Michael J. Fitzpatrick for Assembly District 8

First elected to the Assembly in 2002, Republican Michael J. Fitzpatrick is one of the chamber's most iconoclastic members, a reliable challenger to the conventional wisdom of Albany.

Fitzpatrick, 69, of St. James, a career financial analyst, repeatedly raises the alarm on excessive spending and was one of the few members who stood his ground against the unraveling of Tier 5 and 6 pension changes that had been designed to reduce costs.

For more than four years, he has advocated for the state to rename its higher educational system to the University of New York and to make Stony Brook University, a neighbor to his district, a national brand. Fitzpatrick also wants Stony Brook to field top conference sports programs.

Making her first run for elective office, Democrat Lynn M. Trupiano-O'Keefe, 61, of Kings Park, would like to see some of the buildings at the former Kings Park Psychiatric Center repurposed for veterans housing. A retired nuclear medical technologist, she is passionate about reducing medical costs. She supports the New York Health Act, a universal single-payer healthcare system which she said would reduce taxes.

Trupiano-O'Keefe knows her community and would ably represent it in the Assembly. But Fitzpatrick's principled fiscal restraint advocacy is a voice that must continue to be heard.

Newsday Opinion endorses Fitzpatrick.