Candidates have same goal, but different approaches

The race for the fittest candidate in the 20th Assembly District on the South Shore of Long Island pits a 76-year-old Albany political veteran and lifeguard, against a throw-the-bums-out challenger who is a 45-year-old black belt in judo, a triathlon competitor - and a lifeguard.

Incumbent Democrat Harvey Weisenberg of Long Beach has been an Albany fixture for decades, a close ally of Democratic Speaker Sheldon Silver, and - rare in these times - a defender of how his part of state government works.

"I think the New York State Assembly has proven its worth," Weisenberg said in an interview. "I am proud of my role and my record. . . . There's no doubt there's dysfunction up there. Unfortunately the dysfunction was because the Democrats in the Senate, 32 members, took over the majority in the Senate and then we had dysfunction."

Veteran vs. newcomer

Republican challenger Joshua Wanderer of Lawrence is a corporate tax attorney who rails against state government for raising taxes, over-regulating business and having a track record that is "a national embarrassment."

"It's clear that after 20 years in office, my opponent will never be part of the solution," Wanderer said in an interview. "Rather, he is an entrenched part of the problem. If you want to change Albany, you need to change the people we elect to represent us."

"I do not have experience," Wanderer conceded, then tried to turn that into a positive with a little verbal jujitsu. "I never voted to raise taxes. I never voted to raise spending. I've never voted to shift money from Long Island to the rest of the state."

He was also critical of Weisenberg 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 retired from and collecting salaries from the legislature, according to the state comptroller.

Weisenberg said he was doing it only to protect his family because they would not get his pension if he died while in office, but Wanderer said it was still wrong.

"This really indicates the mindset of the Albany political establishment - a salary and a pension," Wanderer said. "You and I are footing the bill for it. There's a difference between what you can do and what you should do."

Wanderer promised to introduce legislation that would cut spending and taxes by 10 percent. "These are not crazy numbers. It will only take us back to where we were merely two years ago," he said.

Weisenberg said Wanderer was not wise in the ways of Albany, and did not understand that you needed to sway members of your own caucus and the political opposition to get things done, and that he often worked with Republican state Sen. Dean Skelos of Rockville Centre during the decades that the GOP controlled the Senate.

Fundraising, district facts

State records show Weisenberg, who also is on the Independence and Working Families line, spent about $180,000 on his Democratic primary campaign against Jeffery Toback of Oceanside, a former Nassau County legislator.

He started the year with $211,514 in the bank, raised $84,000, and had $112,589 remaining just a month before the general election, according to the Board of Elections records.

The records show Wanderer, who also has the Conservative line, has raised about $75,000 to date - including a $10,000 loan from himself and a $15,000 from his father, Harry Wanderer of Brooklyn. He had spent $33,323 and had $42,426 in the bank a month before the election, records show.

The district, anchored in Long Beach and extending across Reynolds Channel to Oceanside and parts of the Five Towns, has 39,570 registered Democrats, 29,072 Republicans and 18,235 voters who do not list a political party.

Candidate facts

Wanderer, the son of Holocaust survivors, was born in Brooklyn, has an advance degree in tax law from New York University School of Law and now lives with his family in Lawrence.

Weisenberg, a former Long Beach police officer and former teacher, has a master's degree in science from NYU, is an assistant president pro tem of the Assembly, and lives with his family in Long Beach.

Both are active on behalf of people with disabilities. And both have worked as lifeguards, and both were certified to train other lifeguards.

Overall, the race has been relatively cordial, and Weisenberg even called Wanderer, "a mensch" - a Yiddishism for someone with integrity. "I'm not running against Josh Wanderer," he said. "I'm running on my record."

Wanderer agreed. "We're competing for the same job," he said. "We both want the same thing. We just want to take different roads to get there."