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Five vie for Lazio's seat There are three political fires burning in the Second Congressional District. Burning is the Republican vs. Democratic race; Republican vs. Conservative race and Democratic vs. Working Families and Independence parties races. Joan Johnson, the Republican, squares off against Steve Israel, the Democrat. The two also faces opposition from Conservative candidate Richard Thompson, who won the line in a primary against Johnson in September and is campaigning heavily, and Robert Walsh, who lost a primary challenge with a decent showing against Johnson for the Republican line. Unlike his Right to Life counterparts, Walsh is out there campaigning and calling himself "the real Republican." Add to that political soup, the candidacy of S.C. Leg. David Bishop, who lost the Democratic primary to Israel but who still appears on three minor party lines—Independence, Green and Working Families—and you have the makings of a race with all sorts of potential outcomes. While political analysts mull over the political landscape, and try to sort out the potential fallout from these fractured and feisty campaigns, the outcome may just well have to do with ballot placement as much as anything else, said one, Stanley Klein, a professor of political science and history at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University. "What you have is the presidential race on the left, followed by a huge number of judges, then Senate and Congress," explained Klein. "Therefore, the presidential race won’t have as much impact as people think. What will happen is that if Hillary does well, it will help Israel, while in Islip, where Lazio is expected to do well, it will help Johnson." The question being asked, is what will the impact of the minor party candidates have on the election, if any, and who stands to gain—or lose— as a result. "In contrast to what is happening with the Republicans and Conservatives, who are out there battling every day, Dave (Bishop) and I are cooperating," said Israel. "He’s endorsed me, we’re doing mailings featuring his support and have been working on the issues that people are concerned with." "I am primarily focusing my campaign on my Democratic opponent and there are vast differences between us," said Johnson in discussing the campaign. (Continued on page 3) ("Israel is a Democrat who believes that Big Brother has the answer, while I’m a dyed-in-the wool Republican who believes less government and more power to the people is what has made and will continue to make this country great." For his part, Thompson is appealing to both registered Conservatives and conservative-thinking voters saying that Johnson is a liberal candidate in GOP clothing and that there is no difference between Israel and Johnson. He’s tapping into what he hopes is a general GOP disenchantment with Johnson, a party candidate who has relied heavily upon party support to run her campaign. At a recent Meet the Candidates night sponsored by the West Babylon Taxpayers Association it was Thompson and Walsh who took credit for being the candidates who best represent the Republican-Conservative view. "She’s a liberal, both fiscally and socially, and there is no difference between her and Steve Israel," Thompson told those at the meeting. "The Republican Party is going to lose this seat because Mrs. Johnson does not represent Republican ideals. Thompson, an attorney who played pro baseball with the Cleveland Indians and Montreal Expos, said it was precisely because Johnson was nominated by the Republicans that he chose to run. "I believe the voters in this district deserve a chance to elect a true Conservative, who will represent their values," he said. Calling himself "the real Republican," Bob Walsh said the lack of support within the GOP for Johnson is evident by the good showing he made in the Republican primary. While he did not win that nomination, he received a large enough percentage of the vote to indicate that Johnson will have a tough time at the polls. "Republican leader Anthony Apollaro was quoted as saying my showing didn’t amount to much because only zealots vote in a primary," said Walsh. "This isn’t about zealots. This is about a civil war in his own party and it’s exactly that kind of arrogance that is going to hurt the Republicans." Saying he was well aware that Walsh’s candidacy could hurt the Republican’s chances of holding on to Lazio’s seat, Rudy Fusco, Walsh’s campaign manager, added that the Republicans need a rude awakening. "If the (county) Republican Party has to lose this important election to wake up to the fact that they have stopped moving to the left and embrace the national platform, then so be it," said Fusco. "If we have to kick them in the shins to get the message across, that’s what we are going to do." "Most of Walsh’s support came from his home area, Deer Park," said one Babylon Town Republican Committeeman. "I certainly don’t see any split in this party and everyone is out working hard for Johnson." Johnson calls Walsh and Thompson discontents who have no chance of winning and who are simply "desperate." "They are standing on the outside, throwing rocks on the inside," said Johnson. "They’re spending more time and effort trying to paint me as a liberal, when it’s the Democrats they should be going after." Thompson, meanwhile, points to Johnson’s tenure on the Central Islip School Board saying the district increased taxes 23 percent during that time, compared to the county’s average increase of 7 percent. "Mrs. Johnson is calling herself a fiscal conservative, but the only time she was directly responsible for a budget she raised taxes repeatedly," said Thompson. For her part Johnson said the increases were a result of a board who had