Not many surprises at Nassau Dems convention
The biggest surprise at the Nassau County Democratic Convention last night was the choice of former county legislator David Mejias to challenge longtime GOP state Sen. Kemp Hannon.
In November, Mejias, 39, a lawyer from Farmingdale, lost a close bid for re-election to a fourth two-year term in a year that saw the crumbling of county Democratic power.
Hannon, 64, of Garden City, has held the 6th Senatorial District seat since 1989, when he left the Assembly after 12 years. In 2008, Hannon won re-election with 52 percent of the vote against Kristen M. McElroy, a political newcomer.
The other interesting battles were all in-house.
Long Beach's Harvey Weisenberg, 76, did not have to beat back an expected floor challenge by Jeff Toback of Oceanside for the Assembly's 20th District.
Toback, 50 of Oceanside, will challenge Weisenberg in a primary instead, saying, "I decided that my message would sell better to the average taxpayer than to the party insiders."
Toback was another victim of the backlash against Democrats last November, failing to land a sixth term in the Nassau Legislature.
Deputy Speaker Earlene Hooper, 61, of Hempstead, easily survived a floor challenge by Jack Prophet, 62, of Rockville Centre.
Prophet, a longtime community activist and former director of community services for the Office of Minority Affairs, said before the convention that he felt he could serve the community better than Hooper.
He was nominated by Douglas Mayers, the former president of the Freeport-Roosevelt NAACP.
And in what was less of a fight and more of a shove, Hempstead Town Democratic leader John Lewis was replaced by Democratic Elections Commissioner William Biamonte of Oceanside. Biamonte was seen working the job before the convention, talking to Robert Young of Merrick, a Democratic leader challenging him. Young agreed to be Biamonte's deputy, saying he "would rather not fracture the party."
Howard Kudler, of Merrick, a social studies teacher in New York City, was chosen to run against Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford). He lost a race to Assemb. David McDonough (R-Merrick) in 2008. King, 66, has been in Congress 17 years.
Larry Silverman, a lawyer who back in 2000 ran unsuccessfully against Carl Marcellino of Oyster Bay for the State Senate, has been selected 10 years later to try again.
George Sava, 41, of Woodmere, was selected to run against Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos of Rockville Centre, who has been in the Senate 26 years.
Carol Gordon of Massapequa, who was handily defeated by state Sen. Charles Fuschillo of Merrick two years ago, will make another run this year.
She said she is a "nontraditional" candidate, unafraid to campaign at the most unlikely places, such as an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting where she once introduced herself.
