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Steve Israel skillfully uses incumbency to gird for challenger

BY TOM BRUNE | tom.brune@newsday.com

October 5, 2008

WASHINGTON - With the Capitol dome behind him on a recent clear day, Rep. Steve Israel unveiled a legislative package to help the middle class: 13 bills that he conceded could not be enacted until next year.

But Israel, 50, a Dix Hills Democrat seeking a fifth term, appeared confident he would be here come January to see the bills through as an up-and-coming leader of his party's increasingly centrist agenda.

This year, Israel faces a challenge from Republican candidate Frank Stalzer, 51. Stalzer is a business executive and Huntington resident who in years past was active in local politics but now is relatively unknown in the 2nd Congressional District.

"I'm going to run on my record," Israel said in a recent interview in his Capitol Hill office.

"I've been fighting for two top priorities: a middle-class success agenda" and an effort to make Long Island "the next 'green energy capital' of America," he said.

Stalzer said Israel is now a "professional politician," a creature of Washington who must be reminded "to listen to people in your community.

"I'm running on a pro-growth agenda which looks to stimulate the economy in creating jobs and opportunity in America," Stalzer said, "and to do away with wasteful earmark spending in Washington."

Since first being elected to Congress in 2000, Israel, like many incumbents, has taken steps to tighten his hold on his office.

He has positioned himself to reflect the views of the district's middle-class majority, brought home millions of dollars in "earmarks" - funds for local projects lawmakers add to spending bills without hearings - and built a massive campaign war chest.

Israel and Stalzer are on opposite sides, usually aligned with their parties, on issues from taxes to the Iraq war, abortion rights to illegal immigrants, earmarks to term limits.

They do agree on one issue: the need for the $700-billion bailout for Wall Street that Congress approved last week to stem the economic crisis arising from the subprime mortgage debacle.

Yet, along with most political experts, Stalzer concedes he faces a difficult uphill battle.

Both parties' congressional campaign committees deem the district solidly Democratic. And the nearly $1.3 million Israel has raised for the race dwarfs Stalzer's $9,600.

"I think that Steve needs to be challenged," Stalzer said, calling it a first step in rebuilding the local Republican Party.

"We may not win this race," he said. "But Rome wasn't built in a day either."

Unknown name

Lawn signs for Frank Stalzer dot the district, but as Dowling College Polling Institute director and Republican political consultant Michael Dawidziak put it, "He's not exactly a household name."

Stalzer said he lived for years on Long Island, except for a four-year job in Connecticut that ended in 2007. He is president of Astrex Electronics in Plainview, a distributor of military electronics for aircraft and weapons.

In 1988, he won a seat on the Plainedge School Board and served as a committeeman in the North Massapequa Republican Party. In the 1990s Stalzer joined the anti-tax Challenge-NY and the Independence Party.

In 1995 he ran and lost against Republican Hempstead Town Supervisor Greg Peterson with Democratic backing as the Independence Party candidate.