Candidates Face Off at Tri-Chamber Debate in Mattituck

MATTITUCK, NY — Soggy skies didn't stop a crowd from packing Pace's Dockside Thursday night for a tri-Chamber of Commerce "Meet the Candidates" event.

The North Fork, Mattituck, and Riverhead Chambers of Commerce teamed up for the event, which featured candidates in the upcoming Nov. 8 election who were each given the chance to speak.

United States Congressman Lee Zeldin, running on the GOP ticket, and his opponent, the Democratic candidate and former Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst, outlined their widely divergent views to the audience.

Incumbent Rep. Lee Zeldin began by outlining his past. Born and raised on Long Island, Zeldin said he and his wife are raising their twins a half mile from where he grew up.

He attended college and law school in Albany, and is a veteran who serves as a Major in the Army Reserves; after completing ROTC he served as a military intelligence officer, federal prosecutor and military magistrate. He was elected to the New York State Senate in 2010 and, he said, led the fight to repeal the MTA Payroll Tax for 80 percent of employers, cosponsored the nation’s strongest property tax cap, reduced middle income tax rates to the lowest level in 60 years, eliminated the saltwater fishing license fee, and created a program for vets with PTSD.

In Congress, Zeldin said he has worked with "both sides of the aisle" to get several proposals passed; three bills for veterans, two proposals to save Plum Island, as well as counter-terrorism legislation. His Common Core opt out proposal and Safe Bridges Act were both passed and signed into law, he said.

Speaking out to the business community gathered in the restaurant, Zeldin said his aim was to do "whatever we can do, to make it easier for businesses to expand."

Addressing health care, Zeldin has expressed his support for repealing Obamacare. In January, he announced that he would be voting in favor of a bill to repeal Obamacare.

On Thursday, Zeldin said businesses are offering employees "less of a policy for more of a cost."

Discussing the collapse of Health Republic of New York, Zeldin said 200,000 New Yorkers didn't lose coverage "90 days from now. . .they were told, 'You're not covered now.' And that included people undergoing treatment for cancer at Sloan-Kettering."

He added, "We need small and medium sized businesses to offer more of a policy at less of a cost."

Zeldin said he favored allowing children to stay on their parents' policies until the age of 26, covering pre-existing conditions, and tax incentives for people to set aside earnings pre-tax to help cover health costs.

The goal was to reduce costs and create more jobs, Zeldin said.

The congressman said he did not support raising the minimum wage, citing the impact on small businesses. He said there's a need to enact smart policy to allow small businesses to flourish, expand, and to create more jobs.

During a question and answer period, one woman said, "There has to be country, over party." Of Donald Trump, she said, "Why have not more people in your party said, 'I cannot support him."

"I do support Trump over Hillary," Zeldin said, to loud applause in the room. "I have my reasons, related to a lot of important substantive issues I care deeply about."

When asked about his opinion on a call by the United States Chamber of Commerce to end travel restrictions and an embargo to Cuba, Zeldin said concessions needed to be realized. Human rights violations need to be dealt with, he said. "Cuba is still harboring fugitives," he said.

On the issue of immigration reform, Zeldin said border security needs improvement and an interior enforcement bill should be passed.

"There are principals that guide me," he said. "Every nation's backbone is our rule of law. A nation without borders isn't a nation at all."

He also said people who come to this nation that are educated and graduate should be given jobs. If not, "They leave, and that job leaves with them," he said, adding that he supports high tech visas. Zeldin said on the North Fork, employers who follow the rules, paying taxes, have to wait an extra few weeks for laborers they bring in for the summer; he'd like to speed up that process.

Zeldin also said he has compassion for individuals not in this country yet because they've gone to the consulate to pursue the American dream but have been handed forms and been held up.

Peter McGreevy, chairman of the Southold Town GOP, asked about Zeldin's local accomplishments.

Zeldin pointed to killing a plan that would've diverted I-95 traffic to the North Fork's rural roads, as well as a proposal for heavier and longer trucks; a move forward on the Hashamomuck Cove study; and legislation to put the brakes on the sale of Plum Island and keep the parcel preserved.

Anna Throne-Holst

The former Southampton Town Supervisor and councilwoman said she took office at the beginning of the nation's "biggest financial meltdown" and still was able to hold the line on taxes and restore the town's AAA bond rating.

She said she took a hard look at the finances when she took office and started to audit the books. "All was not well in Denmark," she said. "The budget in Southampton was systemically unbalanced and had been for years. There was a deficit in almost every fund. There was co-mingling of funds that bordered on illegal." Her main focus, she said, was on "cleaning up the mess."

The way out, she said, was to get "political stripes to work together."

Throne-Holst pointed to her "proven track record of working across political stripes and getting the job done."

She said she is a "fiscally responsible, fiscally conservative, but unabashedly social liberal."

