After nearly 12 years in Washington, Carolyn McCarthy is no
longer a newcomer to politics.
"I knew nothing when I started," McCarthy admitted. "I was new to politics and I didn't know what I was getting into."
This year, her Republican opponent, Mineola Village Mayor Jack Martins, is promising to make McCarthy's long tenure in Congress - rather than her newness - the main issue in the campaign. With a well-funded campaign, Martins may prove McCarthy's most serious challenge in years.
McCarthy was elected to Congress in 1996, a nurse running as a Democrat and outraged by then-incumbent Rep. Dan Frisa's vote to repeal the federal assault weapons ban. Three years earlier, McCarthy's husband, Dennis McCarthy, had been killed and her son, Kevin, badly injured by gunman Colin Ferguson during the Long Island Rail Road massacre. After that, McCarthy devoted herself to gun control.
Since then, McCarthy's popularity - a 1998 television movie recounted her story - has allowed her to win re-election handily in the 4th Congressional District, which includes much of the Town of Hempstead and parts of North Hempstead Town.
Martins, a 41-year-old lawyer and mayor, is critical of McCarthy's handling of economic issues, particularly the high price of gas, and her opposition to the troop surge in Iraq.
"She went down there 12 years ago to get something done and she's gotten away from that," Martins said.
Champion issue
For years, McCarthy had little to show on her signature issue of gun control - until January, when President George W. Bush signed a bill strengthening the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The legislation - the first major gun-control measure passed in 14 years - provides federal funding to states to update records of the mentally ill, convicted criminals and those with restraining orders against them by making it harder for them to register and buy guns legally.
McCarthy had first proposed the legislation not long after a mentally ill gunman walked into a Lynbrook church during a morning Mass in 2002 and murdered a Catholic priest and a 73-year-old parishioner. But her legislation remained stalled until last year's Virginia Tech massacre, when a student previously determined to be mentally ill killed 32 students and faculty, and himself, with semi-automatic pistols he had been able to buy legally because the federal background check system didn't reveal his psychiatric history.
"I knew it was going to be a tough battle with a pro-gun House and a pro-gun Senate," McCarthy said of her gun-control efforts in Congress. "People would say, 'Oh, here comes that gun lady,' but I always wanted common-sense laws for our communities."
Victims of gun violence have praised McCarthy's work on the background-check bill.
"Millions of Americans are safer today ... because of this bill," said Michael Bishop, the father of Jamie Bishop, 35, a professor killed at Virginia Tech.
While McCarthy received praise for the new bill, critics say it largely happened because veteran Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), backed by the National Rifle Association lobby, agreed to support the bill. "McCarthy had her name attached to it but the power player was John Dingell," said NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam.
Criticisms
Other gun control advocates say they were disappointed in McCarthy, who took credit for the bill as a prime sponsor, for compromising too much with pro-gun factions.
Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Violence Policy Center, a Washington-based gun control advocacy group, said Dingell "hijacked" the McCarthy bill by adding many provisions acceptable to the gun lobby. For instance, Rand said a loophole in the law would allow 116,000 military veterans with previous mental problems to potentially reapply for gun ownership if they wished - a view contested by other gun control advocates, including McCarthy.
"We're disappointed [McCarthy] didn't look at its details more closely before this was passed," Rand said.
McCarthy, however, called it the most palatable bill for gun supporters after the public outcry surrounding the Virginia Tech massacre. She said that after years of frustration, she willingly enlisted Dingell's support in order to make some progress on gun control. "There are some people who'd rather see a bill go down," if they don't get a "perfect" bill, she said. "I'm a nurse and you have to know how to maneuver people to do things they wouldn't ordinarily do. But this is a good bill and it will save lives."
McCarthy's political career began with her election to Congress, as the strength of the Republican political machine in Nassau was waning and Democrats on Long Island were gaining strength. She calls herself a centrist, and didn't change her Republican voter registration until 2002. "I still don't wake up saying if I'm a Democrat or Republican," she laughed.
McCarthy's record in Congress includes initial support for the Iraq war. Later, however, she opposed the administration plan for increased military funding coupled with a "surge" in troop levels. "I didn't want to keep giving Bush a blank check," she explained. "I think the [troop] surge worked but it should have been done from the beginning."
The challenger
Martins, who like McCarthy lives in Mineola, intends to portray her as a liberal out of touch with a suburban constituency, and ineffective even with her key issue of gun control.
Unlike other recent Republican challengers who lost by wide margins, Martins is promising to give McCarthy a vigorous challenge this fall.
