The contest pits Fuschillo a 12-year Albany veteran and member of Long Island’s once powerful Republican Senate bloc – against a grandmother of 10 with a populist message and a paltry campaign war chest.

“I hear people, I’ve been in neighborhoods that he’s never been to – Roosevelt, Freeport, Amityville,” said Gordon, 57, a retired Veterans Affairs worker from Massapequa. “All ·the money that- I have gotten is from people just like me.”Gordon portrays herself as an everywoman who understands the concerns of residents struggling with unemployment, foreclosures and crime. She attended classes at Farmingdale State University and later became a patient advocate at the Northport VA hospital. She is vice president of the Breezy Point Civic Association and made an unsuccessful run for a seat on the Oyster Bay town council in 2007.

“I hear people, I’ve been in neighborhoods that he’s never been to – Roosevelt, Freeport, Amityville.” – Carol A. Gordon

Battle of the ‘outsiders’

A divorced mother of four, Gordon says her heroes include the late Brooklyn Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm and heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali. She promises to bring “the people’s agenda” to Albany and is also running on the Working Families line. If elected, she said, she would set up committees in each neighborhood to keep her office connected with the community.

“I feel that I can make a change,” said Gordon. “I know I can make a difference.”

But this year Fuschillo, 50, of Merrick, also has positioned himself as a sort of outsider – a fiscal conservative seeking to turn back to happier times before Republicans lost control of the Senate in 2008. Fuschillo is also running on the Conservative, Independence, an Tax Revolt Party lines.

Fuschillo said New York needs to resurrect the property tax rebate and set strict caps on spending by the state and local school districts. “Property taxes are out of control, and you can’t limit it until you control spending,” he said.

Married with three children, Fuschillo graduated from Aldelphi UNiversity with a bachelor’s degree in finance. He has served as Nassau’s chief deputy county clerk and was operating officer of the Education & Assistance Corp., a nonprofit human services organization in Hempstead.

Fuschillo calls Gordon “a very nice person.” Still, he said, she lacks the experience needed to represent the district during such challenging economic times.

Judging by his comments in a recent News 12 Long Island debate, Fuschillo now sees as his real opponents “the Democratic Leadership from New York city” who control all three branches of state government. He said voters are disgusted after watching Senate Democrats struggle amid scandals, an economic meltdown and coup attempts from renegade members. Democratic leaders sent less state education aid to Long Island than it received when Republicans ran the Senate, Fuschillo said, and they approved $12 million in fees and taxes.

A shift at the ballot box

Voter registrations in the 8th Senatorial District have shifted since the two candidates last faced one another. In March of 2008 there were 73,178 registered Democrats and 81,036 Republicans, according to the New York State Board of Elections. As of April, Democrats in the district had gained a slight edge, outnumbering Republicans by 79,556 to 78,295 registrations.

But Gordon lags far behind Fuschillo in terms of fundraising. Campaign disclosure filings show Fuschillo had amassed $586,335 one month before the election. Thus far, Gordon said she had raised around $6,000, although her campaign committee is not listed as an active filer on the board of elections website.

Focus on fiscal issues

Money is on the minds of both candidates as New York State struggles to pay for critical services amid declining revenues.

Gordon said she wants to jump-start the economyby increasing loans to small businesses. She also wants to set up a state bank to provide low-interest loans. . Fuschillo said the state needs to tighten its’ belt – something he said Democrats had failed to do. Among his proposals: merging the state’s parks and environmental conservation agencies, which he said have overlapping missions. “Fourteen billion in
new spending in the past two years has just taken the state in the wrong direction,” he said.

“Fourteen billion in
new spending in the past two years has just taken the state in the wrong direction.” – Charles Fuschillo Jr.

But Gordon said the state’s troubles had deeper roots and that her rival had been part of the problem. “He’s been in there all this time,” she said. “He wants two more years for what?”

The 8th DIstrict both seek to represent spans South Shore neighborhoods from Baldwin Harbor, Roosevelt and Seaford to Amityville, North Lindenhurst and East Farmingdale.

THE PEOPLE’S AGENDA, Carol A. Gordon, Democrat for Public Service, New York 8th Senatorial District

Mailing Address
Carol A. Gordon for Senate
P.O. Box 127
Massapequa, New York 11758

Phone #: (516) 777-0738

Mailing Address
Carol A. Gordon for Senate
P.O. Box 127
Massapequa, New York 11758

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Jazz On The Bay

Friends of Carol A. Gordon invite you to Jazz On The Bay.

Saturday August 21, 2010

Time: 6pm – 11pm

Breezy Point Yacht Club

299 South Ketcham Avenue

Amityville, NY 11701

When outside agitators come into a community, does one sit idly by or does one take a stand? When outside agitators came into Merrick, Long Island, to rally against health care reform, Yes We Can! Long Island and the Bellmore-Merrick Democratic Club chose to stand up.

More than two dozen of our members staged a counter protest. They marched with hand-made signs to drive home the point that this organized gathering did not express the views of the Merrick community.

It took courage. The anti-reform rally had eight times as many participants, and they were loud, well organized and, sometimes rather (physically) aggressive. They drove their cars and trucks up and down Merrick Avenue honking their horns to drown out our chants. A few members of the group obstructed the counter-demonstrators from walking on the sidewalk. One loudmouth kept yelling things like “Hitler was a community organizer; Fidel Castro was a community organizer.”

It is clear their concerns had less to do with health care reform, per se, and more with a general unhappiness with the direction of the country resulting from the election of Barack Obama as a Democrat and as the first African-American President.

While there were some tense moments, the confrontation was, fortunately free from violence. However, as Yes We Can! Long Island President Marvin Kreutzberger told a “reporter” with Alternative News Network, the faux news operation that has been covering tea bagger demonstrations around Long Island, “These are people who do not want to listen. They’re being fed big lies and they’re repeating it.”

Having strongly held, divergent opinions and beliefs is an integral part of American democracy. But for our democracy to work we must demonstrate a willingness to listen to and respect those views, even when we are vehemently opposed to them.

That is sorely missing from the debate today. The attitude seems to be “I’m right, you suck.” No wonder Congressman Barney Frank told a woman who accused him of supporting “a Nazi policy” that “trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table.”

Yes We Can! Long Island will continue to advocate for President Obama’s plan to reform health care. It is one the most pressing – if not the most pressing – needs of our time. We will take our message to real people, who voted for health care reform, and not become distracted and deceived by these wingnut protesters.