The following appears in the December 6-12, 2013 issue of the Long Island Business News:

Here’s my take on those who gained and those who lost in this year’s game of Long Island politics.

WINNERS

Ed Mangano: The Nassau County executive handily won a second term with 59 percent of the vote. He was re-elected despite a NIFA control period and his failure to fix the county’s structural operating budget deficit and its broken assessment system.

Ronald Stack: The 10-year chairman of the NIFA board proved to be a statesman of the first rank who was not under any politician’s thumb. Thanks to his municipal expertise, he was a strong and fair guiding hand in tackling Nassau’s fiscal problems.

Peter King: The congressman stood up to many in his own party when he opposed the government shutdown. He was right – it was a bad tactic and took the spotlight off the disastrous rollout of Obamacare.

George Maragos: By re-electing him, voters gave the Nassau County comptroller the opportunity to advertise his ignorance of public finance for four more years.

Bruce Ratner: Knowing that Mangano was desperate to get a pre-election Nassau Coliseum deal, Ratner took him to the cleaners.

LIPA: Gov. Andrew Cuomo finally gutted the Rube Goldberg LIPA structure designed by Richie Kessel.

LOSERS

Tom Suozzi: The man who claimed he would one day be president of the United States ended his political career not with a bang, but a whimper.

John Ciampoli: As Nassau County attorney, he lost every lawsuit he filed against NIFA and now he has lost his job. Newsday’s editorial on his dismissal said it best: “Good riddance.”

Tim Bishop: The Independent Office of Congressional Ethics finding – that there’s “substantive reason” to believe the congressman violated the law when he sought a donation from a Sagaponack resident while assisting that person in getting a fireworks permit – doesn’t bode well for his political future.

James Carver: The Nassau Police Union president’s election-eve contract proposal, which alleged to save money, was stopped in its tracks when a NIFA analysis revealed it could cost Nassau taxpayers an additional $170 million to $240 million over the next four years. Mangano’s post-election announcement that he expects the NIFA control period to last through his second term will continue to ensure Carver’s membership will receive no raises.

Long Island Senate Republicans: Their support of Cuomo’s ill-conceived gun control law earlier this year is expected to cost them dearly in next’s year’s election.

Nassau taxpayers: They are stuck with four more years of inept county officials who govern by press release and are taking Nassau down the road to fiscal perdition.

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