The only Republican Primary for Nassau County Legislature this year pits the two primary candidates from the 1997 13th L.D. election against each other once again. The difference is that this year Nassau County Legislator Norma Gonsalves is the incumbent whereas in the previous legislative election Gonsalves and Patricia Maher were both vying for the right to run for an empty seat under the Republican banner.

The pPrimary run is not new for Gonsalves, who, in 1995 lost the primary for this same seat to Michael Fiechter by 68 votes. When Fiechter vacated his seat in 1997 to become a District Court judge, he left the field open for Gonsalves and Maher, both East Meadow residents, to meet in their first primary.

Now, two years later both women have a little more experience under their belt and are in different positions than they were then.

Gonsalves now has the advantage of being the incumbent for this seat. She also has the accomplishments of two years in the legislature to cite.

Maher has more campaigning experience. In 1998 she lost the Republican Primary for the 4th Congressional District to Gregory Becker but continued on to run on the Liberal Party Line in the general election. In that time she has gained, not only campaign experience but knowledge from residents about what they want in a candidate.

Gonsalves feels confident as she enters this primary. "I run on my record. Before I ran on my record as a community leader and civic activist, I continue to do that, and of course, I run on my record as a legislator," said Gonsalves.

A self-proclaimed grass-roots candidate in the last primary, Gonsalves has been a community leader for approximately 30 years. In that time she promoted a lot of programs, namely senior citizen housing, safe streets for the civilian patrol, and the Crime Watch Program. She was president of key organizations within the community and was a spokesperson for the jail advisory committee in her community as well as being a spokesperson on the Town of Hempstead Solid Waste Advisory Committee.

Maher is not without her own political background. She is a former Nassau County civil servant, served as a US Senate Intern in Washington DC, was on the Banking and Insurance Committee in the South Carolina Senate. She has worked in both the district attorney's office and the county attorney's office.

According to Maher she has spent a good portion of time recently walking the streets and speaking to the constituents about what they feel their legislators should be doing for them. Two issues that Maher has discovered are concerns of residents are the roadways- the fact that they often can't get out of their streets and notification when a commercial property is being developed or when a store is opening.

Roads are also an issue that Gonsalves has been focusing on and hopes to continue to focus on in the coming years. She has promoted and sponsored a number of road improvement projects over the years. One that she is most proud of is Newbridge Road, from Sunrise Highway to Jerusalem Road. The plans for rehabilitation of that road were on the drawing board for over 15 years before Gonsalves got behind it. When she became a legislator and discovered that it was a county road she pushed the project forward. According to Gonsalves, when she discovered there was some community opposition to the project she, as a freshman legislator held a public hearing in North Bellmore. After hearing the community's concerns, Gonsalves and the Legislature addressed those concerns and in June 1998 the project was approved and was put out to bid. Work began this July. This road, according to Gonsalves, was, "a serious health and safety hazard." Following the roadwork there will be a tree embellishment program to help with the beautification as well.

Downtown areas are also a concern to both candidates. Gonsalves praised the Operation Downtown Project in Bellmore and is working with the Town of Hempstead on the revitalization of East Meadow Avenue.

Maher worries about the survival of downtown areas in the coming years. One major concern that was expressed to her while she was walking through the district was that drug stores, Wal-Marts, and such stores have such a wide range of products that customers can get everything they need in one place, which takes customers away from the small Mom and Pop stores. Maher would like to see restrictions on the stores so they can only sell a certain type of product rather than selling everything in one place. According to Maher the store owners, "know they can't beat the malls and can't beat the prices. The one thing they have going for them is that they're convenient but they say their convenience dies out when somebody can go to CVS and get everything."

The two candidates, while running to represent the same party, are in very different positions entering this primary. Maher has concerns about getting the vote out because of her lack of funds, while Gonsalves is confident about her re-election. One thing that Maher feels she has going for her is the anti-Republican sentiment that constituents have expressed to her. She feels that because of the $300 million budget deficit under the Republican majority, many staunch Republicans are questioning whether they will vote Republican in this election. Maher has stressed to those that she has spoken to that she is not part of the "committee." She feels that she might gain the votes of Republicans who are disillusioned with the Republican incumbents.

Gonsalves feels that the current Legislature has made great strides to right the budget deficit and believes that if she is re-elected she will continue along with this trend. As far as the anti-Republican sentiment goes she said, "I believe that if people know firsthand what is happening, and that there are solutions out there and that the Legislature and I, as a Republican, are going to take the lead in restoring that fiscal responsibility and that there will be no more fiscal gimmickry, that one-shot revenues , anything that is not re-occurring cannot be used to fill the deficit, it can only be used in decreasing our debt service, the county executive knows where we stand on this so I have to say that I think people are astute enough to know that there are those of us who are working hard to promote fiscal reform and to address the concerns of our constituency." She said that her record of being a responsive legislator will speak for itself.

The primary between these two candidates will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 14.