[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 131 (Tuesday, September 23, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1863-E1864]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                MAY NEWBURGER, AN ICON OF PUBLIC SERVICE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. GARY L. ACKERMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 23, 2003

  Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor an icon of public 
service, May W. Newburger, for her exemplary career, dedicated to the 
people of the Town of North Hempstead, Nassau County and New York 
State.
  May Newburger has had a long and distinguished career, to the great 
benefit of the people. May spent eight highly productive years, from 
1978 to 1986, in the New York State Assembly. She served as Town 
Councilwoman in North Hempstead from 1991 to 1993, and was the first 
woman to be elected chief executive of a Nassau County town. Now in her 
fifth term, she has served as Town Supervisor of North Hempstead since 
1993.
  As Town Supervisor, May Newburger has been the driving force behind 
long-term strategic financial planning in North Hempstead, most notably 
through the Debt Management and Capital Plans. She has already 
transformed a $7-million budget deficit into a surplus of $7.7 million, 
and through her leadership and foresight, she will have reduced the 
Town's debt by $107 million over the next ten years. This planning has 
helped move the Town from the lowest bond rating in its history to its 
highest ever.
  Mr. Speaker, under May Newburger's dynamic leadership, North 
Hempstead was named ``Town of the Year 1999'' by the Long Island 
Development Corporation, and received

[[Page E1864]]

the ``Quality of Life'' award from the Long Island Division of the 
American Society of Civil Engineers. May also spearheaded the 
initiative to reclaim the Morewood Property, an environmentally damaged 
area, turning it into the Harbor Links municipal golf course. This 
prescient, breathtaking project is one of America's most 
environmentally friendly championship level golf courses, winning the 
``Environmental Stewardship Award'' as well as the prestigious 
``Audubon Signature Distinction.'' Supervisor Newburger also 
successfully lobbied the Environmental Protection Agency for $200,000 
to designate New Cassel as a Brownfields Pilot Community.
  Throughout her career in public service, May Newburger has served on 
many state and national committees and has received innumerable awards 
and honors. In 1981, she served as a New York State Delegate to the 
White House Conference on Families; from 1987 to 1989 she chaired the 
American Jewish Congress' National Commission on Women's Equality. She 
was also a member of the State Judicial Committee on Women in the 
Courts, the Governor's Commission of Domestic Violence and the State 
Commission on Child Care.
  Mr. Speaker, the good citizens of North Hempstead and Nassau County 
are truly blessed to have had the great benefit of May Newburger's 
vision, leadership, dedication and drive for these many years. Her 
commitment to her constituents has never flagged; she has been 
indefatigable in the cause of improving the lives of others. I am awed 
by her accomplishments, humbled to have known her, and very proud to 
call her my friend.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues in the House of Representatives to 
please rise and join me now in honoring May W. Newburger, in 
celebrating her outstanding career in public service, and in extending 
our best wishes to her as she goes on to meet new challenges.

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