By Jeff Lipton
Call this year's race for the Fourth Congressional District seat "McCarthy-Becker, the sequel."
And both candidates are taking great pains to keep personal attacks out of the campaign, preferring to focus on the issues and their records in public office and not stoop to a negative campaign, if they can help it.
"I will not run a negative campaign," said Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola). But she said if her opponent chooses to go negative, she will compare her record in Congress to his in the Assembly, where he served 16 years.
The Fourth is a sweeping district that includes the Five Towns and Atlantic Beach, Rockville Centre, Lynbrook, Malverne, Valley Stream, half of Baldwin and a piece of North Bellmore.
Gregory Becker, a Republican from Lynbrook who is the first deputy commissioner for the Town of Hempstead's Department of Planning and Economic Development, is also careful not to make a negative remark about his opponent, carefully choosing his words in discussing their differences.
Congresswoman McCarthy is a nurse by trade who entered politics to strengthen gun laws after her husband was killed and son seriously wounded in the "Long Island Rail Road Massacre" in December 1993. She said she first entered the race against incumbent Dan Frisa in 1996 to get stricter gun laws passed. She is now seeking a third term in the U.S. House of Representatives, and this will be the second consecutive time that she has faced Mr. Becker for the seat. In 1998, he left the Assembly for a crack at Congress. In a campaign that he launched relatively late in the year, he won 47 percent of the vote in a narrow loss to Ms. McCarthy. This time he started his campaign much earlier and is reported to have amassed a greater war chest.
Ms. McCarthy admits that she may have taken her opponent lightly the last time --but not this time. She denies, though, that he is a more formidable opponent in this election. "If anything, I'm stronger," she said. "In the last election, everybody said you didn't have a race ... because everybody liked me. And I thought it would be a walk in the park." The result, however, "was a real wake-up call."
In a district where Republicans outnumber Democrats 3-to-1, her goal is a five-point margin of victory. "If I win by five points, when you think about the district, that's a landslide," Ms. McCarthy said.
In the last election, she said, "I didn't get the finances I needed. I didn't get the ground troops that I needed. I have almost everybody back volunteering. You can never take this area for granted."
Mr. Becker refused to grade Ms. McCarthy's performance in Congress, and would leave that to the voters when they go to the polls on November 7. "I will not characterize how other people do the job," he said. "My campaign is about the ideas I have and the experience I have. I never call names, I never demean. I stick with facts. I hope to be treated likewise by my opponent."
Even though she entered politics with a gun-control agenda, which will continue to be her focus, Congresswoman McCarthy said she has started specializing in education and health care, including support of a prescription drug plan for all Americans.
On the top of Mr. Becker's agenda are keeping property taxes in check, Medicare services for seniors and a sensible prescription drug plan, more education dollars to renovate schools, more breast-cancer research dollars, and paying down the national debt. In addition, the federal government must get a grip on oil prices, he said, adding that America is now 60 percent dependent on oil from foreign countries. Eight years ago, the country was 40 percent dependent on imported oil, he added. "We have to make tough decisions on retrieving that oil so we don't get caught where we are right now. We have to pray for a warm winter. No one likes that feeling. Anyone who represents this area in Congress should do everything possible to make sure we move towards independence."
Abortion
One major issue on which they do differ is abortion. "I'm a pro-life legislator," Mr. Becker said. "I will fight to defend life in all of its stages, from the earliest stages right through the latest years of life."
Ms. McCarthy supports abortion rights and a woman's right to choose. She is opposed to the ban on late-term abortions unless the language includes both the life and health of the mother. Ms. McCarthy's detractors have called her "too liberal" for the district, something she argues.
"I'm the most Conservative Democrat in New York State. I do represent the district," she said. "I work hard. I don't have solutions to everything, but when I make a vote, I can defend that vote."
A big supporter of more education dollars for local schools, she said she will work to reduce class size. "But we have to look over here on Long Island. Do they have the room to even build more classrooms?" she said. "I am for more money for reconstruction for a lot of our schools. Most of our schools here in this district are over 40 years old. That would be considered a young school. Yet, some schools are older than that."
Mr. Becker said the role of the federal government is not just to set policy when it comes to education, but to get dollars for classroom expansion and to prevent that debt from being pushed on to local property-tax payers.
Social Security
They also disagree on the future of Social Security and what should happen to the federal program. She opposes privatizing the system and he favors privatizing a portion of it.
"Social Security has worked," she said. "It was meant to be insurance and should stay insurance. When I see a real plan, I might say this is fair. There is no real plan out there for privatization."
Mr. Becker said, "I will scrutinize the plan to save Social Security. I would say to privatize a portion of it by using a board similar to the Federal Reserve. I wouldn't want to see risky ventures. Social Security is in crisis at the most affluent time in our country's history."
Gun control
The challenger said he supports all major gun-control legislation, and as Assemblyman supported "the toughest gun laws in New York State and I will act likewise in Congress." He supported an assault-weapons ban, as well as a bill limiting the number of rounds from 16 to nine in semi-automatic weapons, and child-safety trigger locks on handguns. He said that even though his opponent is known as a gun-control crusader, she helped defeat a bill called the Mandatory Gun Show Background Check Act. She countered that "it was a terrible bill that would have neutralized the impact of the Brady Bill by requiring a 24-hour instant background check. I will not vote against anything that will reduce gun violence in this country," she said.
She also responded to accusations by her opponent that she has supported cutting billions in funding to veterans. "I have done more for my veterans..." she said.
In 1997, she explained, Congress made a small cut in almost every bill in order to balance the budget. This year, she said, $1.7 billion has been set aside for veterans benefits. "Sometimes you have to make tough choices. Some of my veterans will not support me because of my issue on guns, not veterans issues," she said.
Airplane noise
Ms. McCarthy said she fought, along with the rest of the Long Island, Brooklyn and Queens delegation, to put a stop to a plan to open more airplane slots at Kennedy and LaGuardia airports, to save residents from even more unbearable airplane noise. They were outvoted on the issue by other members of Congress and had to hammer out a deal that the slots will not open up until 2007.
"We're hoping, by working with the Department of Defense, we're going to open up more air space, which will go over the water more so than coming over our communities. By 2007, all the planes should go into Section 4, with the newer planes having better engines, so that you are not going to hear the noise. We're trying to work on that. That is the best deal we could have had."
Mr. Becker said the airplane equipment is older and the system is "overstressed. The public is fed up with the noise, and that's something I will address. I will work with the airline industry to get the latest and quietest equipment."
Taxes
"I'm considered one of the most conservative Democrats in New York State," Ms. McCarthy said. "But I also live in Nassau County and I'm paying taxes like everyone else. We have to try to do as much tax relief as we can for the people...as far as I'm concerned, on Long Island."
Targeting her tax cuts is another priority.
"My plan was more than what Democrats are offering but certainly a lot less than Republicans are offering. If anyone here in Nassau County realizes why we have to be careful , it's because of the mess we're in here in Nassau County. You have to take responsibility for that. I think we should come up with a fiscal plan to pay down the debt; hopefully, in the next 10 years.
Mr. Becker said, "Anything I could do to relieve the tax burden at the federal level, I'm going to address it and fight for it."
