Peter Schmitt, of Massapequa, was unanimously elected minority leader of the Nassau County Legislature at a caucus of the Republican Conference on Dec. 14.

Schmitt, who served as the deputy presiding officer for the Republican majority since the Legislature's inception on Jan. 1, 1996, will take on the role of minority leader when the new legislative session begins on Jan. 3.

While recognizing that the roles of deputy presiding officer and minority leader are different, Schmitt feels as though his tenure as second in command for the majority has prepared him for this new leadership role. "I am very knowledgeable about the role of the Legislature, very knowledgeable in what has gone on in the county over the last four years and there will be a certain triangulation between the Democrats on the Legislature, the Republicans on the Legislature and the county executive and knowledge is a good thing to have in that situation," noted Schmitt.

The role of the minority leader, as envisioned by Schmitt, is to hold together the delegation, the nine Republican votes. "It's a razor thin majority," said Schmitt. "The other side has to assist in the facilitation of the government where the majority is correct and to stand for Republican principles and to point out the fallacies of the Democrat arguments where that is appropriate. I think that's the message that the people have sent and I intend to lead the Republican Conference back to its traditional roots." Part of going back to those traditional roots, Schmitt said, is advocating less government, a smaller government and less taxes. He also notes that as the minority leader his role will be to keep the Legislature from falling into the trap of being overly partisan, "to be cooperative when it is good for the citizens of the county and to have the courage to stand up and make a stink, so to speak, when something is being considered that is not in the best interest of the residents of the county, in our opinion, philosophically speaking, and to pick those times and to just hold everybody together."

The atmosphere of the legislature will change as a whole as of Jan. 3, when it goes from a 14-5 Republican majority to at 10-9 Democratic majority. Whereas the Republicans had over a two-thirds majority and could override any vetoes, the Democrats will not have that luxury and if one or two Democrats are missing they will no longer be in the majority. Schmitt noted that when the campaign season first began, many newspapers reported that if the Democrats could pick up two seats, bringing them to seven seats, they would be in a position of enormous power because they would take away that two-thirds majority. Schmitt stated, "They got the majority but we've got nine so it's going to be new, it's going to be something that they've never faced before and we've never faced before so it's going to be interesting."

Schmitt believes that in the midst of the many problems that the county is facing with the budget shortfall being the minority leader will be easier than being either the deputy presiding officer or the presiding officer, although he contends that in spite of the election results the Republican majority did a lot to correct the county's fiscal problems. "The Republican majority on the Legislature has already accomplished a lot in helping to balance the county budget and to lead the county out of the woods. We're about 60 percent of the way home. We're dealing with a 10-year structural imbalance in the budget and we've got that about 60-70 percent solved and for the Democrats it's just a matter of building on that," said Schmitt.

When asked what his goals as minority leader were, Schmitt responded, "To ensure that the nine members of the Republican Conference service their districts so that they can be re-elected. We need to continue to make sure that county services go into our districts, which I am in a position to do. We need to stick together because as nine together we have the strength to ensure that we can deliver the services for our districts and we have to be the loyal opposition to point out what will inevitably come to pass, which will be the institutional proclivity of the Democratic establishment to spend money."

While very proud to have been selected by the Republican Conference as their leader, Schmitt noted it is a bittersweet honor because they had to become the minority for it to happen. "But to be turned to in a time when the Republican Party obviously needs to be revitalized and needs leadership is an honor. It's very flattering and I'm looking forward to the job," said Schmitt.