Michael Abrahams of Hempstead is seeking election as County Legislator in Nassau's 2nd Legislative District, challenging Democratic incumbent Roger Corbin. He is running on both the Republican Party and Independent Party lines. The second district includes New Cassel, Hempstead, Lakeview, and part of West Hempstead.

Abrahams, in a recent interview, said that he wants to be elected in order to fight for parity for residents of the second district, in the area of taxes and services, as well as environmental cleanups and the revitalization of both New Cassel and Hempstead.

The candidate runs a small public relations and marketing firm in the Village of Hempstead and serves as coordinator of the village's Weed and Seed anti-crime initiative. He is a former civic association president, who describes himself as an advocate for job development and child care, improved housing, crime reduction, and lower taxes. "I feel we're disproportionately taxed," the candidate said in a recent interview.

"I have been working with the local village government demanding that we get more money through the state for roads, for the improvement of streets in our village, community policing and sensitivity training for police officers," he said. "I certainly advocate for increased state, federal and local funding for community groups concerned with job development and improved housing for our young people."

Asked to assess the job the Democratic Party has done over the past two years in the majority, Abrahams responded, "I think they have failed miserably."

"For example," he said, "the members of the Democratic majority were going up and down screaming about patronage, patronage, too many people on the payroll. And then just before the end of the last session, they started screaming, 'We're grossly understaffed, and we need to start hiring all these people, in order to keep the county government running, and to adequately provide services.' .... It shows a lack of experience on behalf of the individuals making decisions."

He criticized Corbin, the incumbent District 2 legislator, for the 15.4 percent tax increase proposed by the Democratic majority last year as part of efforts to address the county's ongoing fiscal crisis.

"Then there's a 6 percent tax increase that will be attached to the LIPA lawsuit that the Democratic majority wants to settle, and then when you put that with the telephone tax of 4 percent, we're looking at 23 to 24 percent tax increases," said Abrahams. "Salaries don't increase at that rate for young people such as myself. And it's unrealistic to think that we can continue to live in the district, and not have increases in salary comparable to taxes. The law of diminishing effect is taking full effect. You can't maintain your home, you can't afford to live here. And when we look at the lack of services in the district, we pay the highest tax levy in the nation in District 2. We're hyper-overtaxed, hyper-assessed. And again, that's the fault of our representative. Because he is there to watch the dollars we pay, and make sure that there is equal reciprocity proportionate in goods and services to what we pay. We're not getting that."

Pointing to inequity faced by residents of the district, the candidate continued, "The county roads on Peninsula Boulevard and up in New Cassel, are not being maintained as they would be in Great Neck and Manhasset and the other communities that are heavily Democratic but pay less taxes than I do and have a far superior quality of life. I am convinced that that is the most important issue in the community - the fact that we're paying two to three times the amount of taxes that are being paid in other communities, and we're not even being considered in the return in goods and services."

Abrahams vowed to fight for the interests of District 2, and said he would be more responsive than Corbin has been. "In Lakeview, we have a situation where Mr. Corbin took office six-and-a-half years ago, and nothing has been done. Tanglewood Preserve - the same thing. The park has remained in a state of disrepair," he said. "The other areas of Nassau County negotiate and compromise, and they seem to be able to effectively deliver for their constituents. Mr. Corbin has not been able to deliver for the residents of District 2."

The candidate also promised to work to clean up the environment. "We have a toxic plume in New Cassel, in the industrial complex there. Nothing's been done. We have a toxic plume in South Garden City, coming out of Mitchel Field, that is rapidly encroaching upon the water supply of the residents of the Hempstead community. Nothing's been done," he said. "We certainly have documented reports all over the place regarding the toxins in the Hempstead Lake and the Tanglewood Preserve area - no environmental cleanup."

In addition, he said the county-maintained parks and roads in the district are not being adequately swept, plowed or repaved.

"My primary goal would be to look at the overassessment of taxes in District 2, and the lower return of goods and services," Abrahams added.

The candidate has been a resident of the Village of Hempstead for the past 25 years. He and his wife Vivianne have a 10-month-old daughter.