Pointing to her former constituents, she said while the public perception is that Southampton embodies the affluent Hamptons, Riverside and Flanders comprise the "single most economically challenged" communities on Long Island.

During her tenure, Throne Holst said she cut millions in spending, with no tax rate hike in her eight years as supervisor.

Of her decision to run for Congress, Throne-Holst said, "I think we need people in Congress that have a proven record of serving across aisles and getting the job done. That is not what is happening in Congress today."

Today, 89 percent of Americans, she said, "are dissatisfied with Congress because Congress is mired in gridlock and partisanship and is not getting the job done," with no proposals to change the tax code.

Corporations, she said, are making money offshore and don't have to pay taxes, to the tune of more than $400 billion.

"I don't agree with my opponent, that it's okay to say we'll get it done on Nov. 9. It should have been done months and years ago," she said.

Of the Affordable Care Act, Throne-Holst said there was risk corridor funding to make sure health exchange markets "didn't tank. That funding was denied, and that is why Health Republic went out of business. That is why 200,000 New Yorkers lost their coverage."

Throne-Holst said she supports changes to the Affordable Care Act, but not a total repeal.

"If we were to repeal and replace, there is nothing to replace", she said; no alternatives have been offered. "The Supreme Court has twice upheld it and it is the law of the land because it serves the people. You cannot talk about 'repeal and replace' without putting forth some replacement."

Repealing the Affordable Care Act would also mean defunding Planned Parenthood, Throne-Holst said, adding that for millions of young Americans, Planned Parenthood is their sole access to birth control, cancer screening and other services.

Addressing immigration reform, Throne-Holst said farmers on the East End are dependent upon the more than 50 percent of farm workers that are undocumented. "I don't know of a farmer who says, 'Yay, I can't wait to break the law today,'" she said, adding that without those workers, businesses will fail and families "will be in trouble."

Throne-Holst said, of the 10 to 15 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, criminals need to be taken out, and "borders secured," but a path to citizenship should also be supported; without one, she said, "Our economy will fold."

On the local level, Throne-Holst said, "Climate change is real," and said the federal government needs to take a leadership role and put climate change mitigation in place. Renewable energy solutions are critical, as is "getting off an antiquated, costly grid," she said.

With Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook, "We are so well-poised here, to take advantage of wind, air and sun and get off of fossil fuels, off a costly and decaying grid, and reducing our utility bills in a dramatic way," Throne-Holst said.

She pointed to her solar successes in Southampton Town and also to her focus as a supervisor on nitrogen loading in area waters.

Throne-Holst said she pitched the idea for a technology hub and incubator to address these issues and the New York State Clean Water Technology Center was born.

She said there's a need to rewrite the tax code and said she was responsible for a conservation easement that will help young farmers stay on the East End.

Throne-Holst said she's firmly committed to a women's right to choose. "God should never interfere with that decision." She also said she supports the LGBTQ community and same sex marriage, which Zeldin has voted against as a state senator. Throne-Holst also said all children should have access to early childhood education and to college.

When asked about the Cuba embargo, Throne-Holst said it's been in place for 50 years "and it hasn't worked. It's done nothing for us and it's plunged the Cuban people into poverty." She said she applauds Obama and believes travel restrictions should be lifted "and we should all go enjoy Cuba."

Throne-Holst was also asked about the extension by the Federal Aviation Administration of the North Shore route for helicopters for four years and said if she'd been in Congress, "I would never have let that happen without having a seat at the table, and now we're subject to four years with no relief."

Candidates speak out

Greg Fischer, a Democrat challenging incumbent New York State Senator Ken LaValle, also spoke about his concerns for the economy, a suggestion for a Cross Sound tunnel, and for for a "double decker" Long Island Expressway.

He said he would advocate for business and was fiscally conservative.

Incumbent GOP Ken LaValle, first elected in 1976, spoke about how being a representative "is all about people. God gave me two ears and one mouth, to listen."

He spoke of being proud of an alliance to put Eastern Long Island Hospital together with Stony Brook University Medical Center.

LaValle also urged the group to vote for the Community Preservation Fund amendment, extending the CPF for 20 years, and to support 20 percent of those funds being used to address issues with groundwater and surface waters.

LaValle said he was the author of the Farmland Preservation Act, the Pine Barrens Preservation Act and said he felt quality of life on the East End is critical.

He also said he supports shared services in school districts.

LaValle also discussed the real property tax cap, which he said has saved $500 million, and of the STAR rebate program.

Anthony Palumbo, a Republican running again for his seat as New York State Assemblyman, said he is a local attorney with a practice in Mattituck and a former Suffolk County prosecutor.

He said he supports small business and does not agree with raising the minimum wage.

Accomplishments include the bill for a first time homeowner's exemption from the CPF tax, and said he spoke about his efforts to fight back against the heroin epidemic among young people.

Michael Conroy, who is facing off against Palumbo, has not been actively campaigning, and did not attend the event.