Minutes of LIADA Meeting of April 16th, 2005
Attendees: Judith H. Maxwell, Mark Finkel, Norm Maxwell, Lita Kelmenson, Helen Maxwell, Mary McWilliams, H. Scottie Coads,
Absentees: Muriel Finkel, Manny Kelmensen
Meeting called to order at 10:20 by Judith H. Maxwell
Amend March meeting attendees to read that Howard Werner was there.
Judith Maxwell spoke to Jack McNanie. He may place Bea in a hospice.
Judith will email request for Eliot Spitzer to speak at our June 5, meeting. Scottie will call Dan Perkins.
Mark to try speak to Jerry Nadler about speaking/attending June 5 meeting.
Lita will write a second column on Social Security.
Cynthia Kouril’s press conference announcing her candidacy for Nassau County District Attorney had about 30-40 people attending, there will be a primary in September with elections in November since there is now a second candidate - a woman from Pennsylvania who’s parents live in Garden City.
Scottie wants us to keep our focus or interests on candidates with the same political interests as ADA.
Treasurer’s report: Mary deposited $810, paid out $374.05 for the newsletter, we now have a balance of $2531.73.
Money from National: please email, fax and mail to Amy Isaacs, Marvin Rich and Christine Rato
Estate tax repeal: starts at 3.5 million dollars per individual.
Helen added information from an email of April 14 from Moveon.org
Howard thinks it is a no win situation
Mark stated that Carolyn McCarthy voted against it, so did Steve Israel
H. Scottie suggested setting up an appointment with McCarthy to discuss her vote, Judith to call her.
Judith - people tend to utilize Bankruptcy laws because of a personal crisis. There have been changes to the bankruptcy laws to protect credit cards, suggests that a Federal usury law be attached to it, putting a cap on interest rates.
Mary made a Motion for there to be a Parliamentarian on the Board, Mark seconded, accepted, Mary nominated, passed unanimously, Mary accepted.
Scottie: The inaugural ball for Wayne Hall is June 10 at the Marriott.
Invited guest, Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman, whom LIADA supported during his first campaign resulting in his 2001 election.
When he took office, Nassau County was in serious financial trouble. The county had a $466,000,000 recurring deficit; Nassau County Medical Center was in severe financial trouble; property taxes in the county had not been reassessed since 1938 placing a disproportionately high tax on properties in less wealthy neighborhoods, and there was a lack of governance.
In the last three and a half years the recurring deficit has been cut without using one time gimmicks. The number of county employees was cut by 1000 without layoffs. The county’s bond rating went up and the county refinanced bonds at a lower interest rate, reducing expenditures.
The county took the difficult step of not guaranteeing the Nassau County Medical Center’s payments, forcing the Medical Center to be responsible for itself. Other steps taken between the County and the Medical Center have resulted in improved financial health for the Medical Center. Nassau County has reassessed every residence in the county to help eliminate equities between communities. Mr. Weitzman continues to evaluate methods of creating fairer and more predictable property assessments.