Kevin V. Sabella, Assembly 11th District

Kevin V. Sabella

Republican

BACKGROUND:  Kevin V. Sabella, 29, of Lindenhurst is running on the Republican, Conservative, Independence and Tax Revolt lines. Sabella is a paralegal at a law firm in Woodbury. He received a paralegal certificate from Nassau County Community College in 2014. Sabella also earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Stony Brook University in 2012. A year later, he attained a master’s in public policy from Stony Brook. For the past five years, Sabella has worked as a Republican committeeman for his neighborhood, gathering signatures from residents to get prospective candidates on ballots. That provided his first experiences talking to voters. Sabella said it served him well in learning how to engage with residents.

ISSUES: Sabella said his grass-roots campaign is based on what voters have told him. The big issues in his district are the scarce availability of quality jobs, combating the opioid crisis, and securing funding for infrastructure renovations at schools, he said. Sabella also said he would like to see two types of fast-track programs for high school students: a college preparatory currriculum, and one that prepares others for vocational education as an alternative. He would also like to secure grants for fire departments so that firefighters can buy proper protective turnout gear, noting it costs about $3,000 per uniform. On a different issue, Sabella said opioid addictions “claimed many lives and destroyed many families.” Sabella lost a friend from an overdose, he said. “I am listening to the people,” he said. “I’m not saying what I think people want, I’m actually out there talking to them, engaging with them, conversing with them. People want to thrive in the economy. They want to be able to afford to live here. They want to enjoy the fruits of their labor and not have a high taxation state and overregulation of business.”