Blakeman eyes Senate seat

Valley Stream native Bruce Blakeman says he wants to go to Washington.

The 54-year-old attorney announced his plans to run for the Senate last Sunday before a crowd of several hundred at the American Legion Post 854 hall in Valley Stream. Blakeman became the first Republican to throw his hat in the ring to challenge Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in November.

If elected, Blakeman said, he would fight for the middle class. “I share the anger, frustration and worry of the hard-working families of New York,” he said. “I know I can make your voices heard.”

Blakeman, who lives in New York City, attended Wheeler Avenue School and is a graduate of Central High School. He was elected to the Nassau County Legislature in 1995 and served as the body’s first presiding officer for four years. He ran unsuccessfully for New York state comptroller in 1998.

For his campaign announcement, Blakeman was joined by dozens of elected officials from the village, town, county and state. U.S. Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford), who had considered challenging Gillibrand but recently announced that he would not seek election to the Senate, threw his support to Blakeman. So did former Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, who talked about his own successful campaign 30 years ago, in which he started out as a underdog. 

Blakeman criticized the federal government for its misuse of billions of dollars in federal stimulus money. “Nobody I’ve talked to has been stimulated,” he said. “I will fight to find out where that money went.”

He said that government should reward hard work, sacrifice and ingenuity, but current government practices punish successful businesses. Additionally, Blakeman charged, the federal government is running up massive and oppressive deficits that a simple tax on the wealthy can’t pay for. “They want you to believe that only rich people will see their taxes increase,” he said. “My friends, that’s their dirty little secret.”

Blakeman also addressed health care, saying that the government is attempting to dismantle a system that works for most Americans. And he spoke of his nephew, Tommy Jurgens, a Valley Stream native who was killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Blakeman said it is wrong to hold the trials of terror suspects in New York. Instead, he said, they should be tried in military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. 

Blakeman promised to visit every corner of Long Island, New York City and Westchester County during his campaign. He will travel from Buffalo to Binghamton and from Rochester to Syracuse, he pledged, “and to each and every town, village and hamlet in between.”

Nassau County Republican Party Chairman Joseph Mondello said he planned to endorse Blakeman to the state committee, and expected Blakeman to earn the Republican Party’s nod to face off against Gillibrand. Mondello said that Blakeman has a fire in his belly and wants the job of U.S. senator. “We need someone who is going to make things happen for the people here,” he said.

The winner in November will serve the remainder of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s term, which expires in 2012. Clinton left when she was appointed secretary of state by President Obama. Gov. David Paterson selected Gillibrand, an upstate Democrat, to serve until the next general election.

Members of Blakeman’s family gave him good odds. His father, Bob, noted the several hundred supporters who crowded the American Legion hall for his son’s announcement. “If this turnout is any indication, he’s going to do very well,” Bob Blakeman said, adding, “It’d be nice for Valley Stream to have a U.S. senator.”

“I think he’s going to win,” said Brad Blakeman, Bruce’s brother. “Americans are fed up with the change they were promised and the changed that was delivered, which wasn’t change at all.”

Ron Feltington, commander of the American Legion post, estimated that about 400 people attended the announcement, which was by far the largest political event ever held at the hall. “I’m so happy he picked the American Legion to kick off his campaign,” Feltington said. “I wish him the best of luck.”

Blakeman said he comes back to Valley Stream often for good pizza and to watch football at his father’s house — and that he made the right decision to begin his Senate run at the Legion hall. “The warmth in this room,” he said, “reminds me how good the people are of Valley Stream.”