By:Jeff Lipton
Garner said that running for a seat in Congress would not have crossed his mind two years ago. But he added that he has gained a "world of experience" since then, and now is ready to take on McCarthy, in a bid to wrest from her the seat she has held for eight years.
Garner, a Republican and Hempstead's mayor since 1989, is challenging McCarthy, a Democrat who is seeking her fifth two-year term in Congress.
Included in the Fourth Congressional District are the Five Towns, Atlantic Beach, Woodsburgh, Baldwin, East Meadow, Lynbrook, East Rockaway, Elmont, Franklin Square, North Merrick, North Bellmore, Oceanside, Rockville Centre, South Valley Stream, Valley Stream, Malverne and West Hempstead.
As the immediate past president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Garner said he was able to travel around the world, including trips to Israel and Rome as well as Washington, D.C., where he met with members of the Bush administration to discuss issues such as health care and homeland security.
"Timing, as you know, is absolutely everything," Garner said. "If you asked me to run two years ago - no. I didn't feel I was ready. Being president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, I definitely think I'm ready. That's a big deal. I'm the fourth person from the state of New York that ever held that position." Garner added that Fiorello LaGuardia was the first. "I've had the pleasure of knowing President Bush," he said. "I've also met with him in his private dining room. I'm very familiar with the Washington scene. When I go to Washington, I'm in no stretch of the imagination a newcomer. I'm well known."
But McCarthy disputes that, saying Garner is an unknown outside the 18th Assembly District, which covers Hempstead Village. "My opponent has absolutely no name recognition outside the 18th District," McCarthy said. "It's not a matter of name recognition. It's a matter of being known for the work that you do. Obviously, I can't please everybody."
Liberal on social issues
McCarthy said she is liberal when it comes to social issues such as abortion - she's pro-choice - and same-sex marriage - she opposes a Constitutional amendment banning it. The Fourth is a district in which Republicans outnumber Democrats by about 3 to 1, but the Democratic incumbent is still confident she will be victorious in the Nov. 2 election.
McCarthy said this election is no different than the others in which she has run, when she defeated Republican opponents Gregory Becker and Marilyn O'Grady. "In my opinion, it's not going to be different," McCarthy said. "I'm still in a Republican district, even though we see more numbers with more people voting Democrat. I only know how to run one way, with a full campaign, and don't take anything for granted."
She said she has more than $800,000 in her campaign war chest, whereas her opponent, she said, has raised very little money for his campaign. In addition, she said, spending eight years in Congress has given her more clout in passing bills. "I'm going to win," she said. "I will win. I want to win by a lot. My numbers have gone up every single election cycle."
But McCarthy's pre-election confidence doesn't faze Garner. "She's afraid," he said. "She knows I'm going to cut into her numbers. She knows it. I've been mayor for 15 years."
He added that Congress needs a Republican who is African-American. He said that one of the main reasons he entered the race was to get a handle on HIV/AIDS, which has hit Hempstead hard.
One-issue candidate?
McCarthy, who was a nurse before she entered politics eight years ago, said her priorities have not changed in her four terms. Her chief concerns remain education, health care and gun control. It was the gun-control issue that thrust her into the national spotlight in 1993, when her husband was killed and her son seriously injured in a shooting on the Long Island Rail Road by Colin Ferguson. The tragedy led her to fight for gun control measures, and landed her a seat in the House of Representatives.
Since then, she has continuously fended off critics who say she is a one-issue candidate who is weak on national defense, foreign policy and terrorism. As part of that effort, she sits on the 9/11 commission caucus, meeting with members of the commission "to make sure that we have a straight bill that's going to come through without deviating a great deal," she said. "If we do this right, it's a good road map for all of us."
Garner said that in her eight years, McCarthy has accomplished little in Congress. "As I traveled the 50 states, I've seen what the other congresspeople have done with their towns, villages and cities," he said. "I see how ineffective she's been, because she's been dealing with one issue. That one issue happens to be a gun issue.
"She's done a very noble job in trying to push this gun issue, and that has not been totally concluded yet," he said. "That's what I've been doing for 15 years. She talks it - I actually do it."
Garner said he has worked hard to take guns off the streets of Hempstead. He explained that he has worked with the Nassau County district attorney and the U.S. Attorney, as well as a multi-jurisdictional task force throughout the county, to rid the neighborhood of weapons. As a result, he said, he has been endorsed by the Nassau Police Benevolent Association.
"I'm the only elected official that did not deny or stick my head in the sand with regard to gang problems," Garner said. "We wanted a zero tolerance in terms of the gang problems."
He said he went to Boston to observe that city's effective program for dealing with gangs. "I wanted to send a clear and decisive message that we own the streets of Hempstead," Garner said.
McCarthy was extremely disappointed when the 10-year ban on assault weapons recently expired and then wasn't allowed to come up for a vote. "I went to Congress to reduce gun violence," she said. "It was a disappointment to me. Everybody woke up the day the bill expired. There are a lot of people around the country outraged about this.
