2nd Senate District hopefuls disagree on state spending

With taxes a major issue across Long Island, the control of spending has come to the forefront in the 2nd Senate District. How to control spending is a fundamental difference between the two candidates.

"We need a spending tax at state level, and we need a property tax cap at the local level," said State Sen. John Flanagan, an eight-year Republican incumbent. "I voted against the budget in the last two years, because there has been no fundamental change and the Senate Democrats have squandered any opportunity at reform" after the federal government has released "billions to help address our needs."

But Flanagan's Democratic opponent, Ira L. Bernstein, disagrees.

"Right now is not the time to have a cap," he said. "And there are other ways to get money to schools."

He said he believes teacher pensions - Bernstein is a former teacher - are often seen as bloated, when in fact, they are reasonable for a Long Island cost of living.

"Most retired teachers are not that well off," he said. 

Years in public service

Flanagan, 49, who also has the Conservative and Independence lines, was raised in Huntington, where he attended Harborfields High School.

He later received a bachelor's degree in economics from the College of William and Mary in Virginia, and, in 1990, received a law degree from Touro law school.

He now lives in East Northport with his wife and three children.

He spent 16 years in the State Assembly before becoming state senator.

He sits on a number of committees, including the Senate Standing Committee on Education, on which he is a ranking Republican member; Committees on Aging; Codes; Consumer Protection; Higher Education; and Cultural Affairs, Tourism, Parks and Recreation.

Bernstein, 67, who also is on the Working Families line, is a former Commack schoolteacher who specialized in science.

After retiring in 1994, he became a financial planner at Dreyfus Corp. in Uniondale before starting his own financial planning program.

He received his undergraduate degree from Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., and holds master's degrees from Stony Brook University and Columbia University.

The Selden resident is not married, but lives with his "significant other," who has three children.

He ran for State Assembly and lost, and this is his first time running for the State Senate.

He twice ran unsuccessfully for the Brookhaven Town Board and serves on Brookhaven's senior advisory board.

Help for homeowners

Bernstein lost much of his pension money in the stock market crash in the late 1990s, and now, as a financial planner, works with others who are seeing their retirement accounts take a huge hit from this economic decline, he said.

He said he would like to see laws that would require banks to give grace periods to people who are behind on mortgages.

"Some are behind only a few payments after 15 years of paying," Bernstein said.

Flanagan said he is proud of the constituent services he and his staff have provided over the past eight years.

"I have never lost sight of the fact that every nickel, ultimately, comes from the taxpayer," he said. "And too many people I work with forget that."

He has been instrumental in keeping the former Kings Park Psychiatric Hospital as parkland, and voted consistently for the Star School Tax Rebate program, which he helped organized, and is fighting to get it back after it was abolished in 2009.

Campaign financing

As far as campaign coffers go, Flanagan, with $261,000 as of Oct. 8, is way ahead of Bernstein, with no money filed, and who said he has a couple of thousand from a recent fundraiser.

But Bernstein said he's not worried, because he spends a lot of time at community functions to get his name out, and is hoping for teachers and senior citizens to come forward as his constituency.

"I have to inspire them to come out."

The Second Senate District encompasses parts of Huntington, Smithtown and Brookhaven.

In the district, there are 197,958 registered voters, including 71,900 Republicans, 59,233 Democrats, 7,560 Independence, 5,166 Conservatives, 609 Working Families and 1,458 in other parties.

There are 51,609 voters who are not affiliated with any party.