News

Laura Ahearn to Represent New York's 1st Senate District

Oct
20
2020

In 1976, when "Happy Days" was the top TV sitcom, Evita Peron made a last stand in Argentina and a tech company named Apple filed its incorporation papers, the name Kenneth LaValle debuted on the ballot to represent New York’s 1st State Senate District. LaValle, a Republican whose tireless work on environmental and educational issues earned him 22 consecutive victories, retires this year as the senator for a district that starts at the points of Montauk and Orient and stretches to Center Moriches and Port Jefferson.

The two candidates running to replace him are qualified to represent the district, but one stands out because of her potential to become a major influencer in Albany, and with that gain the clout to bring home the bacon. Democrat Laura A. Ahearn, 57, of Port Jefferson, has never held elective office but she well knows how the game is played. The founder of the Crime Victims Center and Parents for Megan’s Law and a social worker turned lawyer, she has spent 25 years advocating for victims of crime, especially those involving women and children, in areas like sexual assault, domestic violence, and human trafficking.| read more ››

Monica Martinez to Represent New York's 3rd Senate District

Oct
20
2020

Throughout State Sen. Monica R. Martinez’s first term, she has served as a strong advocate for her district. An immigrant from El Salvador who came to the United States at age 3, Martinez brings a fresh perspective and understands her ever-changing constituency.

The Brentwood Democrat rightly points to district issues she wants to address, including sewers, economic development and even the dreaded Oakdale Merge. Her attention to women’s rights has been particularly welcome.

Martinez’s efforts to push for amendments to initial bail reform legislation were smart. But in her first two years in Albany, she often remained behind the scenes, sometimes not taking a position until her caucus did, such as on the repeal of the 50-a law that hid...| read more ››

Answers to Your Questions on How to Vote in November

Oct
14
2020

New Yorkers have three ways to vote in this year’s general election on Nov. 3.

Absentee ballots
This year, any voter may receive an absentee ballot if they are concerned about the spread of COVID-19 at polling places.

Voters may request absentee ballots from their county board of elections by mail, email, fax, telephone or by visiting.

Absentee ballot applications may be downloaded in English or in Spanish at www.elections.ny.gov/VotingAbsentee.html. A voter should complete the application and check "temporary illness or physical disability" for the reason, which would include concern about contracting the COVID-19 virus.| read more ››

Jackie Gordon to Represent 2nd Congressional District

Oct
14
2020

In his most memorable moments, Peter King — who is vacating New York’s 2nd Congressional District after 14 terms in Congress — was an advocate for his service-oriented constituents. That included the firefighters, police officers and nurses who work long hours and sometimes dangerous ones to keep society ticking, who don't shrink from duty during disaster, be it Sept. 11 or superstorm Sandy.

Many of them had moved to Long Island to carve out middle class lives, the kinds of newcomers whose parents or grandparents might have come through Ellis Island seeking new opportunities, and now they were making good on that gamble here.

It is those constituents and their 21st century dreams who Jackie Gordon is perfectly poised to represent.

Gordon, 55, has already lived a life of service. That includes nearly 30 years in the U.S. Army Reserve as a military police officer. It includes decades as a Wilson Technological Center guidance counselor and Babylon Town councilwoman.| read more ››

Nancy Goroff to Represent 1st Congressional District

Congressional candidate Nancy Goroff
Oct
13
2020

Nancy Goroff is the best prepared and most knowledgeable newcomer at any level of Long Island politics in years.

The Stony Brook University chemistry professor is a scientist. And she’s running against an incumbent, Lee Zeldin, who twists himself like a strand of DNA trying to support a president who does not believe in science — to the detriment of the nation.

Goroff, 52, a Democrat from Stony Brook who’s on leave from her job for this run, would bring a unique and badly needed analytic perspective to the House — and promises to serve as a resource for all members of Congress on matters of science. Her fact-based background would be particularly helpful in dealing with the COVID-19 crisis and other pandemics, and the development of a high-tech corridor centered at Brookhaven National Lab and Stony Brook University.

Goroff would be especially effective in the fight against climate change, one of the primary factors motivating her run. She understands that rising seas, coastal erosion and extreme storms threaten the Mastic-Shirley area, the East End, the Long Island coastline, and our very way of life. Her plan of attack has three planks — set ambitious targets, like being carbon-neutral in energy production by 2035; vigorously use existing technologies in renewable energy, clean vehicles and clean buildings to get there; and invest in research to develop the technologies of the future to be used in the United States and to be exported to other countries to help them improve their standards of living without emitting huge amounts of carbon. It’s a plan that makes sense.| read more ››

VOTERS' GUIDE: General Election, November 3, 2020

Oct
13
2020

VOTERS' GUIDE

Whether you're voting by mail, voting early, or voting on Election Day, read all about the candidates who are looking for your vote and where they stand on the issues. If you have questions about how to vote this year, read about the 3 ways you can vote.| read more ››

Thomas Suozzi to Represent 3rd Congressional District

Oct
13
2020

Thomas Suozzi is the relentless voice Long Island needs in Washington.
The second-term Democrat, 58, has carried the mantle on the crucial reversal of the SALT deduction cap. He helped negotiate an elimination of the cap for 2020 into the pandemic relief bill that passed in the House.
Environmentally, he has put fixing the Bethpage plume at the forefront. He successfully appealed this past spring to the House Appropriations Committee for more federal funds to clean the polluted former U.S. Navy site, and he repeatedly has urged the Navy and Northrop Grumman to speed cleanup as the groundwater contamination continues to spread through Bethpage and beyond. He wants the Navy and Grumman to cede responsibility to local water authorities to get the job done.| read more ››