HERALD ENDORSEMENT 2014

Re-elect Curran to a third term in 21st A.D.

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Republican Brian Curran is seeking re-election to a third term in the State Assembly’s 21st District, which includes Lynbrook, Rockville Centre and parts of Baldwin, East Rockaway, Franklin Square, Freeport, Hewlett, Malverne, Oceanside, South Hempstead and West Hempstead.

Curran, the ranking minority member of the Assembly’s Ethics and Guidance Committee and a member of the Banks, Labor, Insurance and Veterans Affairs committees, is an active and visible elected official. He is an affable guy, and often participates in fundraisers in his district, swimming, running 5K races or, as he has done for the past eight years, having his head shaved for the St. Baldrick’s Children’s Cancer Foundation.

He has also proved to be an effective, outspoken assemblyman. He is a cosponsor of legislation that would require elected officials convicted of violating the public trust to forfeit their state pensions. He has argued that the rollout of the Common Core State Standards in New York was a failure, and said that there should be a full review of the curriculum.

More recently, Curran voted for a package of 11 heroin-related bills that focused on strengthening efforts by law enforcement officials, increasing access to treatment and improving public awareness of the drug and its risks. In his first term, he voted for the property tax levy cap, yet managed to secure the highest state school aid for Nassau County since the late 1990s. Curran continues to fight for greater unfunded-mandate relief for schools, and says that issue will continue to be a high priority for him.

His opponent, Democrat Adam Shapiro, is not actively campaigning.

As a husband, a father, and a taxpayer in the community, Curran says that his office door is always open to his constituents. Based on his impressive record thus far, we endorse him for another term in the Assembly.