14 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • JULY 2018
IN THE NEWS
JOSH LAZAFAN: THE NEW KIDS By NICK CICCONE
It wasn’t enough for Josh Lafazan,
24, of Syosset, to become the youngest
Nassau County legislator in history
in November. Now, he’s bringing his
contemporaries with him into local
government at an unprecedented rate.
The gregarious, fast-talking young
politico, who first made headlines
when he was elected to the Syosset
Central School District Board of Education
at 18 and who now represents
Nassau’s 18th Legislative District,
says he doesn’t mind being the
“young guy.” The questioning perks
him up — even if he sometimes finds
himself being condescended to.
“I’m the only legislator who lives
in mom’s basement,” he jokes.
Lafazan’s age gives him a
rapport with his interns,
he says, and about 40 of
them will gradually take
over the Franklin Avenue
legislative building before
July, well above the about
five interns that lawmakers
typically have. When
dozens of young people volunteered
to work on his campaign a little more
than a year ago, he got the idea to
create a bona fide government internship
program — one where students
would be able to do a whole lot more
than fetch coffee.
“No matter how young they were,
no matter whether they were a political
science major or never watched
a minute of C-SPAN in their life, I
promised myself I would give them
the opportunity to dive headfirst into
the world of politics,” Lafazan says.
Diving headfirst into something
new seems to be a popular refrain
for the freshman lawmaker, who is a
registered independent but caucuses
with Democrats. He eagerly
rattles off a list of rehearsed
100-days-in-office
accomplishments,
and although there’s
something admittedly
politician-like
about it, Lafazan has
undoubtedly had a
front-loaded year.
He hopes to get jaded colleagues
to adopt “the millennial way
of doing business.”
He drafted a bill to require American
Sign Language interpreters at
every county emergency press conference
— one that received bipartisan
support at the legislature and that
County Executive Laura Curran ultimately
signed. He appointed a council
of representatives to act as liaisons
to the Nassau County Police Department
in the 18th District. He voted to
strengthen county policies on sexual
harassment and to expand social host
laws to include language about opioids.
He’s proposed a package of bills
to address the opioid crisis in concert,
including provisions that would create
24-hour addiction assessment centers
, an addition crisis hotline and stricter
enforcement of substance-free dormitories
at Nassau colleges.
With the workload Lafazan describes,
his team of interns sound
more like junior staffers — young
people who mirror his enthusiasm.
“Many of them have no interest in
politics,” he says, referring to some
interns who are studying criminal
justice, “but they have an interest
in me because I treat them like an
equal.”
As Lafazan made the jump
from aspiring politician to elected
official, he says, the internship
program became more
governmental than
political. To start with, the summer
interns work together conducting
a deep dive of the Nassau County
Charter, to both familiarize themselves
with local government and
also to try to spot potential areas for
revamped legislation. Lafazan says
the interns are polled to on their interests
and skill sets, and he and his
team try to make it as individualized
as possible.
Those interested in lawmaking
would be placed on a “policy team,”
which focuses on poring over Nassau
County laws and proposed bills
throughout the tri-state area, and
“actually will recommend policies for
our office to introduce as bills, which
again, is so substantive and you don’t
find in other internships.”
One of Lafazan’s interns, Victoria
Edwards, 21, of Hempstead, said that
her first week on the job has “made
politics come alive” for her.
“I was honestly inspired because
he’s the youngest legislator,” Edwards
says. “He’s so close to me in age, so I
just wanted to see what it was that he
was doing, and I wanted to be a part
of that in some way.”
It’s jarring to see Lafazan’s zest for
public office at a time when Americans
are increasingly divided on how
government should function — but
he’s aware of that contrast. What’s
refreshing about Lafazan is that
he doesn’t seem to entertain the
idea of political opponents or
partisanship, often touting his
registered independence.
He hopes his optimism can infect
some of his jaded colleagues
at the infamously combative
legislature, and “open up their
minds to a new way of doing
business,” he says, “the millennial
way of doing business.”
Nassau County Legis. Joshua Lafazan (D-Syosset),
the county’s youngest county legislator ever, is
encouraging more young people to get civically
involved. (Photo by Nick Ciccone)