If there was one thing people seemed to agree upon at Tuesday's packed house meeting of the Great Neck Democratic Club, it was that Lisanne Altmann showed courage in showing up to field questions from her constituents about her role in the recent crisis in leadership in the Nassau Legislature. She and party Chairman Jay Jacobs who was another invited guest speaker appeared conciliatory in spirit, but wary of each other. It was as if shards of a relationship had been realigned gingerly without the glue of trust to hold them together.

Club President Steven Markowitz opened the meeting, which although heated at some points, remained civil. He said, "We entered into two months of the worse political infighting, deal-making, legal maneuvering and high drama that Nassau County has ever seen. In the end, thankfully, nothing changed - Judy Jacobs remained presiding officer and Peter Schmitt, the minority leader and it seems we were put through all this pain for no good reason....we should not lose sight of the fact that if any one of a number of crucial court decisions had gone the other way, Republican Peter Schmitt would be the presiding officer today." He also noted that the Republicans would never open up a forum such as the one about to begin, where a politician would come forward to answer the concerns and questions of the party faithful.

Ms. Altmann appearing rather flushed, but composed tendered her apologies to the crowd for "causing any pain" to them but that incomplete information had come out in the press. She said that she had learned a few things from the experience, namely that she should have consulted more with her constituents. She said, "Ever since I was a little girl, I have always avoided asking for help. I thought though that as deputy presiding officer, I would have brought a net benefit to my district." She reminded the audience that she had always pushed a progressive agenda; that she had worked originally for Howard Dean in the last presidential election. "I hope we can rebuild a relationship."

In Jay Jacobs opening remarks he expressed relief that the 82-day ordeal was over, but that he was not going to be a "revisionist" in relation to what had happened. He said that when the two legislators, Altmann and Roger Corbin, had broken with the Democrats, he had placed 14 messages to them, none of which were returned. He also added that Corbin had never come to the Democrats asking for their support in the aborted run; that he and Altmann had gone to the Republicans first.

Jerry Sharfman, legislative aide for Congressman Gary Ackerman quoted Lincoln in reminding Ms. Altmann that a "house divided cannot stand ..." and went on to add that in such a crisis, Ms. Altmann had not sought to educate the public about her position.

The question that came up again and again in various forms was "Why?" "Why did you do what you did?" "Why should we trust you again?"

Ms. Altmann said, "The group has misunderstood me" and that by having been portrayed as rebelling against the party leadership for "my personal gain has trivialized my position ... give me a chance to govern again ... I guarantee you that the 10 of us (the Democrats) are grown-ups and we can work together."

One member of the audience bluntly cut to the chase asking how much money the crisis had cost the taxpayers in lawyers' fees. Ms. Altmann said repeatedly, "Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would go to court." She said she had "no idea" what the cost would be.

Dan Nachmanoff asked how she could have supported Corbin as presiding officer in charge of a $2 billion budget for Nassau County in light of his personal bankruptcies. Ms. Altmann said that she was unaware of his bankruptcies, but felt that he had been "unfairly gone after" and that he had tremendous support in his own community. She added, "Once the lawyers got involved it was beyond my control."

Another party member challenged Ms. Altmann by saying, "Don't you realize that if the court decisions had gone differently that Peter Schmitt could have been presiding officer?"

Ms. Altmann said that in "my heart of hearts, I never once thought that Peter Schmitt (the Republican minority leader) would become presiding officer ... that would have been obscene."

At one point Jay Jacobs said that the thing that became clear to him during the process was that Altmann and Corbin seemed to never anticipate the potential moves of the other side. He said, "I play chess and to play successfully, you have to think about what moves your opponent can take."

Sighing, Ms. Altmann said, "Throughout all of this I have tried to be a lady and not air any dirty laundry ... Do you really want to know?" She then went on to discuss the matter of the ouster of Larry Aaronson who had been the head of the Nassau Off-Track Betting Corporation. Ms. Altmann said that she was very troubled by the pressure to fire Mr. Aaronson that came from party Chairman Jay Jacobs. She said she had met privately and she thought in confidence with Judy Jacobs regarding her discomfort after her vote and had felt betrayed when Ms. Jacobs discussed the matter with Mr. Jacobs (no relation). In some circles, the firing of Aaronson and the hiring of Dino Amoroso, a top aide to Charles Hynes, the Brooklyn district attorney was seen as "pure politics" in the pending Suozzi campaign for governor.

Mr. Jacobs countered that under state law, the party chairman is designated as the person who names the OTB chair and that it was well within his rights and duties to do so. He also said that Ms. Altmann had not stated her objections in advance of the appointment. He added that there are times that he is called on to intervene behind the scenes in legislative matters and to play the role of mediator in working toward a consensus on an issue.

Under more questioning Ms. Altmann stated that she felt the Legislature should be more independent, but that under Judy Jacobs' leadership it had become a "rubberstamp" for anything the county executive wanted. She felt that Roger Corbin would be able to bring reforms to the way the legislature ran. Those reforms run the gamut from running meetings on time and hiring a parliamentarian to revising the charter that was written for the formation of the legislature.

There was also an exchange about the charges of racism that were made during the conflict. Mr. Jacobs said that he had attended a lengthy meeting in Mr. Corbin's district. He said that during the evening he had told the audience that his lack of support for Mr. Corbin was not racially inspired. He had also stated that he could never see himself supporting Al Sharpton for president, but could see himself supporting Senator Barack Obama for that position in the future.

The meeting closed with Ms. Altmann saying that she believes that the Democrats will be a stronger group now. Mr. Jacobs said to Ms. Altmann, "Making a bad decision doesn't make you a bad person." Comptroller Howard Weitzman praised the leadership of Steven Markowitz during the crisis and said that the frank forum held was a "proud moment for the Democrats."

The reaction in the audience varied. Some felt Ms. Altmann was self-serving at worst and naïve in the ways of politics at best. While some attendees were not swayed from their anger with Ms. Altmann's explanation of her actions and said they would never vote for her again, others took the pragmatic approach. One said, "The reality is that she will be our legislator for the next two years and we need to work together ... she will have to work extra hard to repair this rift. "