(Ed. Note: The following letter was sent to Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi and is printed here at the author's request.)

I think it's a wonderful idea that you are running to be the Democratic Candidate for governor and you certainly have my support (though I think Eliot Spitzer is a good candidate, too). I think your "Fix Albany" is right on the mark but, unfortunately, this means that many "professional" politicians in Albany will be against you, but keep up the fight.

A sore point for Nassau County citizens involves property taxes, especially school taxes and I am happy to see you are out in front of this issue. Much of the talk, however, is about getting more funds from Albany or an income tax, but I think this approach is wrong. I believe the real issue is the abject failure of school boards to get a handle on finances and they appear to have little real control over how money is spent.

I would even go further and state that school boards don't have the skills or the training or the time to do an adequate job and it is now time to kind of "think out of the box." The first step would be to place teacher negotiations at the county level. At present, school boards do an awful job in contract negotiation, while unions have the opportunity to play one district against the other. Manhasset, as usual, has again been taken to the cleaners by the teacher's union and now other districts have to suffer the result.

Purchasing could also be done at the county level to save on larger scale of ordering. By relieving school boards of contract negotiations and fiscal management, they will have more time on programming and academic matters. I am sure there will be objections from school boards and unions when they scream local control, but the savings to the taxpayer will more than offset complaints.