U.S. House of Representatives
US Congress – 4th District (The reconfigured 4th Congressional District covers New Hyde Park, Floral Park, the Willistons, Mineola, Garden City, Rockville Centre, Franklin Square, Westbury, East Meadow, Freeport, Oceanside, Long Beach, Wantagh, Bellmore and Merrick.)
Term: 2 years
Vote for One
Salary: $174,000/year
(Questions asked by the League of Women Voters)
1) Priorities: What would be your top three priorities if elected?
2) Economy: What should the federal government do to strengthen the national economy and reduce unemployment?
3) Energy Policy: What steps would you propose to secure America’s energy needs while protecting the local and global environment?
4) Money in Politics: Do you support the Disclose Act, which would require disclosure by outside groups of large campaign contributions and expenditures, so that voters can determine the actual sources of funds being spent to influence federal elections?
5) Health Care: What changes, if any, should be made to federal health care policies or programs?
Francis X. Becker, Jr. (REP, TRP)
Parties: Republican
Campaign Web Site: www.beckerforcongress.com
Education: Attended Nassau Community College and Hofstra University- Studied Business Finance
Qualifications: Certified Financial Planner/Small Business Owner
Key Endorsements: Peter King
Answer Q1: Creating jobs for LI’s working families, lowering the national debt, and reducing federal spending. My Middle Class Jobs Plan addresses these very topics: paying down America’s unsustainable debt and ensuring the nation starts living within its means – just like we must do in our own homes. I’m the only candidate in this race with an actual, written Jobs Plan for the Middle Class that will jumpstart our local and national economies while empowering working families and small businesses.
Answer Q2: My Middle Class Jobs Plan addresses this very question. We must fix the tax code to help job creators in addition to increasing competitiveness for American manufactures while also encouraging entrepreneurship and economic growth. It’s infuriating that Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy hasn’t put forward a plan to fix the economic mess she helped create over her 16 years in office. It’s astonishing that she hasn’t even commented on the most recent disappointing jobs numbers. Why is she silent?
Answer Q3: I favor an ‘all of the above’ approach to energy production as a path to true energy independence. We need to further expand our extraction and production of traditional fuels and energy sources as well as explore emerging green energy technologies.
Answer Q4: Yes, I support this. My opponent does not. Her ties to illegal contributions should give voters pause. In 2010, McCarthy was caught taking $$$ from a lobbyist who pled guilty on charges related to giving and soliciting illegal contributions.
Answer Q5: I do not support ObamaCare. It is a job-killing tax, plain-and-simple. And the Supreme Court agrees with me that it’s a tax – no matter what my opponent will try and tell you. She voted for it, again and again, as well as to uphold it, eliminating more than $500 billion from Medicare and gutting the Medicare Advantage Program that thousands of seniors across Nassau County rely on. ObamaCare is hurting our economy. It’s driving up health care costs and making it harder for businessowners.
Carolyn McCarthy (DEM, WF, IND)
Parties: – Democratic – Independence – Working Families
Campaign Web Site: www.votemccarthy.com
Education: LPN, Glen Cove Nursing School
Qualifications: Member of Congress since 1997 – Nurse, 1964-1996
Key Endorsements: Democratic Party of Nassau County – Independence Party of Nassau County – Working Families Party of Nassau County – National Women’s Political Caucus – Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Federal PAC – NARAL Pro-Choice New York – American Nurses Association – The Sierra Club – Civil Service Employees Association – Council of School Supervisors and Administrators – Local 338 RWDSU/UFCW (retail and supermarket workers) – National Association of Social Workers
Answer Q1: My top three priorities would be the same as they are now: – To strengthen Long Island’s economy by working to ease the cost of living and retain and create local jobs – To improve the quality of and access to education for students of all ages, from young children to adults looking to change careers – To improve health and safety for Americans of all ages
Answer Q2: We need to continue to ease the tax burden for hardworking middle class families who’ll take these savings and stimulate the economy by spending for their households. We also need to continue to control student loan interest rates and help make American businesses grow and be more competitive in a global economy by increasing their access to capital and financing, as I have done through small business tax cuts and the Export-Import Bank, which supports over 200 businesses in New York alone.
Answer Q3: I support an “all-of-the-above” policy in which the U.S. takes advantage of every domestic energy source possible as long as we protect precious natural resources like water, air, and land in the process. That means supporting natural gas and wind, solar, hydro and biofuel energy as long as watersheds are protected, emissions standards are enforced and agriculture is sustainable. This will require adequate funding for the EPA and industry compliance with new federal gas mileage standards.
Answer Q4: A necessary component of a free and fair democracy is transparency. I’m an original cosponsor of the Disclose Act and support its goals, because I believe that voters have a critical right to know who is spending money to influence elections.
Answer Q5: We must protect the guarantees provided by our existing health care programs like Medicare and Medicaid so that hardworking Americans who have paid into these systems their whole lives get what they deserve – the peace of mind that they will be protected if they fall ill. Health care does need to cost less for both the government and for consumers, and we must continue to find ways to reduce waste and ensure that insurance premiums are being spent on patient care and not corporate expenses.
Frank J. Scaturro (CON)
Parties: Conservative
Campaign Web Site: www.frankscaturro.com
Education: Chaminade High School, Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania Law School
Qualifications: Served as Counsel for the Constitution on the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he advised senators on judicial nominations and constitutional law issues. Served as a visiting professor at Hofstra Law School, where he taught courses on the legislative process and constitutional law. Blew the whistle on a corrupt government bureaucracy and secured the restoration of President Ulysses S. Grant’s tomb. He has published a number of books and articles in the area of history and law.
Key Endorsements: Former Congressman John LeBoutillier, Eagle Forum, Rockville Centre Tea Party Patriots, Be Heard PAC
Answer Q1: My top priorities would be working to fix the economy with pro-growth policies that encourage rather than stifle job creation; changing our destructive course with respect to health care and adopting meaningful reform; and adopting foreign policy and counterterrorism measures that more effectively keep our nation safe. As one who has confronted government failure while working on the front lines, I feel we need to change the way government does business and demand accountability.
Answer Q2: To increase job creation and economic development, we need to start with fundamental change in both tax policy and spending policy. Our notoriously complex tax code should be replaced with a simpler, flatter tax code, and we should close special interest-driven loopholes. We also need to reform a broken spending process from top to bottom. Only by reducing deficit spending can we reduce the risk to our currency and provide a stable economic environment to grow investments and create jobs.
Answer Q3: Our goal must be energy independence. An “all of the above” strategy, which expands renewable energy sources and supports conservation while freeing up our domestic energy reserves, is the best way to achieve that goal. We have gone too far in putting known domestic sources of oil and gas off limits to exploration. Our economy and national security depend on the next Congress pursuing a sensible energy policy that will allow the energy sector to increase supply, lower prices, and create jobs.
Answer Q4: No. Existing law already imposes substantial disclosure requirements for independent expenditures. This bill dangerously would flout Supreme Court precedent and silence groups (with exceptions made for unions) by overwhelming them with regulation.
Answer Q5: I would repeal Obamacare and replace it with meaningful health care reform, which can be achieved at a lower cost without diminishing the quality of care. Our system should return more discretion to patients and their doctors. Working-age individuals should be able to select from a large number of health insurance options and be able to keep the health insurance plan they have chosen when they change jobs. We also need to place greater emphasis on preventative care and implement tort reform.