to provide education to 5,000 children in the district at a time when Governor Mario Cuomo and the state legislature had cut state aid and left school districts desperate. "Certainly, I am not happy with what we had to do, but some decisions had to be made because there were thousands of children who relied upon us for their education," said Johnson. "I will take whatever hits I have to take about it, but the fact is we stood, made the hard choices and educated the children in that district." Klein said he’s not convinced that the Conservatives are going to draw more than their usual 5,800 votes, despite Thompson’s heavy campaigning (He said he’s worn out four pairs of leather shoes going door to door and recently resigned his position to campaign full time.) But Thompson believes that he can win with about 35 percent of the vote in this four-way race, and that there are many Republicans out there who believe as he does that Johnson is not representative of GOP values. "You also have to remember that Israel has a lot of support in Huntington and if there are some disenchanted Republicans in that town, they’re likely to vote for Israel," predicted Klein. "He (Israel) worked well with the Republicans." What people have to remember too, is that a lot is at stake in this race and that a win for the Democrats can go a long way to turning around the majority in Congress. That’s not lost on Richard Schaffer, the newly elected Democratic County Leader, said Klein. "You can be sure that he’s going to get out the vote," he said. "He’s a popular person in Babylon, and that has to be taken into account." Thompson supports workfare and opposes extensive gun control and abortion, particularly the partial birth abortion procedures, he says Johnson and Israel supports. He also said he’d focus on building a strong military and work to revitalize the nation’s alternative energy programs. Walsh is a businessman who said he’d bring a proven record of efficient fiscal management of a billion dollar company, and said the only experience his Republican and Democratic opponent have are "cushy town jobs" that had little to do with helping senior citizens, families and veterans. Johnson said she’d work to eliminate the tax on social security benefits and the tax penalty for married couples. "We want people to get married and not live together without the benefit of marriage," said Johnson, "yet we penalize them for being married." Under the current law, the tax code pushes working couples into a higher tax bracket than if they lived together and filed as single wage earners. In the Second Congressional district, 58,000 families are hurt by that tax code, said Johnson, vowing to continue the work begun by Lazio to eliminate the penalty. Israel is a proponent of universal health care and would work on a targeted tax plan to make college tuition affordable. He also opposes the Republican plan to draw money out of the social security system and supports instead tax credits for people who want to invest additional funds into private retirement plans. "I support paying down our debt and using the savings to bolster social security," said Israel. "I don’t support draining the trust fund for risky stock market investments." Like his Republican opponent, Israel, he said he’d work to ensure that seniors do not lose their health-care coverage as a result of HMO’s pulling out of Long Island, but Israel takes credit for raising the issue in the spring. "I’m glad she’s on board with that now," he said. During the campaign, Johnson also unveiled a $2 billion education plan, which included a Head Start early initiative. In a press conference in Central Islip, she said she would use her experience to "ensure that every child is given the opportunity to unlock his or her potential. "We need to focus on the entire family and the Head Start program requires a simultaneous approach to improving the environment that a child comes from, while we work with the child during the day," said Johnson. In response, Israel said that Republicans at the national level have obstructed efforts by the Democrats to hire more teachers, and modernize schools. "I think it’s time we stop these partisan games and not allow politics to obstruct our efforts to educate our children," he said. Israel is supported by many who say his ability to build consensus. "I have worked with Steve Israel and have seen how he can bring people together when it is an issue of importance for the people," said former Babylon Town Democratic leader Sondra Bachety who supported Israel during his recent primary challenge by S.C. Leg. Dave Bishop. Since his loss to Israel in September, Bishop, too, has swung his support to Israel, but maintains his spot on three lines. Israel was elected to the Huntington Town Board in 1993, the lone Democrat seated. "The Town was in terrible fiscal shape and its bond rating was way down," recalls the Huntington lawmaker. "I met with the Republican Supervisor and we agreed to put politics aside and do the right thing for the people. That’s what we did." While on the town board, Israel also worked with fellow lawmakers to bring affordable housing to the Town, though he’s been accused of working too closely with developers and bending to their pressures when even more affordable housing could have been built, specifically on the site of the former Suffolk Developmental Center in Melville. Israel points out, however, that from 1968 until 1993, the town of Huntington built 13 affordable housing units. From 1993 when he was elected until today, more than 1,000 units have been built. "I will let the record speak for itself," said Israel." Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats in the district 126,000 to 96,000.
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