Fighting veteran Assemblyman in 10th District

A third-degree black belt in jiujitsu probably makes John E. Capobianco a guy you shouldn't tangle with.

But the battle he's been in to unseat the tenacious Assemb. James D. Conte (R-Huntington Station), has been a tough one - despite Capobianco's years of political and civic activism - because Conte has defeated so many other challengers before.

Conte took office after a special election in March 1988 to replace Toni Rettaliata, who left the Assembly to become Huntington Town supervisor. Conte ran for re-election later that year and every two years since - successfully.

"My family comes from the area," he said. "I've grown up and am raising my family here. People know I'm part of the community and I go to Albany every year with that understanding."

Capobianco, a 46-year-old Democrat from Farmingdale and a martial arts and tennis, contends in an interview and on his website that Albany is "broken" - a "culture of special interest and insider deals and people trying to hold onto power."

He favors a cap on state spending and on state tax increases until the economy improves, but he says voters in school districts should be the ones to decide whether they want higher school taxes.

Stance on school taxes

Conte, 51, also running on the Independence, Conservative and Working Families lines, disagrees, saying that school taxes must be included in a cap - which he believes should be 4 percent annually or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. "It has to include school taxes," he said. "They make up 60 or 70 percent of your tax bill."

Focus on green energy

Capobianco said more incentives are needed to bring manufacturing back to Long Island - especially green-energy businesses. Says Conte, "Of course we want to be able to make it more attractive for business to be on Long Island," but he rejects favoring certain types of business: "We should allow the marketplace to decide that."

Capobianco says Long Island is being shortchanged on school aid because the Assembly is controlled by New York City Democrats. Says Conte, "There is a certain validity to that, of course. What we need to continue doing is to work as a region, and I think I bring that message home all the time."

The 10th District straddles the Nassau-Suffolk border and includes parts of Huntington and Oyster Bay towns. The district's 32,772 registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 2,000 people, but there are enough independents, 3,500, Conservatives, 1,466, and blank registrants, almost 23,900 to swing a close election.

Conte says he's not worried about those numbers.

"I think that when people have looked at my record and know me personally, they know I'm not a hard-line conservative Republican," he said.

A lifelong resident of Huntington Station, Conte is a Stony Brook University graduate, with a bachelor's in economics and political science. He began his governmental career as an intern to state Sen. James Lack. He serves on the Assembly's committees on health, higher education and labor. He's also on the Bi-State (New York and Connecticut) Long Island Sound Marine Resources Commission, created to protect the Sound.

A recipient of a kidney transplant, Conte has authored many new laws to promote the need for New Yorkers to become organ and tissue donors and has sponsored legislation to create a Gift of Life Trust Fund and statewide organ donor registry.

The troubled Huntington Station community is in his district, and he sponsored legislation - vetoed by Gov. David A. Paterson for cost reasons - that would have made gang solicitation, recruitment or retention of minors a crime and would have appropriated funds for schools for gang prevention programs.

Conte says he also favors repealing or changing the MTA tax on payrolls, which all employers pay. "That's killing jobs on Long Island," he said.

Capobianco is president of the Long Island Chrysanthemum Society and Long Island Pride Sports Association and treasurer of the Bonsai Society of Greater New York.

The state Board of Elections said Conte has received contributions totaling $21,630 from Jan. 1 through Oct. 13. John Capobianco had contributions totaling $1,751.97.