4th Congressional District endorsement — McCarthy

U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy said she hasn’t forgotten about what brought her to Washington in the first place: fighting for tougher gun control, better schools and a higher quality of life for all residents.

McCarthy is being challenged in the 4th Congressional District by Republican Fran Becker, who ran against her in 2010, and Conservative Frank Scaturro.

McCarthy is keen on many of the issues that affect the district. She has fought to control the airplane noise from Kennedy Airport that plagues southwest Nassau County. She has lobbied for legislation to relieve South Shore homeowners from the burden of high flood insurance premiums, and sought to get rid of the onerous mandate that these payments be made in one lump sum. On both fronts, there is still more work to be done, and we expect McCarthy to keep fighting.

She differs sharply from her opponents on the federal government’s role in solving the economic crisis, on health care reforms and on the future of Social Security and Medicare. She has been frequently criticized for voting in lockstep with President Obama.

But we believe that McCarthy votes her conscience, not what her party dictates. She is known as one of the more bipartisan members of Congress, and more people like her are needed in the divisive House of Representatives, where too many people seem to have the next election in mind.

Becker has been a Nassau County legislator since the body was formed in 1996. While he has a good record of constituent services that we expect he would continue if elected to Congress, we’re not sure that a legislator from a financially strapped county is the best person to send to Washington to try to solve the federal government’s financial woes.

Scaturro seems to be knowledgeable about the workings of the federal government, and has studied the Constitution. He helped secure money for the restoration of Grant’s Tomb in New York City. He has done his homework, and will be someone to watch in the future.

But given the work McCarthy has done for the people of the 4th district, we believe she has earned another four years.