Voters Guide: New York State Assembly, District 3: Joseph P. DeStefano
Joe DeStefano, Republican incumbent candidate for New York State Assembly District 3, poses for a portrait at the Suffolk County GOP convention held at the Courtyard by Marriott Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma on Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. -- slVOTE -- Credit: James Escher
JOSEPH P. DESTEFANO
REPUBLICAN
BACKGROUND:
- DeStefano, 62, of Medford, runs for his third term, with the Conservative Party’s backing.
- He retired as a radio communications supervisor in the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office and also served as a unit president for the Suffolk County Association of Municipal Employees union.
- He has volunteered 42 years with the Medford fire department, including 27 years as a commissioner, and was named Commissioner of the Year in 2017 by the Suffolk County Fire District Officers Association. His associate degree in business management is from Suffolk Community College.
ISSUES:
- He wants to address inflationary costs and supply chain problems, including providing some relief by extending the gas tax suspension, which ends Dec. 31.
- With public safety a key concern, he plans to fix bail reform, starting with restoring discretion to judges.
- He would boost service-based pension credits for firefighter and EMS volunteers who have state pensions.
- He helped pave the way for a Brookhaven Town deal that gave the Patchogue-Medford Library system a free land lease and allowed construction to start this year on a Medford branch.
'His sacrifice made a difference': Gold Star mother honors son's memory Army Pfc. Raheen Tyson Heighter, 22, of Bay Shore, was the first serviceman from Long Island killed in the Iraq War.
'His sacrifice made a difference': Gold Star mother honors son's memory Army Pfc. Raheen Tyson Heighter, 22, of Bay Shore, was the first serviceman from Long Island killed in the Iraq War.
