Democrat Dolores Sedacca is seeking election to the Nassau County Legislature in District 9, challenging Republican incumbent Richard Nicolello. The district encompasses Carle Place, the Willistons, Garden City Park, Mineola, and New Hyde Park, as well as parts of Albertson and Westbury.

Sedacca, a former mayor of East Williston, currently works for the Town of North Hempstead as director of public affairs, and also previously served as director of legislative affairs for the town.

The candidate believes her government experience, particularly as mayor, has prepared her well for the job of county legislator. "I've prepared balanced budgets as a mayor. And I was able to do, on the small scale naturally, what needs to be done at the county level," she said in a recent interview. "I streamlined the budget. I got rid of wasteful spending. I awarded and gave merit raises to deserving employees, and built up morale."

While mayor, Sedacca was also executive director and an officer for the Nassau County Village Officials Association, which is composed of all 64 villages in the county. Through her work with the association, she lobbied state officials on issues and legislation that were of common concern to all villages.

Sedacca has also served as president of the civic association in East Williston and an officer for the North Hempstead Civic Coalition. In addition, she has owned her own real estate business as a licensed real estate broker, since 1983. For her accomplishments, Sedacca noted, she has been profiled in the prestigious Who's Who of America publication.

Sedacca is challenging an incumbent in a traditional Republican stronghold, but she hopes to win voters over by showing that her past record as a mayor and an activist has proven that she is looking out for the interests of everyone, and "not just the political party or the political machine."

Sedacca is a lifelong resident of the 9th district. She grew up in New Hyde Park, and has lived in East Williston for the past 27 years. She and her husband Bob, a dental technician, have two grown sons, Paul and Sean. After raising her sons in the district and gaining key experience in both government and business, she feels she knows well the needs of both the district and the county. "And I'd like to be a part of the new team with the new county executive, and bringing about the needed change - providing the discipline, the foresight, and the experience that I've had," she said. "I generally made a clean sweep when I was the mayor, of unnecessary things. And I whittled down the budget. And I was able to actually expand services, and do all of these things, and I never had to raise taxes."

Sedacca, who supported Glen Cove Mayor Thomas Suozzi in the Democratic Primary for County Executive this summer, relates to the "I can do it, because I've done it" message of the now-Democratic candidate for the chief county post. "We've had a lot of experience together, as I said, lobbying in Albany, and also as part of the Nassau County Village Officials. The City of Glen Cove became an associate member of the Village Officials," she said of Suozzi. "We've had very similar issues and concerns. We've shared our thoughts and views on how to get things done."

Sedacca feels that she can do a better job than the incumbent legislator because she is independent of what she calls the Republican "party machine and patronage system." "I can just make choices that don't have to be approved, okayed or told. I can cast votes that I feel will benefit the 9th district and Nassau County as a whole - not votes that I am told to cast because the party boss told me that's what had to be done. And that is basically how the legislature has been run since its inception in 1996."

Asked whether she thinks the Democratic party has turned the county's troubled finances around since taking majority control of the legislature two years ago, Sedacca responded, "I think that they've made a good start, but they've only been able to put a toe in the water. They need to jump in. And with a new county executive as a Democrat, and more Democrats on the legislature, they'll be able to jump in, and really start swimming hard." She added, "Right now there's just a simple majority. And a supermajority is needed for funding and bonding and other financial issues."

One of the most important things that needs to be done now to ensure the fiscal stability of the county, Sedacca said, is the elimination of unnecessary patronage spending.

Specifically, she said, all patronage jobs and wasteful positions should be eliminated, and departments should be overhauled to ensure more effective management. For example, the candidate said, the county should use more in-house attorneys to handle legal work rather than contract that work out to politically connected outside law firms. By discontinuing such "sweetheart deals," in the areas of law, engineering and planning, Sedacca estimates the county could save millions of dollars per year. She pointed to a line item in the current budget that allocates $160 million to outside consulting. "If we just cut 10 percent of that, that would be a $16 million savings, just on one line of the budget," she said.

"Something like $300 an hour is what these firms get," she added.

"Government should be run by people who know the job they are doing, and who are loyal to the constituents - not loyal to the people who have given them party donations."

In addition to being the Democratic candidate, Sedacca has been given the nomination by the Working Families Party.