Congressional candidates clash in Great Neck

Joe Nikic

Former North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman said Tuesday that the five candidates vying for the Democratic nomination to run for outgoing U.S. Rep Steve Israel’s 3rd Congressional District seat needed to be more cautious when attacking other candidates’ previous political records.

“I believe that a lot of us need to be careful in terms of how we criticize each other,” Kaiman said at a Great Neck Democratic Club-sponsored candidates debate. “Governing is hard. When you’re responsible for making decisions, everybody is not going to agree with them.”

He was joined at the debate, which took place at the Great Neck House, by Town of North Hempstead Councilwoman Anna Kaplan, Suffolk County Legislator Steve Stern, former Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi and Levittown attorney Jonathan Clarke.

The candidates are seeking to replace Israel, who announced in January that he would not seek re-election, setting off a scramble to replace him.

Kaiman’s comments came after Stern said Suozzi “disappointed” North Shore Democrats by raising taxes and taking pay raises “particularly during challenging times.”

Suozzi almost immediately fired back at Stern.

“You have a habit of trying to play with things, on the choice issue, on the raising taxes issue, among other things,” he said. “That is really the thing that makes people sick about politicians.”

While the five candidates had varying opinions on some of the issues, all of them agreed that the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, was a positive idea for American citizens, but needed slight changes.

Clarke said a problem was that insurance companies and hospitals had a “big seat at the table” when Obamacare was being developed.

“The two people that were really missing from the table were the doctors and the patients,” he said.

Stern said the “vital elements” were working, specifically with the allowance of children to stay on their parents’ insurance plans until they are 26 and the access of health care for women.

He added that the cost of prescription drugs for senior citizens needed to be changed.

“You can’t have a system work when the people who are actually implementing the system feel like they’re getting ripped off by the insurance companies and the insurance companies feel like they’re not getting enough and the people who are supposed to be getting the benefits feeling like they’re not getting the health care they’re supposed to be getting,” Kaiman said.

He added that a problem was that Democrats refuse to reform Obamacare because Republicans want to “destroy it.”

Kaplan said Obamacare should be reformed to better benefit those who have served in the military.

“We need to take this and tweak it for our veterans,” she said. “Our veterans who have really given their lives for the peace and freedom that we enjoy here and make sure that they are covered.”

Suozzi said more should be done to aid drug and alcohol abuse, as well as mental health issues.

“It’s one of the biggest problems we face in this society,” he said. “It touches everybody and nobody talks about because of the shame related to these issues.”

Former Newsday columnist and television pundit Larry Levy, who moderated the debate, asked the candidates which issues they would be willing to work with Republicans in fixing.

Kaplan said she wanted to “put America on a very different track” and work with Republicans to find or create more jobs for the “next generation” to have a better future.

Suozzi said he wanted to bring jobs back from American companies that operate overseas, an issue he said President Barack Obama and Republican elected officials have often discussed.

“These companies have taken advantage of us for far too long and they don’t need more tax breaks,” Clarke said, agreeing with Suozzi. “We have to prosecute anybody that’s doing this because it should be illegal. It’s tax fraud.”

Stern said he has written a series of bills that he calls the “Housing Our Homeless Heroes Act,” which would be the first thing he brings to the table if elected.

He also said he wanted to make Long Island the Alzheimer’s research capital of the country.

Kaiman said he would work with Republican counterparts on ways to better protect New York and the entire nation from terroristic threats.

Clarke, who is the only candidate who supports presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, was the lone candidate who said he was in support of the Iran Nuclear Deal.

“We have no problem being friends with Saudi Arabia, which is the most oppressive regime in that area and who do fund ISIS,” he said. “But we do have problems with Iran and that doesn’t make sense to me.”

Kaplan, who is an Iranian immigrant, said she opposed the deal because Iran’s leaders were untrustworthy.

“This is a country where the Iranian people are wonderful people,” she said. “But it’s a regime that is not to be trusted and a regime that we should not be giving legitimacy to.”

Suozzi said he didn’t think the deal was “tough enough,” adding that the country no longer needed oil from the Middle East, decreasing our need to operate in those areas.

Stern and Kaplan both said there should be sanctions placed if Iran violates the terms of the deal.

Kaiman said war should not be the answer if the deal is violated.

Stern said he was running for Israel’s seat to build on his political record.

“I’m running to build on a record I’m very proud of. A record of fighting for middle class families, protecting our environment, protecting our Long Island Sound,” he said. “Many of my legislative initiatives are literally the first of their kind in New York State and even the first in the country.”

Kaiman said he thought citizens were losing confidence in government.

“We need somebody who can stand up and be honest with us and fight that fight,” he said. “I’m running for Congress because I believe I am that person.”

Clarke said he was running to give voters the option of electing a progressive Democrat into office and to fix a “broken” campaign finance system.

“I think just the fact that I’m sitting here shows the tenacity that I have,” he said. “I started from nothing, I came from nothing, and now I’m sitting here.”

Suozzi said he was running because of his ability to “get things done” and because he wanted to make the world “a better place to live in”

“I believe my life experience as an attorney, as a certified public accountant, as a mayor for eight years, as a county executive for eight years, makes me uniquely equipped to actually help solve the problems that exist with my record of standing up to powerful interests and get things done on behalf of the people,” he said.

Kaplan said she wanted to prevent substance abuse, secure funding for safer borders, and make the 3rd Congressional District more affordable to live for seniors and the younger generation.

The Democratic primary election is set for June 28.

After the debate, the Great Neck Democratic Club held a straw poll for its members to vote on which candidate they preferred.

Club President Steven Markowitz said of the 63 members who voted, Kaiman received 49 votes, Suozzi received 6 votes, Kaplan and Clarke received 3 votes each, Stern got one vote and there was one vote for an “other.”

State Sen. Jack Martins of Old Westbury, is seeking the Republican nomination for the Third District seat.

He had been opposed for the Republican nomination by Glen Cove financial investigator Philip Pidot, but the state Board of Elections ruled two weeks ago that he did not file enough petition signatures to qualify for the June 28 primary.

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