By:LARRY MAIER
Nassau County Republicans have tapped Joseph Koch of Baldwin, an insurance broker and business consultant, to run in November against incumbent Fifth District Legis. Joseph Scannell, a Democrat and fellow Baldwinite.
This year, county races should be hotly contested as Republicans try to regain the majority on the 19-member Legislature, which they lost in 1999 when Democrats scored several
stunning victories and came away with a 10-9 advantage.
Some political pundits say those victories were less about the Democratic candidates and more about Republican voters crossing party lines to vote against the GOP, which they blamed for the county's burgeoning budget deficit that reached $300 million last year and caused Wall Street to downgrade the county's credit to near junk-bond status.
A fundamental question that will be answered in November is whether the public is satisfied with the job Democrats have done in the county Legislature and are willing to keep the party in power.
This year marks the first time both parties have chosen candidates from Baldwin to compete for the district seat. In the past, with the majority of the district in Rockville Centre, the GOP has always run an RVC candidate.
The challenger
For Koch, 43, this campaign represents his first run at public office. He is a fourth-generation Baldwin resident, a past president and director of the Baldwin Rotary, and currently serves on the board of directors of United Cerebral Palsy of Nassau County and the board of sponsors of the Friends of Mercy Medical Center.
Koch said he received the Republican nomination because he is a fresh face and because the party felt it was time to reach into the community for common- sense representation.
