By Stephen J. Bronner
“I announce my candidacy because I’ve had enough,” Kopel said near the Five Towns Senior Center, which he stated is one of the service centers 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, frequent patronage and taxes on heating. “Taken together, these provide the basis for an urgent need of reform,” he said.
Kopel previously faced Toback (D-Oceanside) in the 2007 legislative race. Toback won that election with 5,066 votes, or 53.9 percent, versus Kopel's 4,327 votes, or 46.1 percent, according to a Kopel campaign advisor. Toback is currently serving his fifth term — he was first voted into office in 1999. Legislators have two-year terms and are paid a yearly salary of $39,500 for the part-time job. The Nassau County Legislature is currently made up of 10 democrats and nine republicans.
The seventh legislative district includes 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.
The challenger said that parties should not dictate policy for a district's representative. “Partisan politics have no place in county government,” Kopel said. “While 'democrat' or 'republican' are mere labels, they do not define you and they do not define your ideas.”
But parties are what Toback said 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.”
The republican candidate attributes the roughly $130 million deficit Nassau County is currently facing 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.”
Martin Melkonian, a professor of economics at Hofstra University knowledgeable of Nassau County politics, said he thinks the county will continue to elect democrats and that there isn't a lot of merit in attacking the democrats for the current fiscal situation. “Nassau County is doing better than the country as a whole,” Melkonian said. “I applaud Suozzi for the work he's done in cutting services to the degree he can do that and I think overall Suozzi has performed better than his predecessor [Republican Thomas Gulotta] in general.”
Kopel, 58, heads Sutton Alliance, a provider of commercial and residential real estate transaction services. He serves as a board member of both the Valley Stream Chamber of Commerce and has served as a board member of Congregation Shaaray Tefila in Lawrence. Kopel is also a member of the New York State Bar Association.
“Howard Kopel was running against an eight-year incumbent and did extraordinarily well,” said 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 speaks to 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 reelected.”
The GOP nominee said he wants to bring commonsense to county government. “It’s time for this vicious cycle to end,” Kopel 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.”
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