Dems kick off campaign season at St. Mary's

Democratic Committee leader Michael Zapson appears to have his work cut out for him. To recapture the majority on the Long Beach City Council, he must get all three of his party’s candidates elected on Nov. 3, while the Republican coalition needs just one of its three nominees to garner enough votes to maintain a 3-2 majority.

“Our three candidates are running as a team, will get elected as a team and will govern as a team,” Zapson said about first-time nominees Fran Adelson, Mike Fagen and Len Torres, who are vying for three open seats on the council.

The Democrats lost the majority to the then newly created Republican coalition in 2003, regained control two years later and had it slip away again in 2007. In this year’s at-large election — in which the two top vote-getters will win four-year terms and the third-place finisher will earn a two-year term — Democratic incumbents Lenny Remo and Denise Tangney opted to step aside, and the third seat up for grabs belongs to Republican incumbent John McLaughlin, who will run with newcomers Maureen Doherty and Marvin Weiss.

The Democrats are promoting their platform mainly through mass mailings and e-mails, but also through events like their campaign kickoff on Sept. 8, when they filled the gym at St. Mary’s Church with supporters and featured speakers such as Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi and District Attorney Kathleen Rice, who are both seeking re-election this year.

Zapson said that Suozzi and Rice will be available for future events as the election nears. Meanwhile, Adelson, Fagen and Torres, along with several Democratic officials, are out knocking on doors throughout the city nearly every day.

“Our message of this campaign is that you know it has become unaffordable to live in Long Beach,” said Zapson, echoing Suozzi’s theme that high property taxes are the overriding concern countywide.

Long Beach Democrats maintain that spending has increased considerably since the Republican coalition first took control six years ago, and that the current administration has added hundreds of new jobs to the budget while firing several employees and replacing them with friends or family members. “If you’re related [to me], I can’t hire you,” said Fagen, who stresses transparency in city government. He said the city is run by “a select group who believe that it’s their city, and all of you have lost your voice.”

Fagen, who works in stadium TV networking and coaches in local youth sports leagues, believes that the city has been mismanaged. He cities as an example the Indiana Firehouse in his West End neighborhood, which the city discovered had two walls that needed to be completely rebuilt, at a cost of $100,000, only after crews were well into a general reconstruction project.

“Can you imagine living in an area where you don’t have a firehouse?” Fagen said.

Carrie Solages, the Democratic candidate for Nassau County clerk, is working with party members in the city’s minority neighborhoods, Zapson said. He noted that Torres is the city’s first Latino candidate, and added, “It’s way overdue.”

Torres, who lives in the middle of town, highlights his decades of experience as a teacher and administrator in areas with minority populations, including Long Beach and the South Bronx, and his effort to help overhaul the Roosevelt School District after he retired earlier this decade.

A key issue that led him to run was high taxes, he said. “My three children that I raised here have difficulty being able to stay in Long Beach because it has become so expensive,” Torres said, accusing the current administration of lacking the foresight to keep Long Beach affordable, particularly for young people.

Another issue for the Democrats is the code, passed by the City Council last year, that permits the city manager to live outside Long Beach, which they hope to get rid of. Current City Manager Charles Theofan lives in Freeport.

Adelson, a real estate broker in Long Beach for 21 years and a resident of the Canals, cited this as her top issue. “Because I work here and I live here,” Adelson said, “I have a strong belief that the city manager of Long Beach should live in Long Beach. I think that person needs to shop here, to be able to try to find parking here, and also needs to pay taxes here.”

As a Realtor, Adelson believes she has a good feel for the city and knows the issues that are important to residents. As a Long Beach Public Library trustee, she also has experience working on budgets and with fellow board members.

Meanwhile, Long Beach resident and Nassau County Legislator Denise Ford is running unopposed as a Democrat, but still belongs to the county’s Republican caucus. Both Democrats and Republicans have endorsed her.

With Long Beach City Court Judge Stanley retiring, the Democrats have nominated Scott Nigro, a former City Council member with 30 years of experience as an attorney, to run for Stanley’s seat. The Republican nominee is Frank Dikranis, a former county assistant district attorney.

The Long Beach League of Women Voters will host a debate among the six City Council candidates at the library on

Oct. 28.

Comments about this story? JKellard@lilherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.