Veteran attorney seeks legislator’s seat

As a teenager, Adam Moser helped his father, Stephen Moser, campaign for Hempstead town council, Family Court judge and State Supreme Court justice, and the younger Moser was clearly bitten by the political bug: He has run for District Court and Family Court judgeships, winning a six-year District Court term in 1999.

Now the Hewlett resident, who has a law practice in Rockville Centre, has thrown his hat into the ring again, as the Democratic candidate challenging incumbent County Legislator Howard Kopel, a Republican from Lawrence, in the 7th Legislative District.

The district encompasses Cedarhurst, Hewlett, Inwood, Lawrence, North Woodmere, Woodmere, Bay Park, Island Park, Mill Brook and parts of Oceanside and East Rockaway.

“The party was looking for a candidate, and it was the right time to get involved,” said Moser, 47, who is married and has three children, two of whom are currently enrolled in the Hewlett-Woodmere School District.

An East Meadow native, Moser graduated from East Meadow High School in 1981 and studied international business and Spanish at the University of Bridgeport, where he played four years of varsity golf and was team captain in his senior year. “I played a lot of golf in college,” he said with a laugh.

In 1988, Moser graduated from Brooklyn Law School and went into practice with his father in East Meadow as Moser & Moser LLP, specializing in family and divorce law. Nine years later he launched his first bid for elective office, running for District Court, a race he lost. He was unsuccessful in another run for District Court a year later, but won in 1999. He ran an unsuccessful campaign for a Family Court judgeship in 2002. He has also served as a judicial hearing officer for the Nassau County Traffic and Parking Violations Agency.

“I think I could be a very effective legislator,” Moser said. “As a lawyer, I study the law. As a judge, I followed the law and applied the facts to write a decision. As a legislator, this is an opportunity to make the law.”

Jeff Toback, who lost his re-election bid to Kopel in 2009, said that Moser would make an effective legislator because of his intelligence and ability to listen. “He is smart and knows how to listen,” Toback said. “What made him a good county district judge was that he listened to people and acted upon it. Adam will bring back the level of service people grew accustomed to when I was there and the personal touch that seems to be

missing.”

Robert A. McDonald, a fellow Democrat and an attorney who, along with his partners at the Mineola-based firm Collins, McDonald & Gann, appeared before Moser many times when he was a judge, said the state party selected him due to his experience and character.

“This is what it comes down to,” McDonald said. “Nobody that I know is a more decent person than Adam Moser.”

Though he began his campaign a little more than three months before Election Day, Moser said he thinks he has some name recognition in the area thanks to his involvement as a coach in the Hewlett-Lawrence soccer league. He said he looks forward to getting to know residents in other parts of the district.

“I will be very visible going door to door, functions in town and going everywhere to meet and greet,” said Moser, who added that he wants to focus on quality-of-life issues such as keeping taxes and costs down but maintaining the same quality of services.