The new presiding officer of the Nassau County Legislature has tried to rein in legislators who talk out of turn, but her effort during a testy hearing on sewer consolidation on Monday seemed to favor her fellow Democrats.
Legis. Diane Yatauro (D-Glen Cove) cut off Republicans John Ciotti and Francis X. Becker because they had not asked for permission to speak. Yet it appeared from where citizens sit in the audience section that three Democratic legislators had earlier jumped in without her permission - David Mejias, David Denenberg, Wayne Wink.
Yatauro did later stop Denenberg from interrupting, but only after permitting him to engage in a long question-and-answer session where he made the case for the Suozzi Administration's consolidation plan by asking leading questions of Raymond Ribeiro, the county public works commissioner.
Granted, Ciotti does tend to ask a question in the middle of an answer to his prior question. But he seemed genuinely taken aback when Yatauro cut off his microphone.
He continued to ask questions in a loud voice, and he and Yatauro debated which would come first — lowering his voice or turning his microphone on. She turned it on, but he didn’t lower his voice all that much.
Bill Murphy
Comments (1)
The entire consolidation of special districts to save taxpayers money has been discussed, discussed again and than again, The Reps do not want it because it serves as the grassroots of their decades long patronage system and the Democrats want it to eliminate that waste for the taxpayers. We have heard enough from the legislators Republicans who never propose anything constructive and only voice obstructionism in the CL. Good for the Presiding Officer to shut off those blowhards mics and vote it up or down and am I ever glad it was up!