Martins, who works as a general practice lawyer in addition to his part-time $18,000-a-year position as mayor, says his municipal experience has focused him on cutting government spending and improving business in the downtown area of Mineola.
Frisa, McCarthy's first political opponent, in an interview said Martins' reputation as an effective mayor makes him one of the strongest Republican candidates to face McCarthy during the past 12 years.
As mayor, Martins has been involved in some struggles. Voters two years ago rejected Martins' attempts to create a village police force, as part of a plan to improve public safety. At that time, two village trustees complained that Martins used village mailings improperly to drum up support for the police force, estimated to cost $6.5 million.
Martins also has been a vocal opponent of a Long Island Rail Road proposal to add a third track over a 10-mile span, calling it too disruptive to the village. Railroad officials still are debating over the project's financing and construction schedule.
In his campaign, Martins has been critical of some of McCarthy's Iraq positions - noting what he calls the discrepancy between her initial vote to authorize the use of force, and her subsequent opposition to the surge.
"She has consistently voted against funding those troops even though she voted to send them into harm's way," Martins said. "It's our obligation - even a moral obligation - to make sure we fund them and provide them with what they need. We're not going to play politics with something as important as the safety of our troops. And I think that's what she has done."
He also criticized her and other Democrats in Congress for not pushing for more relief on gasoline prices. "In 2006, when the Democrats took over Congress, they promised they were going to do something about the high price of gas and at the time the price of gas was $2.20 a gallon," he said last summer, when gasoline was above $4 a gallon. "They still haven't done anything.
Striking balance
But as a driver of a sport utility vehicle, McCarthy says she's keenly aware of Long Island's car-based economy and its dependence on costly foreign oil. She said she would support measures for more oil drilling, even if it meant allowing tapping into the outer continental shelf 100 miles off Long Island's coastline.
McCarthy strongly supported Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's failed presidential bid earlier this year and said she believes Clinton was "a victim of sexual bias" during the campaign - and that she feels the sting of sexism in her own career. "Do women in Congress feel discrimination toward them? Yes they do," McCarthy said. "Is it getting easier? Yes. But is there discrimination in the Capitol? Yes, I believe there is."
Nonetheless, McCarthy says she's enjoyed considerable success in Congress, noting that as a member of the House Education and Labor Committee, she has worked to improve schools, student loans and health care.
McCarthy says that, above all, her tenure in Congress has taught her to balance her ideals with political compromises when needed to get things done. "People tell me, 'You're still who you are,' and I still like myself after 12 years in Congress," McCarthy said. "But I learned you can't win every battle."
THE DISTRICT
The 4th Congressional District encompasses much of Nassau County's western and central sections, stretching from Elmont to Westbury. Though a traditional stronghold of the Nassau Republican Party, Democrats now have a slight edge over Republicans in voter registration, 168,509 to 158,898, according to New York State enrollment figures.
McCARTHY / voting record scorecard
American Civil Liberties Union
An organization that lobbies for preserving "individual rights and liberties"
77% (Career)
90% (2007)
American Conservative Union
Grassroots conservative lobbying organization
18.56% (Career)
0% (2007)
Percentages reflect organizations' approval ratings
DEMOCRAT
Carolyn McCarthy
HOME Mineola
BORN Brooklyn
AGE 64
EDUCATION Mineola High School, 1962
Glen Cove Nursing School, 1964
FAMILY Widow; one adult son
RELIGION Roman Catholic
CAREER Worked as a nurse in the intensive care unit at Glen Cove Hospital. Won election to Congress in 1996 against Republican incumbent Dan Frisa. Serving sixth term in the House and sits on the House committees on financial services and on education and labor, where she chairs the Healthy Families and Communities subcommittee.
McCarthy's top issues
Gun control
Improving health care
Gas prices and the economy
CASH
Figures as of Aug. 20
Raised: $1,040,495
Cash on hand: $689,471
Source: Federal Election Commission, figures for 2007-08 election cycle
REPUBLICAN
Jack Martins
HOME Life-long resident
of Mineola
AGE 41
EDUCATION Chaminade High School, 1985
American University, 1988
St. John's University School of Law, 2001
RELIGION Roman Catholic
FAMILY Married, wife Paula; four daughters
CAREER Mineola Village trustee, 2002. Elected mayor, 2003. Works full-time as an attorney. Also served on Mineola Library Board.
Martins' top issues
Gas prices
Leadership, effectiveness in Congress
Supporting the troop "surge" in Iraq
Profiles compiled by Thomas Maier
CASH
Figures as of Aug. 20
Raised: $254,092
Cash on hand: $',348
Source: Federal Election Commission, figures for 2007-08 election cycle