Suffolk County Elections 2021: Kara Hahn For Legislature

EAST SETAUKET, NY — Election Day is one week away, and Patch is giving you a look at the candidates on the Nov. 2 ballot.

In the 5th Suffolk County Legislative District race, Democratic incumbent Legis. Kara Hahn faces Republican challenger Salvatore "SB" Isabella.

Hahn discusses why she should be re-elected and answers Patch's Q&As below.

Age (as of Election Day)

50

Position Sought

Suffolk County Legislator

Party Affiliation

Democratic

Family

Husband, Christopher; daughters, Karina and Hope

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Education

Bachelor’s degree with distinction from the University of Delaware and Master’s degree in Social Work Policy from the University of Pennsylvania.

Occupation

Suffolk County Legislator, first elected to office in November of 2011.

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office
Current Suffolk County Legislator serving the 5th Legislative District. In 2020 and 2021, I was chosen by my colleagues to serve as the deputy presiding officer for the legislature.

Campaign website

karahahn.com

Why are you seeking elective office?

It has been my pleasure to serve the residents of the 5th Legislative District. If re-elected for my 6th term of office, I hope to continue to focus on increasing real affordable housing options, and to continue to implement measures to protect our environment by reducing nitrogen and preserving open space.

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

I fully support clean water initiatives in Suffolk County and think that it is very important that we prioritize taking the necessary steps to limit nitrogen pollution. Nitrogen pollution from outdated cesspools and septic systems degrades our water quality and contributes to beach closures, restrictions on shellfishing, toxic algae blooms, and enormous fish kills.

Last year, I authored legislation requiring the Department of Public Works and the Department of Health Services to evaluate and propose ways to simplify its existing duplicative sewer application and review the process to create a streamlined application. Ensuring sewering projects move forward swiftly and removing hurdles to obtaining the proper permits will continue to help improve the water quality in Suffolk County.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

During my tenure, I have authored forward-thinking public policies that have saved hundreds of lives by putting opioid antidotes in the hands of first responders, as well as allowed training for laypersons to use the antidote in cases of suspected overdose. I also allowed county health professionals to follow up with overdose victims who were saved in order to get them into treatment. There is still much more that needs to be done to address the disease of addiction and the opioid crisis.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

The unexpected events of 2020 caused many of the plans and goals we had for the year to be set aside in order to deal with the immediacy of the pandemic. While we are returning to our temporarily forgotten aspirations, it is important to take this time to reimagine what investment into capital projects makes the most sense.

I have been working with the Suffolk county departments of Economic Development and Planning, health department, and the Industrial Development Agency, Long Island Builders Association, Association for a Better Long Island, and the Suffolk County Town SupervisorsAssociation to draft zoning code recommendations which local town governments can adopt to enable the reuse and recycling of already developed retail and big box store businesses which are vacant.

The recommendations were approved by the Suffolk County Planning Commission, and this year, we are looking forward to working with the town supervisors and town boards across Suffolk to adopt these zoning code changes. The hope is that instead of building apartment complexes on our ever-dwindling open spaces we can reuse these already developed vacant buildings for apartments.