The stunning ascent of Judy Jacobs in Nassau County government reached yet another level this week when the Democratic Party's five incumbent legislators and five legislators-elect unanimously voted in favor of naming her their designated presiding officer for the new term.

"I'm very humbled and honored to be chosen unanimously by the delegation," said Jacobs.

The Legislature as a whole, including the body's nine returning Republicans, must officially vote whether to approve Jacobs as presiding officer shortly after the new term commences on Jan. 1, 2000. If Jacobs is approved, as is expected, she will officially lead the Democrats as they take over the majority.

"Judy Jacobs is an outstanding choice for presiding officer. I was delighted that the new majority came together and unanimously selected her," said Nassau's Democratic party chairperson, State Assemblyman Thomas DiNapoli. "Her talent and ability to focus issues in the right way and work in a collaborative fashion I know will ensure that she will be a great leader for our majority caucus and will help to put Nassau County back on the right track."

"We need her leadership now more than ever, so I enthusiastically join with my Nassau legislative colleagues in supporting their decision to select Judy," DiNapoli continued.

Jacobs entered politics relatively late in life when, after decades of community activism in and around Woodbury, she successfully ran for county legislator in 1995, but she's making up for lost time with the way she has rapidly moved up the chain of command. After all, it was only last March that Jacobs replaced Bruce Nyman as the minority leader.

Jacobs became minority leader during a time when the Democrats were virtually powerless and fragmented, but the county's $300 million deficit and budget fiasco led to a remarkable turnabout on Election Day that shifted the balance of power in the Legislature from a 14-5 Republican stranglehold to a 10-9 advantage in the favor of the Democrats.

"I'm still mind-boggled," admitted Jacobs. "It is absolutely amazing. I anticipated a call for change, but never in a million years did I think we'd go from minority to majority in one day," said Jacobs.

The Democrats can now forget about simply restoring checks and balances to a Republican-controlled system; rather, they will take the lead as the county enters the next millennium. But there is a down side to this, as the onus of fixing the county's financial woes will now rest more squarely on their shoulders.

"It definitely puts us in a responsible position," acknowledged Jacobs. "We always took our role in the Legislature responsibly, even as the minority, but we realize this is a very big difference."

Jacobs also realizes that, after four years of frustration, many of her legislation proposals - virtually neglected by the Republican majority - have a good chance of coming to fruition.

Most recently, Jacobs has sought legislation that would prohibit stores from displaying cigarettes in reach of children and eliminate point-of-sale advertising of cigarettes in stores, and legislation calling for the formation of an Educational Resource Center, which would establish a bureau of volunteer speakers who would visit schools to give lectures and workshops.

Though Jacobs sees the upcoming term as an opportunity for Democrats to finally implement many of their ideas, she understands that by no means will her party dominate the Legislature's agenda.

"The minority is really just one shy of the majority," Jacobs said.

While the Republicans for the last four years could pass anything they wanted, with or without their counterpart's support, the Democrats will not have that kind of unfettered power, explained Jacobs. Therefore, cooperation between parties will be important.

And Jacobs assures that there will be cooperation, and that she will foster a bipartisan environment in which all ideas will be heard. "There won't be the kind of partisan politics as there was in past. It will be a more open type of legislature," said Jacobs. "Certainly, if it's up to me as presiding officer to set a tone, the tone will be one of inclusion."

Incumbent legislator Barbara Johnson agrees. "Judy has the quality of inclusiveness. She includes everybody in the decision making. She's not dictatorial. She talks to all of us, she listens to all of our opinions, and this is a unique characteristic for any leader to have," she said.

To ensure that the Legislature works in a bipartisan way, and to encourage a free exchange of ideas where no one party is shut out, Jacobs wants to push for several reforms that will make the governing process not only more inclusive for both parties, but for the public as well.

For example, said Jacobs, "We always felt that [at] a Legislature meeting, there should be half hour set aside at the beginning of the meeting for public comment." Under the current system, the public sometimes must wait hours to comment. Jacobs said that these meetings can be "torture" to people with busy schedules or dependent children.

Jacobs also wants to create a seven-day waiting period between a hearing on an issue and the vote concerning that issue, thereby preventing legislators from making knee-jerk decisios, forcing them to weigh the testimony carefully. If we hear something and immediately vote on it, we're showing an absolute disregard [for the testimony]," said Jacobs.

The 10 Democrats making up the new majority in January will be Jacobs (D-Woodbury), Johnson (D-Port Washington), Lisanne Altmann (D-Great Neck), Roger Corbin (D-Westbury), Michael Zapson (D-Long Beach), Patrick Williams (D-Uniondale), Joseph Scannell (D-Baldwin), Jeff Toback (D-Oceanside), Brian Muellers (D-Glen Cove) and David Denenberg (D-Merrick).