Conservative Tom Gargiulo rolls out campaign for Assembly

Conservative Tom Gargiulo rolled out his campaign for State Assembly on Saturday, surrounded by supporters in West Babylon who hope the retired teacher will win next month’s special election for the South Shore’s 9th District seat.

Gargiulo, 59, also is running on the Republican and Independence party lines. He will face Democratic nominee Christine Pellegrino on May 23 in a special election to fill the seat vacated by Joseph Saladino, who resigned from the Assembly in January to be appointed Oyster Bay Town supervisor.

The 9th District includes West Islip, Babylon, Jones Beach, Massapequa Park and East Massapequa.

Gargiulo, who lives in Babylon, is a retired BOCES special education teacher and currently serves as the Wyandanch girls’ basketball coach and as a youth center monitor for Babylon Town.

Gargiulo said he is running for the Assembly to repeal and reform Common Core education, work with the community to reduce the opioid epidemic, add job training to schools and reduce residents’ property taxes.

He said he also supports students opting out of state testing.

Gargiulo said if elected, he would meet with Suffolk police to address heroin intervention.

“It has to stop. I’ve been to too many funerals,” Gargiulo said.

He said he supports lowering taxes to keep families on Long Island and added that he wants to freeze assessments for seniors.

“This is a serious time right now and we need a serious person for this job,” Gargiulo said.

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.