(Photo by Frank Rizzo)
During his recent town hall meeting at the VFW headquarters in Hicksville, former two-term Nassau County Executive/Glen Cove Mayor Tom Suozzi detailed how he led a quixotic campaign against what he perceived as the corruption—and ineffective state legislature—in Albany. As a result, he claimed, the Democratic leadership turned against and even punished him.
“No wonder you couldn’t get out of the county,” quipped an attendee.
Now Suozzi wants to “get out” of the county by succeeding retiring Congressman Steve Israel (D-Huntington) in the third congressional district. It stretches across the northern portions of Queens, Nassau and Suffolk, and reaches south to Hicksville, Bethpage and parts of Farmingdale. The town hall was part of a series of 14 he’s been holding across the district. He’s been out of politics since being deafted by Ed Mangano a second time for the county executive seat in 2013.
The primary election will be held June 28 and the Democratic field is crowded. It includes Suozzi, Town of North Hempstead Councilwoman Anna Kaplan, Suffolk County Legislator Steve Stern (who earned an endorsement from Israel), former North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman, and Levittown attorney Jonathan Clarke.
“The realty is everybody is sick of politics. They’re sick of politicians,” Suozzi said. “They’re sick of how nothing gets done these days. They’re fed up—and that is why Trump is so popular. He’s speaking to that anger.”
Not, he hastened to add, that he supports the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.
On the whole, the several dozen in attendance were conversant with the issues and seemed engaged with the campaign. Attendees expressed degrees of frustration and bewilderment with the current political climate. They came up with possible policy suggestions and solutions to our country’s intractable problems. They talked of “dark money” and the baleful influence of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.
“It’s a big deal that you came out in the middle of the week on a rainy, rotten night,” Suozzi said. “Very few people are going to vote in the primary election and few are paying attention because they are just listening to what’s happening at the national level.”
He then made his pitch to those assembled: “You’re a lot more powerful than you think you are, and you can make a big difference. Only 15,000 votes are needed to win this race.”
To the universal lament about our political system’s gridlock and seeming ineffectiveness, Suozzi offered an answer: “Why don’t things change? Because someone is benefiting from the status quo. People work hard to keep things the way they are now.
“A lot of the dark money is designed to make you hate government, hate politicians ” he added.
Suozzi noted one of the great paradoxes in politics: “Congress has a 14 percent approval rating, but 95 percent of [members] get reelected. I used to say the same thing about Albany—that more people have been indicted in the past five years than have lost their jobs at the polls.”
He went on to list things citizens are worried about, personal concerns such as income and job security, health care, taking care of aging parents and securing their kids’ future. Add to that the national and international problems, such as terrorism.
Suozzi said he will try to find people in congress across the political spectrum he can work with to begin the task of trying to solve the pressing issues.
“There are good people in congress…there are so many problems that can be worked on if people honestly worked [together] at trying to solve them,” he said.
“You have to have people who can work the system to get things done,” Suozzi stated, and pointed to his campaign slogan on a nearby sign: “Suozzi Gets It Done.”
He added, “One thing I’ve been good at as mayor and county executive is getting things done,” and again asked for “the privilege” of getting their votes.
One who seemed receptive to Suozzi’s message was Henry Porzio of Hicksville, who noted that “this primary is so important. We need people like you [in congress] because we’re not getting anything done. And you can just go to Washington and become another frustrated congressman…but you can get your caucus put together and get things done.”
As he brought the session to an end, Suozzi made one last appeal: “If you don’t like what I’m saying, I ask you to please keep it to yourself.”
Visit longislandweekly.com for a more detailed story, including Suozzi’s views on immigration and gun control, and more comments from attendees.
