By Jeff Lipton
O'Grady, an ophthalmologist from Garden City, apparently came out of nowhere and has taken a circuitous route to the Nov. 5 general election. She was knocked off the ballot in the Republican primary for collecting an insufficient number of signatures but won a reprieve by discovering a technicality in her opponent's legal papers. She then captured more than 50 percent of the vote in a three-way primary race.
McCarthy, seeking her fourth term in Congress, is not taking O'Grady's candidacy lightly. Oh, gosh no, McCarthy said. It doesn't matter. She has money. She's very wealthy. If she decides to spend $600,000 or $700,000 of her money, that's competitive.
I wouldn't take this district for granted anyhow, said McCarthy, who maintains her district is still 3-to-1 Republican. My work ethic doesn't allow it.
After six years in Congress, the incumbent has grown into her role as a politician, getting a better feel for how to get bills passed and how to help defeat a bill that does not suit her.
We've done a lot, I've done a lot, said McCarthy, who defeated Greg Becker in the last two Fourth C.D. elections. It comes back to learning how to do the system. There are a lot of games that are being played down in Washington. I've learned those games.
In her first run for political office, O'Grady insists she is gaining name recognition. I think my name recognition is far better than it is getting credit for.
O'Grady, 48, who grew up in Bellmore with three sisters and a brother, was inspired to run for office because, she said, the nation's system of delivering health care is in sad shape.
McCarthy's rise to Congress has been well documented. Her husband was shot and killed and her son seriously injured by Colin Ferguson on the Long Island Rail Road in 1993. McCarthy was a nurse who turned politician to fight for stronger gun-control laws. She has managed to win reelection twice in the heavily Republican district. And, she continues to propose and support stricter gun laws, while deflecting criticism from her opponents that she is a one-issue candidate.
O'Grady attacked her for being soft on foreign policy, anti-terrorism and national defense; criticism which McCarthy scoffs at, pointing to her fight for a prescription drug benefit to Medicare. She said she has also thrown a spotlight on the shortage of nurses nationwide and continues to fight to improve education in the classrooms.
Gun control
Toughening up gun laws is still one of McCarthy's chief priorities. She was defeated in 1999 in her attempt to get a bill passed requiring background checks on all buyers at gun shows and expects to reintroduce that bill.
Her new bill, called the Our Lady of Peace Act, is named for the Lynbrook church where the Rev. Lawrence Penzes and a parishioner were gunned down during a morning Mass last March. The alleged shooter, Peter Troy, has a history of mental illness but nonetheless was allowed to purchase a gun in a Mineola gun shop, McCarthy said. Troy passed a Federal background check because many states have not added their mental health records to the FBI's background check system.
Mr. Troy fell through the cracks, McCarthy said. He has a long history of mental illness and was institutionalized three or four times. After sitting down to discuss updating background checks with the National Rifle Association, her bill passed the House Judiciary Committee, 30-3. The bill, which would update the federal system, now awaits approval by the full House and Senate.
McCarthy has also worked on bills for child safety locks on guns and on reducing school violence.
I don't see any major success on the gun control issue, said O'Grady, who rated McCarthy's performance as poor thus far.
O'Grady does not favor additional gun control measures but greater enforcement of those laws already on the books. We know we have so many gun control laws, O'Grady said. What problems do they really solve? Is it just to make us all feel good that we passed a gun law?
I grew up with guns in my home, said O'Grady, whose father was a New York City detective for 27 years. It never occurred to any one of the five of us to go take daddy's gun and shoot up our classmates because somebody insulted us the day before.
Health care
O'Grady said she entered the race because she didn't see any good ideas coming out of Washington, D.C. on how to solve the nation's health care crisis. For 16 years I've watched our health care system deteriorate at a very rapid pace, said O'Grady, who has worked in Federal, city and county hospitals.
She said, six years ago she was forced
to buy a health care policy. I was astonished at what the cost of a health
policy was. It's outrageous. The reason the cost of it is so high is that we're so mandated as to what has to be in a health insurance policy. It has to cover you for everything from acupuncture... you name it, it's there.
She proposed giving citizens more of a variety of policies, to keep the costs down. She added that tax laws are stacked against poor families who have no insurance from their employer and are forced to buy an insurance policy.
McCarthy said her chief priority in the next term would be a prescription drug bill and Medicare reimbursements. But she fears that the money will not be there, with all Federal programs being held up
until February or March. All the programs that are out there
