Democrats. (Mr. Blass went on to become a family court judge and is now the county’s social services commissioner in the administration of Democrat Steve Levy.)


As 2009 ended, the legislature issued a year-end review with highlights starting with the “first-in-the-nation ban on the sale of toxic baby bottles containing BPA [bisphenol A].” The ban came despite lobbying by the chemical industry that insisted BPA was safe, pressure that would have stopped many a governing body. 


There was the “first-in-the-nation ban on drop-side cribs.” This came before the federal government finally took action on this dangerous item. 


Then there was “first-in-the-nation ban on e-cigarettes.” Here, too, the Suffolk Legislature moved while the federal government dawdled. Its action on these electronic devices that provide a shot of nicotine came after years of its pioneering actions against smoking — and in the face of lobbying by the tobacco industry. 


Other accomplishments last year included: banning the use of trans-fats by restaurants; requiring chain restaurants to post calorie counts on menus; requiring mandatory ethics training for the county’s elected and appointed officials and employees. The list of 21 “highlights” went on.


Yet, in the past there have also been big problems. In the late 1970s, for instance, with the Long Island Lighting Company pushing its nuclear power plant projects, LILCO held sway over several legislators. Indeed, LILCO executives would sit in a legislative back room with these lawmakers reporting to them as meetings progressed. That came to a crashing end with the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 and the rise of the anti-nuclear coalition led by Mr. Blass.


Watch this year for the conflict between Mr. Levy and the Suffolk Police Benevolent Association to play out with even more intensity in the legislative forum. Taking a seat on the legislature at the start of this year was Republican Thomas Muratore, former PBA vice president, who is expected to push various PBA issues.


Still, on balance, the legislature and its members have through the years exercised independence — reflecting an electorate in Suffolk that usually demonstrates unusual independence, too.