Eramo, Toback face off at forum

Democratic primary candidates trade barbs ahead of Sept. 13 election

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Two candidates who are running in the Sept. 13 Democratic primary to fill the State Assembly seat left open by State Sen. Todd Kaminsky attempted to distinguish themselves at a candidates forum at the Long Beach Public Library on Aug. 31.

City Council Vice President Anthony Eramo and former Nassau County Legislator Jeff Toback occasionally traded barbs during the hour-long forum, hosted by the League of Women Voters of Long Beach, as they answered questions about fracking, Hurricane Sandy, the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant and environmental issues, corruption in Albany, the heroin epidemic, and the controversial Common Core curriculum.

Both candidates said they were committed to reducing taxes and fighting for more state education aid, and touted their records in office: Toback was a legislator when the 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.

The gloves come off

When the candidates were asked whether they would put the interests of 20th Assembly District constituents above groups and individuals who have donated to their campaigns, Toback — who ran unsuccessfully against former State Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg in a Democratic primary in 2010 — immediately criticized Eramo for his support for the Superblock project and the endorsements he has received from numerous labor unions.

Toback, an attorney, said he did not support a 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 source of contention among many residents and a request that was rejected by the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency in July.

“You seem to have taken the interest of the people in Long Beach and forgotten about them,” Toback told Eramo. “The $70 million that would have come out of the pockets of the residents of the Long Beach school district — when they all seemed to be against that, you supported it for reasons that we can only assume are part of the reason you got endorsed by who you were endorsed by.”

Eramo, who had pushed for the developer to include a labor agreement that he said would benefit hundreds of local union workers in Long Beach and nearby communities, emphasized that he never spoke in favor of the tax incentive.

“My position has always been clear on iStar — they should pay their fair share of taxes like everyone else,” Eramo said. “The iStar project … I fought for that project to be built by union labor, and that’s it.”

Toback claimed he was more moderate than Eramo, and said he would fight to enact tougher drug laws to combat what he described as a heroin epidemic. “There’s enough liberal Democrats in the New York State Assembly — we don’t need one more,” he said.

Eramo said he had the support of most of Toback’s former colleagues in the Legislature, and criticized his opponent’s “condescending attitude.” He added that he has a proven record of “building bridges” and working across party lines.

“I fought for raising the minimum wage, I fought for paid family leave, I fought for protecting our environment, I’m 100 percent pro-choice,” Eramo said. “If this makes me a liberal Democrat, I guess I am.”

Ethics reform

Both men said they would fight for changes that would hold lawmakers more accountable following the convictions of former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on corruption charges last year.

But they disagreed on an effort led by Kaminsky in the Senate to ban state lawmakers from earning outside income. Kaminsky, who has endorsed Eramo, said earlier this year that no fewer than seven former state legislators have been convicted on corruption charges that stem from conflicts of interest related to their outside income.

Eramo, a field technician for Verizon for 20 years, said he supports the measure and that he would resign from his job if elected in order to focus on being a full-time legislator.

“And that’s just a small part of the ethics reforms that need to happen in Albany,” he said.

But Toback disagreed with the proposed ban, saying it would diminish the pool of candidates seeking office. “We need to create a system where more people want to get involved in government — that’s how you get the corruption out,” he said. “… If you own a pharmacy, and you want to run for State Assembly, if you win, you have to sell your pharmacy? And then what happens in two years if you lose? That doesn’t seem to make sense.”

The base salary for legislators is $79,500, and Toback criticized a consideration by an independent commission to increase the pay to $116,900 in January. He not only said was bad government, but added, “The optics of it … are horrible.”

“Everything else I support — pensions is the big deal,” Toback said. “Shelly Silver stood in the way of real disclosure for decades. I think now that he’s out of the way, lawyers who have clients who do business with the state are going to have to disclose fully what’s going on, and I think that will lead to the government regaining some of the trust it has lost.”

Eramo said he did not support a pay raise in the Legislature, and added that recent ethics reforms enacted there need to be stronger. “Pension forfeiture is an absolute must,” he said. “I think it’s a sin to think that Dean Skelos, a lawyer, who broke the people’s trust, used his influence of his outside job to benefit his law practice. I think it’s vital to ban outside income.”

NY Rising

Asked what they would do to make sure New York Rising completes its task of distributing funds to Sandy victims, Toback said that there was a lot of miscommunication after the storm, especially when it came to insurance.

“I think we need to learn from the lessons of the misinformation that was given,” he said. “I think government was caught unaware, and I don’t think we can let that happen again.”

Eramo, who was displaced from his home after the storm, said that his dealings with NY Rising amounted to a full-time job. He said that the City Council worked with local residents to encourage the agency to improve the program.

“The council here … listened to groups that started up here, [such as] Long Beach Rising, and tried to make it a better system,” Eramo said.