Nassau should follow Suffolk Exec. Steve Levy's proposal

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy continues to get bombarded by criticism from those who oppose his initiative to establish equity and justice in the awarding of county contracts. The latest comes from the labor unions who say the measure is unfair to immigrants and that it would place an unfair burden on companies who would have to plow through "bureaucratic" red taped to comply.

It remains astounding to us that these opponents would continue to acknowledge and accept the illegal practice of companies who hire illegal immigrants, pay them below-average wages and then compete with other companies for municipal contracts who obey the law. And, they continue to refer to any action taken to stem the tide of illegal immigration within our towns, villages, counties and states as acts against "immigrants."

This and other efforts to confuse the issue and put a racial slant on it points to their lack of effective, reasonable and responsible counter arguments. We hope Levy continues to address these opponents with the fairness of his argument that Suffolk County lawmakers support him in this cause when it comes up for a vote next month. More important we hope Nassau lawmakers follow suit. We'll be watching and so will the public, most of which understands the difference between common sense and semantics.