GOP counting on Zeldin in key 3rd Senate Dist. race

Long Island Republicans are targeting 3rd District State Sen. Brian X. Foley as one of their best chances to tip the balance in the State Senate, where Foley and fellow Democrats hold a slim 32-29 majority.

Republicans have turned to Lee Zeldin, an Iraq war veteran who ran an aggressive but unsuccessful campaign against U.S. Rep. Tim Bishop (D-Southampton) in 2008, the year the GOP lost control of the State Senate. 

MTA tax plays a role

Foley, who defeated longtime Republican State Sen. Caesar Trunzo to win the seat in 2008, is a relative newcomer to Albany who represents a district where Democrats outnumber Republicans by fewer than 900 voters.

Zeldin and the Republicans believe they can defeat Foley by framing him as the legislator who cast the deciding vote in favor of the controversial MTA payroll tax, which charges employers in the MTA service region 34 cents for every $100 of payroll.

But Foley, who also has the Working Families ballot line, said he believes voters will send him back to Albany - and keep Democrats in control of the Senate - in part because he has worked to help residents of his district avoid having their mortgages foreclosed and has promised to reduce the burden of the MTA tax.

"I will start challenging our Republican colleagues to start working harder to reach across the aisle and not just keep saying 'No,' " Foley said.

Zeldin, who also has the Conservative and Independence ballot lines, said two more years of Democratic control in the Senate would allow lawmakers to continue their "city-centric" agenda that ignores Long Islanders' needs.

"Leaders are convinced that everyone on Long Island is rich and they look at us like an ATM machine," he said, adding that Senate Democrats "balance the budgets on the back of Long Islanders unfairly."

Foley touted his work to host mortgage clinics, which allow residents who face foreclosure to modify their loans, in his district. He said he would push for more autonomy for Stony Brook University, which he said would allow the school to "hire hundreds of professors" and raise its national profile.

While he acknowledged that the MTA tax is burdensome for businesses and should be scaled back, he said failure to fund the MTA would have "made the Long Island Expressway even more congested and an even longer parking lot."

In addition to repealing the MTA payroll tax, Zeldin wants to expand the menu of incentives New York State offers businesses to relocate or remain here.

He also said the state also needs to do more to curtail Medicaid fraud.

Zeldin said the state has unfairly placed New York companies at a disadvantage when it solicits contracts for state jobs. Too often, contracts are awarded to companies from states such as New Jersey and Connecticut, he said.

"We end up sending our tax dollars to Albany, and they end up sending tax dollars to companies that are out of New York," he said.

Name recognition

Foley, 52, spent two years as supervisor of Brookhaven Town and 12 years as a county legislator before his election to the State Senate. He lives in Blue Point, where he grew up.

Foley has an undergraduate degree from St. Michael's College in Vermont. He is the son of the late John J. Foley, a longtime Suffolk County legislator.

Zeldin, 30, is a general practice attorney and a captain in the U.S. Army Reserves. He lives in Shirley and holds an undergraduate degree from the University at Albany and a law degree from Albany Law School.

He said he is counting on voters to recognize his name from his 2008 congressional campaign.

"Going into this race, I was a little better known on the Brookhaven side," he said.

Jon Schneider, Brookhaven's Democratic Committee chairman, said he believes the Foley name will resonate more with voters. He said Foley "ushered in a level of reform that had never been known" as Brookhaven supervisor.

But Jesse Garcia, Brookhaven's Republican Committee chairman, called Foley "a puppet for the New York City liberal bosses," as evidenced by his support of the MTA tax.

Aggressive fundraising

Both candidates have run aggressive fundraising campaigns.

Through the state's most recent financial disclosure deadline - which requires candidates to document funds raised through Oct. 1 - Zeldin had raised $464,751.48 since January 2009. Zeldin's war chest as of early October was $137,277.60, the report stated.

Foley had raised $376,925.55 since December 2009, state records showed. He had a campaign balance of $157,812.63 on Oct. 1, the records show.

The 3rd District includes parts of Brookhaven and Islip towns. It is a politically divided district, with 59,320 Democrats and 58,431 Republicans. The district's 174,714 voters also include 42,974 unaffiliated voters.