By Stephen J. Bronner
Kopel accused the five-term incumbent of voting in line with a government he claims has boosted the budget and raised taxes and other fees since Toback took office in 1999.
“I announce my candidacy because I’ve had enough,” Kopel said June 11 at the Five Towns Senior Center, which he said is one of the service centers that are on the county chopping block. “The incumbent legislator, who has been in office for a decade, has allowed Nassau County and our area to get into trouble.”
Kopel said that Toback and Democrats are responsible for high property taxes and accused them of frequent patronage. “Taken together, these provide the basis for an urgent need of reform,” he said.
Kopel previously faced Toback, who is from Oceanside, in the 2007 legislative race. Toback won with 53.9 percent of the vote, while Kopel captured 46.1 percent. Legislators serve two-year terms, and are paid a yearly salary of $39,500 for the part-time job. The Legislature is currently made up of 10 Democrats and nine Republicans.
The 7th District encompasses Bay Park, Cedarhurst, Harbor Isle, Hewlett, Hewlett Bay Park, Hewlett Harbor, Hewlett Neck, Inwood, Lawrence, Mill Brook, Woodmere, North Woodmere, Woodsburgh and parts of Oceanside, Island Park, East Rockaway and Lynbrook.
Kopel said that parties should not dictate policy to district representatives. “Partisan politics have no place in county government,” he said. “While ‘Democrat’ or ‘Republican’ are mere labels, they do not define you and they do not define your ideas.”
But party politics, Toback said, are what is behind Kopel's line of attack. “If Mr. Kopel had been paying attention for the last two years, he would have seen the county raised property taxes only once, and he would know the Democratic Legislature cut spending by $30 million this year from the executive budget,” Toback said. “It seems Mr. Kopel's campaign will be based on the worn Republican playbook of playing on facts that don’t exist.”
Kopel attributed the county’s $130 million deficit to the actions of Toback and the Democrats. “They’ve been spending like drunken sailors,” Kopel said. “I’ve lived in this district for 22 years and I’m tired of what’s going on. I want to go to Mineola in order to bring a fresh start for our area.”
Kopel, 58, heads Sutton Alliance, which provides commercial and residential real estate transaction services. He is a board member of the Valley Stream Chamber of Commerce and a past board member of Congregation Shaaray Tefila in Lawrence. He is also a member of the New York State Bar Association.
“Howard Kopel was running against an eight-year incumbent [in 2007] and did extraordinarily well,” said Hempstead Town Councilman Anthony Santino, spokesman for the Nassau Republican Committee. “He came close, and has been working hard for the last two years. It was felt by the Republican leadership that he deserved a second chance, coming so close two years ago.”
Toback said his incumbency is evidence of his accomplishments. “I think my proven record over the last 10 years has been of someone who came in during a crisis and got the county out of a deep fiscal crisis,” he said. “We’re very responsive to the needs of the people. I have deserved being elected for five terms and I deserve being re-elected.”
Kopel said he wants to bring common sense to county government. “It’s time for this vicious cycle to end,” he said. “I hate to be the one to break it to my opponent and his political patron, Mr. Suozzi, but the time for politics is over.”
Comments about this story? SBronner@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 210.
