The Jewish Home | SEPTEMBER 17, 2021 The Jewish Home | OCTOBER 29, 2015
have to take a hard left turn. I don’t believe she’s a moderate. She’s a nice person but she has a liberal agenda that’s not good for Nassau County. You mentioned the position of the governor. What do you think about our neighbor in Suffolk County, Lee Zeldin, running for governor? I fully support Lee Zeldin for governor. We’re working together. He’s supporting me for County Executive. As a matter of fact, he’s coming in and doing a fundraiser for me in October. The fundraiser is going to be local on October 3. Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis, Congressman Andrew Garbarino, and former Congressman Peter King will be hosting it as well. You’ve been in politics for so many years. What now is foremost on people’s minds when it comes to politics? Well, I think there are really two main issues in this election. Taxes is number one. The reassessment of taxes, like I said, hurt so many people. Two-thirds of people got a massive increase in their reassessment. They can’t afford. We have to fix the reassessment, and I have the experience and the background, both in the public sector and the private sector, to fix it. The other issue on everyone’s minds is crime. Shootings are up 39% in Nassau County. In one week, there was a shooting in New Hyde Park, a shooting in Rockville Center, and a home invasion in Garden City. We’ve never had that before in Nassau County. In addition, there were two shootings in the last 10 days in Inwood. It’s a situation where crime is out of control. Again, Laura Curran fashions herself as a moderate but she’s not.
She’s not opposed to the Bail Reform Act, or as I call it, the get-out-of-jailfree act, which has resulted in people committing crime after crime and not having to serve in jail pending their court trial or at least post a bail or a bond so that they return to court. I think it’s going to come down to trust in this election. Now, who do you trust? Do you trust someone who is a consistent conservative, or do you trust somebody who says one thing in one neighborhood and something completely different in another neighborhood? Talking about crime and the getout-of-jail-free card, what are your thoughts on Todd Kaminsky running for Nassau County District County? Well, it’s very perplexing that he would run for district attorney because, basically, he was the author of the Bail Reform Act, which is the getout-of-jail-free act and it’s resulted in just such an uptick in crime – violent crime. The 3,000 prisoners who were let out due to Bail Reform Act in the Metropolitan area committed 9,000 new crimes. It’s crazy! His opponent Anne Donnelly is a seasoned prosecutor. She’s been a prosecutor for over 25 years. She’s prosecuted murder cases, rape cases, very complex criminal fraud cases. Todd is a nice guy, a friend of mine, but he’s a career politician and not a prosecutor. What’s the makeup in Nassau County of Democrats versus Republicans? There is a decided advantage of registered Democrats in the County. But of those registered Democrats, I would say there’s a good 20% of them that are really moderate and are swing voters.
In reality, it’s a purple county. It goes both ways, when it comes to elections. Sometimes it goes Republican, sometimes it goes Democrat. This year, I believe it’s going to go Republican. Why? For a very important reason. Every election is decided by independent voters or blank voters. They register blank. They don’t want to affiliate with a party. They’re the largest growing group, and they’re the ones that decide the elections here in Nassau County. This year I’ve talked to so many independent and blank voters, and they say they’re voting Republican. They’re fed up, they’ve had enough, they’ve seen what happened in Washington D.C., they’ve seen what happened in Albany, they’ve seen what’s happening in New York City, and they know that Laura Curran basically is with the Democrats. She doesn’t denounce the Democrats. I mean, how can you say you’re a moderate when you have someone in your party like AOC or Talib or Omar, and you don’t demand that they be thrown out of the party? She said nothing when the new governor, Kathy Hochul, appointed a defund-the-police Democrat senator from New York City. Do you feel that what’s happening in New York City will affect Nassau County voters come November? Absolutely. So many people are moving to Long Island from New York City because, quite frankly, they’ve had it. They’ve seen what one party rule has done. They’ve seen a progressive, liberal, socialist agenda, and they don’t want it. They don’t want to be part of it. People should be aware that you’ve got to dig deeper than the
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surface. People say nice things, and Democrats will come visit your schools, and they’ll come to community events, and that’s all well and good. But what are their policies? What have they done? What do they stand for? My opponent stands for the Democratic Party. She stands with Kathy Hochul. She stands with the defund-the-police lieutenant governor. She stands with Mayor Bill de Blasio. She stands with AOC, Talib, and Omar until she actually demands that they be thrown out of the party. Can you imagine me as a Republican, if there was an anti-Semite in my party, how the media would be after me? The media is giving all the Democrats a pass, and they get away with it. And I put Bernie Sanders in there, too. I think he’s an anti-Semite. I know he comes from a Jewish background, but I think he’s an anti-Semite as well. The County Legislature passed a bill that would give police officers the same right as regular citizens that if they’re injured by a criminal act, such as a riot or resisting arrest, that they would have the right to sue the person who attacked them. And that’s a right enjoyed by everybody. The legislature passed the bill, and Laura Curran vetoed it. That was an opportunity for her to stand up for the cops but she didn’t do it. She cited some constitutional reason, but it was just basic legal gobbledygook. When you mentioned all these people moving from New York City, is that a help or a hindrance? Many of those who are moving are liberal and are moving because they’re fed up with the homeless situation and the crime situation in NYC. Do you think that’s going to turn Nassau County less purple? Well, it would be very foolish to