"It's disappointing, but I'm not going to give up on it," she added. "A lot of these guns are getting back on the street again. There's nothing one person can do if the leadership won't allow a vote to come up. It was the Republican leadership that wouldn't allow it up. It didn't matter if I was there or Jim Garner was there, he wasn't going to get it done. To me, this issue is very, very personal. I'll never give up on this issue."
Garner said he has been a hunter since he was 14. "I will not run from that," he said. "I wear it on my sleeve. That gun didn't kill [McCarthy's] husband - the person behind that gun killed her husband."
Garner said he believes in the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms. "But on the other hand, I don't believe that you should be able to use an automatic weapon in the street that has more power than the police do," he said. "I don't believe in putting a pistol in a police officer's hand and some guy in the street has some gun like [an assault weapon]. They're totally outnumbered. So something should be done about it."
Bringing funding home
Garner said he has greatly improved the infrastructure and economy of his village, bringing new business to the community, and will do the same for the Fourth if he is elected.
As a four-term mayor, Garner said he was also responsible for construction of a new multi-modal transportation center, the addition of much-needed senior citizen center and affordable housing and the redevelopment of dozens of commercial buildings and several large retail properties. He said his accomplishments have garnered national recognition, and awards from such agencies as HUD and the American Planning Association.
Garner came under scrutiny recently, however, when state Comptroller Alan Hevesi released an audit stating that Hempstead Village inappropriately used $1 million in federal community-development funds last year to partially mask its burgeoning budget deficit. "It's an absolute political document," Garner said. "It's trying to halt democracy, that I'm running for the congressional seat, that's all that is. They got absolutely nothing."
He explained that the village transferred money from the Community Development Agency to guarantee the health benefits of the employees.
McCarthy said she will continue to press hard for the Fourth to get its fair share of federal funding, either through the appropriations process or through federal grants. She has a full-time grants coordinator to help secure federal funding for local agencies and organizations.
Since New York has failed to receive adequate homeland security money, McCarthy said, she has earmarked $1.8 million in federal funds for fire departments in the Fourth for vehicles, safety equipment and training, and secured $6 million to update the county's Emergency Response Communications System. In addition, in a recent five-year period, she said, she brought home more than $8 billion in federal funding to her district, including $693 million in HUD funding, $241 million in education, $13.7 million in Department of Justice funding and $56 million in small business loans.
There has been $14 million in transportation improvements in her district, including $500,000 for pedestrian walkway upgrades in Lynbrook, $1 million for sidewalk and asphalt improvements in Rockville Centre and $1 million for pedestrian improvements in Valley Stream.
McCarthy has also won $100,000 for the Labor and Industry for Education [LIFE] program in Hewlett to expand its after-school program for at-risk youth.
She said she also has been able to cut through bureaucratic red tape. After a Valley Stream couple took their children to visit their grandparents in Ireland, the congresswoman said, she helped the husband re-enter the U.S. after he was detained for two months. Without McCarthy's efforts, he might have been held for a couple of years, she said.
The war in Iraq
McCarthy said she doesn't regret voting to authorize the war, but believes that she and other members of Congress were misled. "I don't think you can go back and regret a vote you made," she said. "I made the vote based on information that was given to me. That information, unfortunately, was false. I'm not going to put blame on the president or anyone else. History will prove who made those mistakes.
"Everyone forgot about terrorism and they went after Iraq, which I have a problem with," she added.
Now that America is occupying Iraq, McCarthy said she fully supports bringing democracy to Iraq. "I'm not going to leave that country in the cold," she said. "I want to make sure our men and women there have the equipment they need. I'm not going to back down, but I think that it's going to be a little tougher for me to believe this administration - but I'll work with them when I can and I'll stand up and have my voice heard when I think they're wrong."
Garner said he supports the war. "I don't believe in killing anybody," he said. "I wouldn't suggest backing out. They're there; they got a job to do. I think the job should be completed. I don't like to see people get killed. I don't like to see no son or daughter come back in a body bag."
Abortion
McCarthy said she has always maintained her pro-choice stance on abortion, while Garner said he's a right-to-lifer. He said abortion clinics prefer to set up shop in black communities. "I don't have a problem whatsoever [being pro-life]," he said. "I do know my opponent has flip-flopped on that issue."
Garner said he has a daughter who is not married and has a child. "I was not about to tell her to have an abortion," he said. "My granddaughter is here, she's 7 years old and I love her to death, and I will continue to do that."
Housing
Garner said he has wholeheartedly supported the construction of new, affordable homes to fight the housing crisis. "I am one for affordable housing," Garner said. "Everyone else runs from affordable housing. I have not run from affordable housing, so I want to deal with this."
McCarthy said she has worked with the Fannie Mae group recently to renovate a house in Freeport for a young couple. "Housing here on the Island is at a crisis," she said. "You have young people who can't afford to buy even a handyman special."
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