If you judge him by the number of negative mailers sent by the New York Republican State Committee, Josh Lafazan is either considered very vulnerable in his bid for re-election in the newly redesigned Nassau County Legislature District 18 or very strong.

Lafazan’s new district includes Williston Park, Manhasset Hills, Albertson, Searingtown
East Hills, Greenvale, Old Brookville, Glen Head, Upper Brookville, Matinecock, Centre Island, Bayville, Mill Neck Oyster Bay, Cove Neck and Laurel Hollow.

It does not include Syosset, where he lived until his hometown was removed through redistricting, which Lafazan is fighting in court.

Lafazan, who is running on the Democratic line, may have also drawn special scrutiny since he had earlier announced his candidacy for the 3rd Congressional seat currently occupied by Republican George Santos.

He has suspended the Congressional campaign while he runs for the Legislature, but did not rule out resuming the campaign if the opportunity presents itself.

Lafazan who at 23 years old became Nassau’s youngest-ever legislator upon his election in November 2017, offers innovative ideas for some of the county’s protracted issues.

He has advocated for “cool downtowns,” an idea former County Executive Tom Suozzi pushed in the early 2000s to bolster the building of homes within what is reasonable for a community.

He also suggested that given the country’s ongoing inability to accurately assess the value of residential and commercial properties, the responsibility should be turned over to the towns.

He has advocated for Nassau County’s government to go carbon neutral by 2035. A bill to create a task force to push the county toward carbon neutrality by 2035 is currently stalled in the Legislature.

Lafazan wants the county to make further improvements to its infrastructure to address increased heavy rainstorms, electrical grid resiliency, emergency response protocols and sewer leakages.

He is opposed by Samantha Goetz, who currently serves as a deputy county attorney in Nassau County and is running on the Republican and Conservative lines.

Goetz has spent most of her career working as an attorney under Republican administrations. She worked as an assistant town attorney in Oyster Bay from December 2017 to January 2022. From January 2015 to December 2017, she served as deputy Nassau County Attorney

She began her career as counsel to Republican state Sen. Carl Marcellino and was responsible for advising the senator on legal implications of legislation, policies, actions, and administrative decisions.

Unsurprisingly, Goetz’s position closely mirrors those of Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and other Republican leaders.

To address Nassau’s high cost of living, Goetz says the county should not raise taxes and instead, residents should be educated about tax benefits they are eligible.

She also follows the GOP lead on crime, saying she opposes “defunding” the police – a policy no Nassau Democrat is proposing – and cashless bail.

Most troubling is her accusation in advertising paid for the New York State Republican State Committee that Lafazan raised taxes on 65% of Nassau residents by voting to reassess all county properties.

This claim echoes Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman. And it’s untrue.

A reassessment of properties does not raise the amount of property taxes called for in a budget. It does change how much an individual taxpayer will be required to pay.

The reassessment done under County Laura Curran did find that 65% of Nassau’s properties were underpaying their taxes – and 35% were overpaying their taxes due to the county having an incorrect value of their home.

The false claims by Blakeman and Geotz help make the case for Lafazan’s call for town governments to take over the reassessment of properties if county taxpayers are to ever pay what they really owe. And the depths to which county Republicans and their candidates have sunk.

Even more alarming are mailers attacking Lafazan’s receipt of a student loan from a billionaire couple that he did not report and a personal contribution to his campaign. Fair enough.

But the mailer makes its point by picturing Lafazan, who is Jewish, holding handfuls of money – a common trope used against Jews for hundreds of years. At a time of rising antisemitism, this is very insensitive at best.

Lafazan offers Nassau County the creative ideas it needs for the future.

We strongly endorse Josh Lafazan for Nassau County Legislature District 18.