Democratic Assembly Member Gina Sillitti and Daniel Norber, the Republican candidate running for her seat, addressed reproductive rights and cannabis dispensaries on Long Island at a candidate event sponsored by the Lakeville Civic Association on Wednesday.
While both Sillitti and Norber said they support a woman’s right to choose when it comes to reproductive rights and abortion options, there was disagreement about the Equal Rights Amendment, also known as Prop 1.
“I support Proposition 1,” said Sillitti, who has been the assembly member for District 16 since 2020.
“There is nothing in New York state law that will upend parental rights and that will not change with the Equal Rights Amendment. The Equal Rights Amendment is taking current New York state law and enshrining it into the New York state constitution,” she said.
Norber said he supports civil rights in terms of race and gender, but people need to make sure that families’ rights are not taken away.
“The most important thing that we have, as Americans, in New York State and everywhere, is the nuclear family,” Norber said. “A lot of people that I’m talking to are worried that the state itself is taking away a parent’s eligibility to educate their children on specific issues. I do believe that we have to divide certain issues of Proposition 1.”
“I am fully and 100% pro-choice,” Sillitti said. “I fight for women’s rights, and I fight for the Equal Rights Amendment, and I fight for Prop 1 to pass because I want pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes to be enshrined in our Constitution, because I don’t want any woman to feel like they can’t get the health care that they need.”
Norber said he “wants all the women in our state and our world to have the tools necessary to make the right decision.”
With cannabis now legal in New York State, some residents are concerned with dispensaries opening in Nassau neighborhoods.
“I do not want Nassau County to turn into Manhattan,” said Norber, who owns a moving company in New York City. “Right now, we have so many illegal dispensaries in the city. I’ll make sure that there’s a little bit more regulations in which people don’t have to smell marijuana all day long when they don’t want to.”
Sillitti said that when cannabis became legal in the state, municipalities could opt in or out of having a dispensary in their community.
“I think every municipality in Nassau County said that they didn’t want them,” Sillitti said. “So now we have to deal with borders and we have Queens on one end and then Town of Babylon on the other end. So I wrote a bill and the bill will provide notice to neighboring municipalities when shops are opening so close to the border.”
Candidates discussed the ongoing issues with the cat populations and lack of cat shelter in the Town of North Hempstead.
“I’ve dedicated in any way I could to helping animals. So, of course, in this issue, which I did hear about lately, we need to find a better solution,” Norber said. “We need to make sure that we have the budgeting necessary so that we can protect these animals.”
Sillitti said she plans to continue to advocate for the cat issue in the town.
“Whatever grants that I could bring from New York to make that happen, whatever assistance that I can provide to make sure that the town can take care of all of our animals, I’m happy to do,” Sillitti said.
Sillitti has been endorsed by the New York League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club, the New York State AFL-CIO, the Nassau-Suffolk Building Trades, the Nassau County PBA, the Nassau County Detectives and the Nassau County Superior Officers Association.
“I’m still seeking other organizations throughout the state,” Sillitti said.
As a first-time candidate, Norber said, “it’s a little bit harder to get endorsements of those types, but I do get a lot of support within my community. Everybody I speak to, they’re very supportive, like the synagogues, the other agencies that I’ve been dealing with.”
Norber said he’s seen New York deteriorating in terms of the economy and crime rates.
“When I moved here from Isreal for the American Dream, I knew that it would present itself and it actually did. And I want to make sure that this dream exists for all of us; for kids, for communities, for our future,” Norber said. “There are things happening on the state level which makes New York unrecognizable in my opinion.”
If elected, assembly member Norber said he is not looking to change laws regarding women’s rights or anybody’s rights; he is looking to bring them back. We’re just looking to bring back safety and honor to our state.
If re-elected as assembly member, Sillitti said she would continue to be present, open and accessible.
“I think that it’s important for all elected officials to listen to the needs of our constituents, whether we agree with them or not,” Sillitti said. “We’re going to be respectful. And we’re going to come from a place of respect and truth and honesty.”
