After a 10-year hiatus from serving as an elected official, former North Hempstead Town Councilman Anthony D’Urso said the time has come to serve the public again.
D’Urso, 76, of Port Washington, said in an interview with Blank Slate Media on Monday that he will enter the race for the 16th Assembly District seat, which will be vacated by outgoing state Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel (D-Port Washington).
“Why do I run now? Because the opportunity has come now,” he said. “A couple of people in the party, in leadership positions, asked me to run because I had a proven record in the administrative and legislative end of government.”
D’Urso served as North Hempstead Town Councilman from 1991 through 2005.
Prior to that, he worked as assistant commissioner of New York City’s Division of Architecture Engineering and Construction for the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
D’Urso enters a Democratic race pitting him against former and current town employees.
Former Town Public Safety Commissioner Andrew DeMartin resigned from his town post in February to focus on his run for the state Assembly.
Nick Guariglia, who began serving as the town’s deputy chief of staff in January 2014 after serving for two years as deputy chief of staff for the minority of the Nassau County Legislature, entered the race last month.
D’Urso said prior to announcing he would run for the 16th Assembly District seat, he called both DeMartin and Guariglia to inform them that he would be entering the race.
“I said I wanted it to be a positive race, which I would be running on my record of accomplishments, and I didn’t want any name-calling or defamatory statements,” he said. “We keep it on a high ground and we will be friends after the election also.”
D’Urso said North Hempstead Democratic Committee Chairman John Ryan would hold a screening with the three potential candidates on May 7 to discuss whether a primary should be held.
If elected, he said, he wanted to improve education in the district and get schools the money they need to succeed.
“I don’t know if the state of New York is doing enough to pay their share of allocations to the school districts,” D’Urso said. “I would advocate for money for the schools.”
He also said he wanted to find ways to give some relief to taxpayer who do not have children going to school.
“There has to be some way to make it a little less painful,” D’Urso said. “Every problem cannot just be solved with money but I want to see how best we can give relief to taxpayers in school districts.”
He also said he was an advocate for the environment and wanted to protect Long Island’s resources, specifically saltwater intrusion in the water supply.
Herricks school board Trustee Jim Gounaris, who was considering running for Schimel’s seat, said he dropped out of the race to support D’Urso.
“He’s sincere, he’s humble, he’s kind, he’s generous and he wants to do this for everybody in the district,” Gounaris said. “This is not about him, this is about the residents of the district. That was my reason for wanting to run and I think he represents that.”
He said he had over six figures in financial pledges that he had accumulated over the past couple of months, but decided it was best to allow D’Urso to run for the seat rather than run against him.
“When a guy like Tony D’Urso, with his credentials, comes and says he would like to do this and bring what he has done to that district, I took a step back and said he’s excellent and he could be exactly what I think I wanted to be in that seat,” Gounaris said.
Schimel announced on Jan. 7 she would not seek re-election.
She was first elected to the state Assembly in March 2007 after defeating Republican Ryan DeCicco in a special election, receiving 86 percent of the votes.
Schimel replaced Thomas DiNapoli, who the state Legislature selected as state Comptroller that year.
D’Urso said serving the public has always been his goal in life, even when he was a teenager still living in Italy.
“When I was growing up and I looked at some of the people, whether it was the teachers or nuns or priests or the mayor, and I looked up to them and I said ‘I wish one day I could be in the position where I could help people,’” he said. “I know the government is a force for the good and can still help people.”
