How important are political endorsements?

Sen. Charles “Chuck” Schumer” said he was standing in about the identical space outside Seasons kosher supermarket on Central Avenue in Lawrence last Friday as he did nearly two years ago when he endorsed Long Beach resident and former federal prosecutor Todd Kaminsky for the assembly.

Fourteen months since being sworn in to represent the 20th Assembly District, incumbent Assemblyman Kaminsky (D-Long Beach) is now running for a seat in the State Senate. Also running are Hewlett Harbor resident and attorney Christopher McGrath on the Republican side and Green Party candidate and accountant Laurence Hirsh, who lives in North Woodmere.

“He is the kind of person we need in the State Senate, he is a bright young man committed to his community,” Schumer said about Kaminsky.

The special election will be held on April 19, the day of the presidential primary in New York state, for the seat vacated by Dean Skelos after his December conviction on corruption charges. The 9th District encompasses Atlantic Beach, Baldwin, East Atlantic Beach, East Rockaway, Elmont, the Five Towns, Franklin Square, Island Park, Lido Beach, Long Beach, Lynbrook, Malverne, Oceanside, Point Lookout, Rockville Centre, South Hempstead, Valley Stream and West Hempstead.

As of press time, Kaminsky has collected 19 endorsements, including ones from Oceanside Teachers, the Long Island Federation of Labor and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, McGrath has 22 endorsements from such groups as the Nassau County Police Benevolent Association, the Fire Marshal Benevolent Association of Nassau County and the Service Station Dealers of Greater New York. The majority of Kaminsky’s endorsements are from labor unions and the bulk of McGrath’s are from law enforcement groups. The Green Party at the county and state levels endorsed Hirsh.

But what are endorsements worth?
According to Michael Dawidziak, a political consultant who has been a part of national, state and local campaigns, not much. “I have worked on a lot of campaigns in 40 years and I’ve had races where we had every endorsement and lost and races where we had zero and won,” he said.

One caveat: Dawidziak said that endorsements could have an impact on voter turnout in a special election. “It may help to get the vote out,” he said. “People don’t vote in a special election unless they are asked.”

Hirsh, who lost to incumbent County Legislator Carrié Solages (D-Elmont) in last year’s Democratic primary, thinks endorsements have what he called a “peripheral effect” on voters. “I don’t think voters make decisions based on endorsements unless they are members of those groups,” Hirsh said. “Voters make their own choices based on objective facts.”

A veteran of running for political office since 1975, Schumer said endorsements could make a difference in a campaign such as this. “I think they do in a race like this that is being fiercely contested,” he said minutes after endorsing Kaminsky, who believes his endorsements boost his candidacy.

“This election is about a simple issue: which candidate is best suited to end the rampant corruption that has taken over our state government,” Kaminsky said. “The endorsements I’ve received from trusted voices like Gov. Cuomo and Sen. Schumer prove that Long Islanders want a former federal corruption prosecutor in the state senate.”

McGrath said he is honored to receive the endorsements. “Their endorsements show faith in me and provide volunteers that can make a difference in a close election such as this one,” he said.