By:Joseph Kellard
"I know my incumbent has been there for a number of years and has done some good things," said Spitz, a deputy county attorney since 1994. "But I just feel it's time for a fresh new approach, a new person who's not jaded or complacent."
With state budgets arriving late for 20 consecutive years, Spitz said it is a priority of his to institute a mechanism to have a default budget available when a budget cannot be finalized by the April 1 deadline. "Maybe the legislators just need a fresh approach, and to try something new and come to some sort of agreement that the budget come out on time," Spitz said when elaborating on how he would correct the problem.
One issue to which Spitz tied these tardy budgets is residents' concerns about rising school taxes. As Spitz explained it, when budgets arrive late, schools cannot get their own budgets out on time to prepare residents for their allocation of funds. "On occasion, school districts have to scramble to borrow money - obviously at a higher rate than they would if they had a budget on time," said Spitz, a seven-year resident of Long Beach.
Weisenberg said he enjoys politics for the public service it provides - and certainly the notoriety, since for many years a campaign billboard featuring the assemblyman in a bathing suit has confronted drivers approaching Kennedy Airport from Rockaway Turnpike - but he expressed discouragement with politics as usual, saying that budgets weren't on time 20 years before he arrived in Albany. "So it isn't the people who have screwed up, it's the system, the way it is," Weisenberg said.
Promising to continue to be an advocate for disabled children, Weisenberg is running on his record of diverting state funding to facilities for such kids. One such place is Angela's House, a home for children who require 24-hour specialized nursing care in East Moriches, which was built with the help of $500,000 in state funding. A second Angela House's is slated to open in Smithtown by year's end.
"Bringing our children home was another program that I started that the governor embraced," Weisenberg said. "When you have a medically disabled child here on Long Island, it's no good to send him up to western New York.
Like Spitz, Weisenberg - a former special-education teacher, lifeguard, New York City cop and Long Beach City Council president - lives in Long Beach, which, along with Lido Beach, Point Lookout, Atlantic Beach, parts of East Rockaway, the Five Towns and Oceanside, lies in the 20th Assembly District. In vying for Weisenberg's Assembly seat, Spitz is up against an entrenched incumbent, and if elected he will likely face a Democratic majority. Asked how he thinks he'd fare in the minority, Spitz vowed to try to forge coalitions with those on the opposite side of the aisle.
One potentially contentious issue is police funding. With some residents concerned about cuts in police budgets and gangs encroaching on their communities, the issue of county cuts to police budgets could further divide Democrats and Republicans. Asked what he'd do as assemblyman to make residents more secure, Spitz simply said that police can "never have enough, monetarily," and need to be provided with the resources to combat gang violence.
High among Spitz's priorities is reducing taxes. He said he would like the state to take over Medicaid, since New York is one of few states that mandate that counties pay a portion of the system's expenses, and to crack down on fraud. His focus will be on cutting property taxes. But he said that cutting taxes is always a double-edged sword, reducing not only people's tax burdens, but also the revenue to pay for services.
"I know at times you have to be creative in doing that," Spitz said, "but I feel that if you attract new businesses or existing business to relocate to the state and bring that revenue and create jobs, that would be one stream of revenue to help the money that you wouldn't be bringing in elsewhere."
Like Weisenberg, Spitz said he supports Empire Zones, which are blighted areas throughout the state where investment is encouraged through tax breaks and other special incentives. While there are 72 such zones statewide, including three in Suffolk County, Nassau has none. Spitz said he sees Empire Zones as an opportunity to bring in affordable housing."
Claiming school aid as the major issue in Albany that each year is held to the last day to negotiate, Weisenberg said there is never enough money for education, and emphasized funding for disabled children. He called autism a national epidemic, and claimed his district lacks the programs and professional staff who understand the needs of autistic children. "Don't tell me we have no one to meet the needs of your child, to keep your kid at home, and send someone for three hours," Weisenberg said. "You're not going to deny that child an opportunity to be socialized and have opportunities of experience of life with a trained professional person. They need the resources of support service."
Weisenberg cited criminal background checks for caregivers for disabled, nonverbal children as one of the most important legislative measures he has gotten passed. Another bill he crusaded for involved making defibrillators available in every school statewide. He has also proposed legislation that would increase the penalty for motorists who leave the scenes of accidents, but said that trial lawyers in the Assembly amended his bill twice, and the Senate declined to vote on it.
Asked about legislation Weisenberg had proposed or passed, Spitz said he hadn't familiarized himself with everything his opponent had sponsored or cosponsored. Instead, Spitz applauded Weisenberg's cosponsorships of the New York State Tax Relief Program (STAR).
Spitz said he did not know how much money his campaign had raised. "It's very difficult to overcome someone who has been a lifelong resident of the community and an assemblyman for 15 years," he said. "I'm not saying it's easy. I think over the last 30 years, only a few dozen challengers have defeated the incumbents. I definitely know it's an uphill battle. But nevertheless I must give it my best shot."
Comments about this story? Dmiller@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
