I read with utter fascination my fellow progressive bloggers comments regarding the potential Democratic nominee for this Long Island District that has been my home for forty years. I have read some patently partisan posts by supporters of the Democratic nominee of the past two cycles who regrettably used our progressive blogs to launch a preemptive-strike at the NYS DSCC and one of our local Democratic Islip Town Councilman, Chris Bodkin. I also read with great interest Phillip Anderson's excellent post regarding a potential primary. Phillip, who I respect greatly provided a very reasoned and sobering view of a primary challenge.
While I disagree with his framing of Councilman Bodkin using the Dahroug campaign meme of " a Republican who wants to be the Democratic candidate" I none the less wholeheartedly agree with his core sentiment of the healthy benefits of such a primary. Phillip's post is far superior to other Dahroug supporters who seem more bent on vilifying a challenger they do not know, never interviewed and have only taken the Dahroug campaign spin on how to define him. More to the point, these posters have little knowledge of the 3rd SD and many leave me with the feeling that they never stepped foot in my home district.
When my mom and dad purchased their Hauppauge home in May of 1969 much of Suffolk County was represented by one state senator. The growth of population was so robust between the 1960 and 1970 census that the county nearly doubled in population. By 1972, we had four state senate seats. My Islip Township was numbered the brand new 3rd SD comprising all of Islip Town and the village of Patchogue in Brookhaven Town. A two term Islip Town Councilman named Caesar Trunzo was nominated for the seat by the Republicans. He faced my fellow Hauppauge resident Fred Zirk and in the huge Nixon landslide over George McGovern, Trunzo easily went on to victory.
In 1974, I as a college sophomore befriended a young law school student named Gary Hausler. Gary wanted to begin his career in politics by running against Trunzo. It was a difficult race and Gary was underfunded and there were local Democrats who did not want to nominate him because up to two years earlier Gary was a registered republican who wanted to run for a newly created assembly seat. The combination of local, thuggish republican party bosses and the Nixonian national scene brought Gary to the conclusion that the Republican Party was not right for him. He was a solid progressive on his social views. He was pro-choice, anti death penalty, pro ERA, pro gun control, believed in aprogressive income tax that made the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes. I managed the campaign and with the post Watergate winds to our backs we came the closest to defeating Trunzo that any Democrat ever came losing 36,500 to 33,000 while spending all of $8500 and about two dozen pairs of shoes between use.
The district evolved with each passing census moving more and more to the east. Today, the 3rd district is about 60% Islip Town and 40% Brookhaven Town running along the Brookhaven south shore from Blue Point (oysters anyone?) to Mastic Beach. The partisan divide, like many districts has narrowed and presently there are just under 63K R's 55k D's and 58K Other as per the just published March 2008 NYS BOE numbers. This partisan R&D gap just 8k has closed up even more since the November 2006 election when the gap was just over 11k.
We all can see a real opportunity for a Democratic takeover of this district. The Caesar of today is a mere shadow of the Caesar of old. At the age of 82, his ability to campaign in a retail political sense is long over. Uncle Joe needs him to run because this district has no Republican bench strength to replace him with. Brookhaven councilman Mazzei is the only elected official at the Town Board, County or state level below the State Senate for the Republicans. I posted some time back on the deep Democratic bench of Three Assembly members, Four County Legislators, Two Town Supervisors and Three Town Councilman, and then there is Jimmy Dahroug.
I supported the good looking, intelligent Dean's Dozen Democrat in 2004 and 2006. While inching closer in 2006 over his 2004 run, Jimmy did so in a much stronger Democratic year with powerful mid-term Democratic national winds to his back. More to the point, Jimmy's 2006 vote seemed to be the base Democratic vote that regrettably falls just short of being enough to win with. A candidate who can win crossover votes from Republicans and Blanks is needed to assure victory in SD 3!
I became very active in local races in Islip Town in 2007 that saw our party take majority control of the Town Govt. for the first time in forty years and the second time in the last century. I met some really nice folks from the NYS DSCC at the Town HQ, several of whom I got to meet again in the Aubertine HQ when my wife and I recently traveled to Oswego. They along with our WFP progressive partners were there to identify the voters and GOTV locally to prepare for this 2008 challenge of Trunzo.
I met the young man who was Jimmy's 2006 campaign manager and who informed me of some very disturbing aspects and weaknesses of Jimmy as a retail door to door type campaigner. He advised that he would never work on his behalf again. I spoke with the head of the Brentwood Hispanic Democratic Club who based in both Trunzo and Dahroug's home community felt that we needed a better candidate in 2008. I met state senator Eric Schneiderman in Oswego, who inspired me and the entire progressive blogosphere with his transactional/transitional politics article in the Nation magazine. He told me that he spoke with my congressman, Steve Israel about Chris Bodkin and that he felt comfortable that Bodkin is dedicated to the progressive principles and agenda that our new state senate majority will forward come January 2009!
I wrestled long and hard with my decision in this race. It is not enjoyable to exchange heated opinions with so many of my fellow progressive bloggers on this race. I am convinced that Jimmy cannot win in November, that Chris Bodkin, should he run, is a Democrat and will vote as a true Democrat on the issues important to us all. In closing, I share a view that Philip so well articulated that Jimmy can use this as an opportunity to prove me and others wrong. I am more than disturbed that Jimmy so feared a primary as to put his blogospheric team into rapid response that distorted and demonized his potential opponent even before he even announced his decision to run. I look forward to following the events that will unfold in SD 3 and know that come November we will all be united in our ongoing efforts to reform Albany and end the era of Joe Bruno and his Republican State Senate Majority!
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