While much of the campaigns for county government have revolved around which party, Democratic or Republican, is to blame for the high tax burden placed on Nassau County residents, Legislator Vincent Muscarella of the 8th Legislative District, which includes Garden City, Garden City South, part of Floral Park, part of Elmont, part of Franklin Square and part of West Hempstead, said he prefers to focus on working together on a solution to Nassau's financial problems.

"There's nothing more rewarding or successful in government than for people of different ideas and different persuasions to voice their differences and argue sometimes, but then to come to a consensus as to what's best for the county," said Muscarella, who is running for re-election on the Republican ticket. "I think this year's budget process has been a fairly good one. I think all of the give and take over the sewer authority, which appeared to be a very controversial issue, really ended up a compromise agreement that was better than either side had originally wanted. I see the compromise as a success of government and a success of the political process."

A former member of the New York State Assembly, Muscarella was elected to the first session of the Nassau County Legislature in November 1995. As a member of the legislature, Muscarella said he became involved in issues concerning the health and safety of the county's residents.

As a charter member of the West Hempstead Civic Association and West Hempstead Chamber of Commerce, past president and member of the executive board of the Franklin Square Lions Club, member of the Franklin Square Chamber of Commerce and Franklin Square Knights of Columbus, Muscarella said he has attempted to stay active in the communities he represents and be responsive to the concerns and needs of his constituency.

However, when speaking about the issues facing the county, Muscarella points immediately to the county's finances as being the paramount issue.

"I think everybody agrees that the primary issue is that the county handle its fiscal problems properly so that government properly functions to provide the services required by its citizens," Muscarella said.

Muscarella said he is concerned with taxes, fiscal stability, public safety and maintaining the quality of life of the residents.

"The county executive and the Democratic majority have sought to increase revenues to meet expenses. My approach would have been initially the opposite - to try to meet expenditures to meet revenue," Muscarella said. "Once you reduce county government as much as possible, only then do you look at increasing revenues."

Members of the Republican caucus of the legislature have said they believe more of an effort should have been made to cut spending before raising taxes 19 percent in 2003, although the 2004 budget calls for no property tax increase.

Muscarella said that the failure to consolidate and merge departments since the county executive took over two years ago has been evident and that the number of departments and commissioners and expenditures within those departments has actually increased. "It just seems to me that two years ago, the Democrats had a plan to consolidate, to eliminate wasteful spending and to cut expenditures and they did exactly the opposite. They increased spending; they increased departments and they then raised taxes to pay for it," he said.

He said he believes there are duplicative functions in the county's agencies. "We need to seriously evaluate each of the agencies and where there are duplicative functions and bring them together so they can coordinate under one plan," he said.

Muscarella states that with a Republican legislature and a Democratic county executive, there would be a healthy system of checks and balances. "Neither party has exclusive rights to good ideas and bold initiatives. It seems to me that government works best when there is a healthy exchange of ideas," he said. "It would force both parties to roll up their sleeves and explore all possibilities to make government function more efficiently. I think now with the Democrats controlling both the executive and the legislature, the Democrats often take the easy way out, just raise revenue and attempt to blame the prior Republican administration."

Muscarella said he has been concerned with the reduction of the police force. He said the county needs to explore hiring a new class of officers to replace those who have been lost through attrition.