State Senate candidates square off at Long Beach forum

Two years ago, Democratic State Sen. Todd Kaminsky defeated Republican Chris McGrath to retain the 9th District seat once held by Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos. It was Kaminsky’s second win over McGrath, following two heated races in which the two waged memorably aggressive campaigns. This year, Kaminsky is facing a new challenger, former County Legislator Francis Becker.
The 40-year-old Kaminsky, a former federal prosecutor, was first elected in the spring of 2016, to finish out Skelos’s term. Skelos lost the seat when he was facing federal corruption charges, and Kaminsky ran on a platform of ethics reform and ending corruption in Albany.
In an election that could tip the balance of power in the Republican-controlled Senate, the race between Kaminsky and Becker — a lifelong Lynbrook resident who served in the Legislature from 1996 to 2015 — is considered one of several key contests this year.
The two candidates fielded written questions at a candidates forum on Monday at the Long Beach Public Library, hosted by the library and the Long Beach League of Women Voters.
Becker, 65, urged voters to keep the Senate in Republican hands, saying that under the Democrats, taxes would increase, spending would grow out of control, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority commuter tax would be reinstated and Long Island would lose out to New York City interests.

“I believe that spending . . . is un-sustainable,” Becker said. “This race, at least locally, is not about Republicans or Democrats. We’re all Long Islanders first. And we have to keep the Senate Republican. In 2008, when the Senate went Democrat, the three houses imposed the commuter tax on Long Island, they took away the [state School Tax Relief] exemption and the spending went out of control.”
Becker pledged to fight for Long Island’s “fair share” of state education aid, to vote to keep taxes low and to work to curtail spending.
But Kaminsky disputed claims that a Democratic-controlled State Legislature would hurt Long Island residents. He touted his record, saying that he helped pass the largest middle-class income tax cuts in 70 years after he was elected two years ago, and delivered more than $20 million in new state education funding to the district, which stretches from the Five Towns to Baldwin.
“There’s no one that’s going to stand up for Long Island more than I have,” Kaminsky said. “I’ve voted against taxes too many times to count, and protecting our tax cap and [making sure] that it remains affordable to live on Long Island is the No. 1 priority. There are no city members that can make me change that, that can make the delegation change that. I think the idea [that] city people can come and try to steal your money, I think is a tactic that you have not fallen for in the past and you shouldn’t.”
Kaminsky said that the most important bill he would like to help pass is one that would ban legislators from earning outside income. He noted that that four out of the last five Senate majority leaders, including Skelos, were arrested and charged with crimes stemming from conflicts of interests.
“You need people up there focused on the public and what’s best for you, not hustling around for money and having all types of conflicts of interests,” he said. “You will then get better health care policy, education policy, housing policy, environmental policy, etcetera.”
Becker disagreed, saying that banning outside income would not solve the corruption issue. “You’re either a responsible or ethical person or you’re not,” he said.

The environment
Both candidates were asked about their plans to protect the Lloyd Aquifer, the sole source of drinking water for millions of Long Islanders, from saltwater intrusion.
Becker called for a “water czar” who would oversee “everything that has to do with water” and who could devise solutions. He noted his efforts as a county legislator to protect the environment, including a $100 million bond to preserve open space.
Kaminsky said that as a ranking member of the Senate’s Environmental Conservation Committee, he led a push to regulate the cancer-causing chemical 1,4-Dioxane in drinking water, and introduced legislation to ban the carcinogen from consumer products. He said he wanted more state funding allocated toward “clean water infrastructure.”
“If we lose [the Lloyd] due to saltwater intrusion, it’s going to create a major problem here,” he said. “We have to be tremendous protectors of that.”
Kaminsky said he was opposed to fracking, which has been banned in the state, and noted his push that led Gov. Andrew Cuomo to reject a liquefied natural gas terminal off the coast of Long Beach. He said he supports plans for an offshore wind farm instead. “That’s exactly what we need to be doing in our state, investing in renewable energy like wind and solar,” he said.
Becker said that the state “should stay away from fracking” until environmental questions are answered, but added that while he likes the idea of renewable energy, he was concerned that wind farms and other renewable energy initiatives could be costly.
“My fear [is that] some of these quote-unquote progressive policies can at some point cost us a lot of money, and make living on Long Island that much more expensive,” he said.

Health care
Kaminsky said he would continue to push South Nassau Communities Hospital to invest in more services for a planned medical facility in Long Beach, after it acquired the Long Beach Medical Center in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Becker accused Kaminsky of “giving up” on the reopening of a full-service hospital.
Becker said he opposed the proposed New York Health Act, which would move the state toward a single-payer, universal health care system. “While I believe there are many reforms we can have . . . that particular act, I think, might be counterproductive,” he said.
Kaminsky, a cosponsor of the bill, said that there are a million uninsured people in New York, but expressed concerns about whether the act would solve the problem. Still, he said, people deserve proper health care, and he added that the Legislature would take a closer look at the measure in the upcoming session.
“In order to pay for it — it costs actually more than the state budget — and some of that would come from taxes, and that’s certainly something I find deeply troubling,” Kaminsky said. “But I do believe that we need to be creative in setting up a system whereby people who have insurance they like do not have to lose it, but people who have no insurance have a better option than what they have now.”

Affordable housing
Both were asked about creating more affordable housing to attract young people. Becker said that the problem is that rents in many new apartment buildings are unaffordable. “I don’t think, presently, we have a solution to it,” he said. “Part of the problem is the lack of land and property on which to build some housing. And any time we want to build something that is somewhat more affordable, people are opposed to it.”
Kaminsky noted that better transportation is key to solving the problem, along with the creation of “cool, walkable downtowns.” He noted his fight to improve service on the Long Island Rail Road, secure more funding and hold officials accountable.
“If we want young people to live here and want housing here, they have to be able to commute to and from New York City,” he said. “And right now, the Long Island Rail Road is in such a terrible state that’s it hard to imagine that many people would continue to want to do that.”