Arrest sparks interest in local primary races

The primary season for state legislative races on Long Island has been marked this year by several battles in civil court over nominating petitions, but attention shifted to criminal court last week after a leading candidate in Nassau was arrested and charged with menacing and stalking his former girlfriend.

David Mejias, an attorney and former county legislator, denied the charges and said he would continue his Democratic primary challenge against Francesca Carlow for the right to take on 20-year incumbent Republican Kemp Hannon in the 6th Senate District in the general election. Lawyers for the Nassau County Democratic Committee battled for weeks to keep Carlow off the ballot, but dropped their case the day after Mejias was arrested.

Carlow, owner of Trio Hardware in Plainview, has used the ballot challenge to argue her independence from traditional party politics. "I've been a business owner, a mother, a community leader, and a registered Democrat, and we need a leader that knows the real issues," she said in an interview last week.

"I'm not an insider. I am not hand-picked by the Democratic Party, obviously. . . . I'm not running for any political favor. I want to end the corruption up in Albany. I have only one allegiance, and my allegiance is to represent the people of Nassau County with integrity," Carlow said.

Mejias did not return telephone calls or e-mail to his campaign office last week, but he said in a statement that he would be exonerated, and would be taking some time to develop campaign plans.

Until the Mejias arrest, the primary season had been unremarkable for its challenges within political parties for the 30 state legislative positions - nine Senate seats and 21 Assembly seats - that are on the ballot on Long Island. There were only three primaries for state legislative seats in Nassau and two in Suffolk, and one of the Suffolk primaries involved the opportunity to write in a name of a minor party candidate. The remaining four are Democratic primaries.

And only two of the five primary races involve an incumbent: Assemb. Ginny Fields (D-Oakdale) faces Ken Mangan in the 5th Assembly District in Suffolk and Assemb. Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach) is pitted against former county legislator Jeff Toback in the 20th Assembly District in Nassau.

There is one primary that leads to a general election in which there will be no incumbent. Assemb. Thomas Alfano (R-Franklin Square) is stepping down after 14 years in the 21st Assembly District in western Nassau.

Democratic Party favorite Mimi Pierre Johnson, president of the Argo Civic Association, is running against Democratic insurgent Patrick Nicolosi, president of the Elmont East End Civic Association, who survived a petition challenge from Johnson allies. The winner faces Republican designee Edward Ra, an attorney with the Town of Hempstead.

Both candidates have promised to fight against higher property taxes, to create jobs and housing in the district, and to work to develop Belmont Racetrack.

In the other notable Nassau race, Toback has attacked Weisenberg, 76, for collecting a $72,143 annual state pension even as he earns his $101,500 annual salary. Weisenberg, first elected in 1989, is one of only five lawmakers who are both retired from and collecting salaries from the legislature, according to the state comptroller.

"Everyone except Harvey thinks it's wrong," Toback said in an interview last week, but Weisenberg said he was doing it only to protect his family because they would not get his pension if he died while in office.

Toback tried to pin high property tax in Nassau on Weisenberg, arguing that an unfair formula for state aid drives up property taxes locally. Weisenberg countered that his experience is needed more than ever. "You have to be educated and experienced and informed to fix the system up there," he said.

And in a small primary, opponents of John Capobianco, the Democratic nominee in the general election, have won the right to write in a name other than his on the ballot for the Working Families Party nomination in the 10th Assembly District in Huntington Station. Republican James Conte is the incumbent.