69.0°,
A Few Clouds Toback announces run for Assembly
Former county legislator says his experience counts
Long Beach resident Jeff Toback, a former Nassau County legislator, said he will run for the vacated 20th Assembly District seat.
Todd Kaminsky, the previous assemblyman, was sworn in Tuesday as the state senator for the 9th District after defeating Hewlett Harbor resident Christopher McGrath in a special election on April 19. The senate seat was open due to the December conviction of Dean Skelos on federal corruption charges.
Toback, a Democrat, served in the legislature for five terms before being defeated in 2009 by Republican Howard Kopel in the 7th L.D. Toback served as the alternative deputy presiding officer of the legislature, chairman of the Judiciary Committee and is an attorney. In 2010, he challenged longtime Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach), in a Democratic primary and lost.
“I will use the lessons I learned in helping to bring Nassau County back from the brink of bankruptcy to solvency, and apply them to the problems that are plaguing Albany, and weigh heavily on the hardworking residents of the 20th Assembly District and Long Island at large,” Toback said in a prepared release.
In addition to his law career, Toback volunteers time to the Nassau-Suffolk Law Services representing indigent tenants in court cases and mediation. He is also president of the Oceanside-Island Rotary Club and founded the organization’s Art Heyman Memorial Tip Off Classic, a high school basketball tournament, now in it’s 12th year. The game’s proceeds benefit scholarships for Oceanside and Lawrence high school athletes.
Toback, and his wife, Arlene, have three children: Rebecca, Melissa and Danny.
When campaigning against Weisenberg, Toback told the Herald that to fix Albany: “We need to get people up there who understand that they are representatives of the people, and are not up there for their own personal gain. They’re not up there so they can collect a pension and a salary at the same time.”
The Republicans have not named a candidate. “We are considering several different candidates and a decision has yet to be made,” said Nassau County GOP Chairman Joe Mondello.
The district consists of Cedarhurst, Hewlett, Inwood, Lawrence, Woodmere, Atlantic Beach, Long Beach, Lido Beach, Oceanside, Island Park, Point Lookout and portions of East Rockaway.
