It’s insider v. outsider in GOP race

Richard Tedesco

The Republican and Conservative primaries for the 4th Congressional District seat pits Long Beach lawyer Bruce Blakeman against New Hyde Park lawyer Frank Scaturro, two men who  share similar views on most campaign issues.

Both candidates sound similar themes in reforming the national economy, with the repeal of the Affordable Care Act at the top of their lists. Both men want to see cutbacks in federal entitlement programs. And both decry the current foreign policy of the Obama administration, calling for a hard line on Iran, including the prospect of using military force.

The most significant political difference between the two candidates could be the fact that Blakeman is the choice of the Republican Party in Nassau County and Scaturro is a party outsider. Blakeman has also held political office before, serving as presiding officer in the Nassau County Legislature from 1996 to 1999. 

Scaturro, who is making his third attempt to win the Republican nomination in the 4th Congressional District without party support, has not held office.

“Like a lot of people, I was very disappointed with the direction America was taking for the last five years. I had to be a voice for the hard working middle class in the fourth Congressional District,” Blakeman said of his motivation to run for Congress.

While Blakeman touts his endorsement by the county Republican, Conservative and Independence Parties, Scaturro emphasizes his standing outside the formal Republican Party structure.

“There’s a an issue about whether the people can choose their nominee. I will stand up to these forces that are established to maintain the status quo,” he said.

Both candidates are hoping to hold both the Republican and Conservative lines on the November ballot.

Last time around, Scaturro narrowly beat Francis Becker, the Republican’s anointed candidate, among primary voters on the Conservative line. 

Longtime Democratic Rep. Carolyn McCarthy defeated both Becker and Scatturo in 2012. Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice and Nassau County Legislature Minority Leader Kevan Abrahams are seeking to take McCarthy’s place on the Democratic line.

The 4th Congressional District of New York the 17-year incumbent includes the communities of Baldwin, Bellmore, East Meadow, the Five Towns, Lynbrook, Floral Park, Franklin Square, Garden City, Hempstead, Long Beach, Malverne, Merrick, Mineola, Carle Place, New Hyde Park, Oceanside, Rockville Centre, Roosevelt, Uniondale, West Hempstead and Westbury.

Killing Affordable Care Act has been a rallying cry for both Blakeman and Scaturro in their primary campaigns.

“It’s a disaster. The implementation was a disaster and the plan is a disaster,” Blakeman said. “The Democrats want a single care system that is a form of socialism.”

Blakeman, 58, said he would replace the Affordable Care Act with a “common sense approach” that would enable people with pre-existing health problems to participate by paying higher health care premiums and receiving government subsidies if needed.

For health-care coverage, he said he favors a “reversion” to “free market principles.” He said he wants to see a system where patients can choose plans across state lines.

“I can’t think of any other sector where the consumer is so separated from the economic consequences of his or her choices,” Scaturro said.

Scaturro, 43, has said spending caps should be created by both houses of Congress with what he sees as an urgent need to control the costs of entitlement programs including Social Security and Medicare to keep those programs “solvent in the long term.”

Blakeman said he would also seek to cut entitlement programs, focusing specifically on Medicaid, which he said is “out of control.”

“Our fathers and grandfathers sacrificed to give us a opportunities to live a better life than they did,” Blakeman said. “All we’re doing is saddling our young people with debt. It’s wrong.”

In the international arena, Blakeman wants the U.S. to take a stronger hand in dealing with what he sees as a chaotic international landscape

“The whole situation in Iraq is deteriorating. Syria is in a civil war. The Russians are in Crimea,” he said. “Weakness invites danger and this is a dangerous world.”

On national defense, Scaturro has said he thinks the country has lost focus on its values in the post Cold War era and “should be smarter in our forging of international partnerships.” 

Addressing American policy toward Iran policy, Scaturro said the interim deal recently struck gives that country’s uranium enrichment program “a new lease on life.”

“I think we’ve taken the wrong tack in our foreign policy,” he said. “Meaningful deterrents mean the combination of economic sanctions and some credible military threat.”

Blakeman has said he would vote for stronger economic sanctions on Iran and keep a military option on the table.

“America should not rely upon Israel to stop Iran from gaining nuclear weapons capability as it is our responsibility to protect America’s interests and America’s interests clearly should be in destroying any potential nuclear weapons capability by Iran,” Blakeman said in a statement on his website.

While Scaturro portrays himself as someone outside the political mainstream, Blakeman calls him a “Washington insider” based on Scaturro’s serving as counsel for the Constitution for the Senate Judiciary Committee after graduating law school in 1997.

“He doesn’t have the business background that I do,” Blakeman said.

Blakeman touts his experience in real estate development and start-up companies. He said his law practice is focused on commercial transactional work.

Scaturro is currently counsel to FisherBroyles, where he said he concentrates in constitutional and commercial law, typically handling civil rights cases against government entities.

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