Ethics reform focus of 8th Assembly District hopefuls

Republican Phil Boyle is up for re-election in the 8th Assembly District along Suffolk County's South Shore, facing Janice Sweet, a Democrat who works as an attorney for Suffolk County Off-Track Betting.

Boyle, 49, first won election to the Assembly in 1994, but after nine years his home was redistricted into a heavily Democratic Assembly district. He didn't run, moving instead into the Republican-dominated 8th Assembly District and winning back a seat in a special election in 2006 when then Assemblyman Thomas Barraga stepped down to run for the Suffolk County Legislature.

He lives in Bay Shore with his wife, Victoria. The 8th Assembly District also covers Islip, East and West Islip, Islip Terrace, Babylon Village, Islandia, Great River, Brightwaters, and half of West and North Babylon.

Property taxes

The GOP has long held the seat in a district where Republicans outnumber Democrats. Of 82,043 registered voters, as of Oct. 1, 32,866 were registered Republicans, 22,154 registered Democrats and 20,513 had no party affiliation.

A fiscal conservative, Boyle said he believes that with an unusually high turnover of state legislative members, "there is finally a mindset to finally reduce spending, or at least not go beyond the rate of inflation, and to reduce property taxes, which is my number one priority, on both homeowners and business people."

He advocates an across-the-board 5 percent to 6 percent cut in state spending, and targeted cuts in programs such as a $136-million Health Department program to recruit and retain workforce, and a $50-million reduction of Tuition Assistance Program awards, which provides grants for college tuition to low-income students. He'd prefer, he said, low-interest loans available to all.

He would fund investigators to root out Medicaid fraud, and cut spending by consolidating and streamlining special taxing districts (except for fire districts) and school district administrations. And, he said, taxing cigarette sales to non-natives on Indian tribal lands could generate $600 million in revenue.

Ethics reform

"To finally end the government dysfunction in Albany, I'm advocating to give New York State the strongest ethics laws in the country," Boyle said, including full disclosure by legislators of the amount and source of outside income, and the forfeiture of pensions by officials who use their office to commit crimes and are convicted of felonies.

Boyle said he'd raised about $25,000, of which about $12,000 remains, although, he said, he would use all of it to cover his expenses incurred over the last two years in political activities, as allowed for under election law.

He is a partner in a private law firm but says he does little work for it now, and is a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician with the Great River Fire Department.

Sweet, 51, is a lifelong resident of Babylon, where she was a town attorney from 1990 to 2003.

With husband, Robert, she has four children and has never run for public office.

The budget process

In an interview conducted earlier this year, she said she thought change was needed in Albany.

"Clearly the budget process isn't working," she said. "I think I could bring some change there. We need ethics reform; the pay to play has to stop."

She cited her experience working with constituents as an aide to former Suffolk County legislators Maxine Postal and Elie Mystal and said she'd "be in touch with people. . . . I think the government should be in touch with people and help people, everyday working people."

Environment conservation, improved public education, ethics reform and cost-cutting where possible to lower taxes are on her agenda.

"Things can be cut and I know that by working in town and county government," she said. "There may be two departments doing the same things, but I'd have to look into it."

She said of her chances in the upcoming election, "I am optimistic, I think anything is possible. Yes, it is a Republican district, but I'm confident I can win."