Eramo, Toback to square off

State Assembly candidates Jeff Toback and Anthony Eramo will face off at a candidates forum next week in the lead-up to the Sept. 13 primary, as the two make a push for votes less than a month before the election.

The forum, organized by the League of Women Voters of Long Beach, is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 31, at 7:30 p.m., at the Long Beach Public Library, at 111 W. Park Ave.

Eramo, 42, vice president of the Long Beach City Council, and Toback, 56, an attorney and former Nassau County legislator, are vying to fill the 20th Assembly District seat vacated by State Sen. Todd Kaminsky, a Democrat who won the April 19 special election for the Senate seat of former Majority Leader Dean Skelos, who was convicted of corruption.

Both candidates have pledged to fight for residents of the district, which encompasses the Long Beach barrier island, Island Park, Oceansside, the Five Towns and parts of East Rockaway and Valley Stream.

The last Democratic primary for the 20th District seat was six years ago, when Toback challenged then Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg and lost by more than 1,200 votes.

Political insiders say that both Eramo and Toback will face challenges in the coming weeks, and that the race will hinge on voter turnout, which many expect to be far lower than the 2010 race. The winner will face Republican Missy Miller in November.

“It’s going to be hard to convince people to go vote,” said one local prominent Democrat who declined to be identified. “The last … primary … had Harvey, and Harvey was a big name. I think this time it will be a lot less.”

Nassau Democrats nominated Eramo at the party’s convention in May. Eramo, a Verizon field technician, has been a member of the Communications Workers of America since 1996, was a CWA Local 1104 shop steward and political coordinator and became a chief steward for Local 1106 last year.

He has been endorsed by the Working Families Party, the Independence Party, the Women’s Equality Party, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, Assembly members Michaelle Solages and Charles Lavine, County Legislators Kevan Abrahams and Carrie Solages, the New York State United Teachers union, the New York State Nurses Association, the Public Employees Federation labor unions, the Communication Workers of America District 1, the Steamfitters Local 638, the Nassau/ Suffolk Building Trades, the Long Island Progressive Coalition and other organizations.

Weisenberg recently announced that he was endorsing Eramo, as have City Council President Len Torres and Councilman Scott Mandel. Political insiders say that Kaminsky is expected to announce his support for Eramo as well. To date, Eramo’s campaign has raised more than $140,000, according to the state Board of Elections.

Toback, meanwhile, has raised more than $24,000 and racked up endorsements in recent weeks from the New York League of Conservation Voters, the Nassau County Police Benevolent Association, the Nassau County Superior Officers Association, the Nassau County Correction Officers Benevolent Association and the Fighting For Children PAC and its founder, Gary Greenberg.

“My endorsements cover a wide spectrum of issues that concern voters in the 20th Assembly District: public safety, the environment and protecting our children from sexual predators,” said Toback, who served five terms as a county legislator. “Anthony’s endorsements, all from labor unions, are consistent with his sellout of his constituents by endorsing the iStar tax giveaway.”

Toback was referring to a proposed 20-year, $109 million tax break that the developer iStar Financial was seeking to build two luxury apartment towers on the vacant Superblock property, a request that was rejected by the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency last month. Eramo had voiced his support for the project, and pushed for a labor agreement that many say would benefit hundreds of local union workers in Long Beach and nearby communities. But he emphasized that he did not speak in favor of the tax incentive.

“My position has always been clear: everyone, including developers, should pay their fair share of taxes,” Eramo said. “I think it’s a disgrace — but not a shock — that my opponent would be spreading vicious lies against me in this campaign. I’m proud to receive the support from all South Shore residents and men and women of labor from all professions, and that includes teachers, nurses, service workers and the building trades. To receive endorsements from elected officials and many unions and community groups shows broad support and faith that residents have in what type of assemblyman I’ll be.”

Both Toback and Eramo pledged to fight for ethics reforms, increases in school funding and keeping taxes low. Both have also cited their roles in financial turnarounds: Toback was a legislator when Nassau County received bond rating increases based on the Democratic-controlled Legislature’s fiscal decisions, and Eramo is part of the team whose efforts resulted in credit-rating upgrades by Moody’s Investors Service after Long Beach was on the brink of bankruptcy in 2012, based on improved financial controls and a replenished reserve fund.

Eramo — who previously ran for the seat in 2014, but dropped out of a Democratic primary and supported Kaminsky — is currently serving his second term on the City Council.

He said he supports a bill Kaminsky sponsored in both the Assembly and Senate calling for the stripping of pensions from state legislators who are convicted of felonies. Eramo also supports Kaminsky’s push to ban outside income among legislators — viewed as a conflict of interest by many — and has said he would resign from his job if elected.

“People are really concerned about having open and honest government, which is why I will not have any outside income,” Eramo said. “Many parts of the district, they were left behind after Superstorm Sandy, and the experience I have in Long Beach will be a great asset to the entire district. And you have the other issues that people are really concerned about — their taxes, having great schools and, unfortunately, the opioid epidemic that is facing us.”

Toback said that his experience as a county legislator from 2000 to 2009 makes him the better choice to serve the district’s constituents. He has also pledged to push ethics reforms in Albany, along with “restructuring our school systems to make them ready to tackle the complex issues of the 21st century; amending the penal laws to help get heroin dealers off the street, and protecting our quality of life.”

“Public safety is government’s most important priority,” Toback said. “Keeping our neighborhoods safe by ensuring our police, firefighters, first responders and emergency personnel have the resources, equipment, and respect they need to do their job effectively is on my agenda.”