Johnson gets a GOP challenger in 7th District

Jack Martins, 42, the mayor of Mineola, will challenge state Sen. Craig Johnson in November for New York’s seventh district seat.

Martins announced his candidacy on March 14, vowing to help change the culture of gridlock and dysfunction in Albany.

It’s a promise that many people have heard before. Martins, however, insists that he has the experience on the local level to help break up the logjam in Albany.

“I’ve been mayor of Mineola for seven years now, and the same issues that we have in Mineola that prompted me to run, exist in Albany right now,” Martins said. “There’s out-of-control spending and borrowing, backroom deals and a sense that the government is just not listening to the people.”

Martins, who plans to hang his hat on his record of paying down millions in Mineola village debt and running a fiscally responsible government, said he was hoping to restore some sense of fiscal stability to the upper house of the state’s legislature.

This won’t be the first time that Martins, a Republican, has run for higher office in Nassau County. In 2008, he challenged U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, in New York’s Fourth Congressional district, losing to the incumbent Democrat by a margin of more than 70,000 votes.

This time around, Martins said, he’s dedicating himself to knocking on every door in the district, to make sure he knows the issues that are affecting residents at the street level.

The most crucial issue, he said, is the impact that economic hardships are having on every single New Yorker.

“The state’s position on heading into a terrible and devastating recession was to increase spending by $14 billion, increase taxes by $8 billion, and cancel the STAR rebate checks,” he said. “It’s that mindset that you can continue to spend because someone else is going to pay for it.”

Martins said that he intends to bring some fiscal stability into his office, hopefully starting with tax relief. One method of alleviating the fiscal pains that ail Albany and Nassau County alike, he said, is to sniff out waste in government.

“One thing people don’t want to see is their hard-earned tax dollars wasted,” he said. “Look at the MTA and how that’s become a gaping black hole for waste, fraud and abuse. Before you decide that you’re going to increase spending, you have to look inside and find the waste.”

Martins used a familiar analogy when it came to budgeting for government, saying that as the head of a household, he couldn’t spend more than he makes and that government shouldn’t be any different.

If he does manage to unseat Johnson, Martins would be moving from the local equivalent of the executive branch to the legislative branch at the state level. It’s a very different challenge, having the buck stop with you in Mineola, as opposed to having the buck disappear in the legislative vacuum that is the state Senate.

Martins said, however, that his experience with the village would translate well, and had given some valuable skills.

“[My job] is executive but it’s also legislative. I have to work with a board and with my fellow trustees in working on ordinances and passing local laws,” he said. “In the end it means bringing everybody together. It all starts with having strong personal convictions.”

When it comes to those convictions he said, his opponent just doesn’t measure up.

“All it takes is one senator.  It took one senator to pass the budget, the MTA payroll tax and the cancellation of STAR rebate checks, and Sen. Johnson did that,” Martins said. “I think he’s voting with his colleagues from New York City and his party, rather than voting with the fine people of the Seventh Senatorial district.”

Sen. Johnson’s Communications Director Rich Azzopardi returned fire, saying that Johnson was making the tough decisions to govern his district efficiently, keeping residents’ interests at heart.

“Senator Johnson is making the tough decisions to keep New York afloat in a very bad economy and is proud to have directed state investment to communities across the 7th Senate District,” Azzopardi said. “These investments to important institutions like the Elmont Public Library and the Elmont School District improve our neighborhoods and relieve pressure on property tax levies. They also help non-profit organizations, such as Gateway Youth Outreach, provide vital services to our children, our families and to seniors in our communities.”

With Martins’ announcement over the weekend, November seems closer than ever in Elmont and Franklin Square.