Anthony H. Palumbo,  2nd Assembly District 

ANTHONY H. PALUMBO

Republican

BACKGROUND: Palumbo, 48, of New Suffolk, is making his fourth bid for the Assembly after winning a one-year term to fill a vacancy in 2013. He is running on the Republican, Conservative and Independence party lines. Since 2004 he’s had a small law practice in Mattituck, and before that worked six years as an assistant Suffolk County district attorney, including as trial supervisor for the office’s East End bureau. He also served on the Cutchogue New Suffolk Free Library board. He earned a bachelor’s in government and law at Lafayette College and a law degree at St. John’s Law School. He is the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee. He is married with two children.

ISSUES: Palumbo said he is running on his record. “I’ve been there long enough to build some good relationships and work with other legislators to accomplish goals.” He pointed to the North Fork Mental Health Initiative, which got $175,000 in funding to help provide school counselors for students, as well as the set-aside of almost 900 acres near Shoreham for inclusion in the pine barrens, where a solar farm had been proposed. This will ensure that future development will be done in what he called an environmentally conscious manner. The loss of revenue from National Grid taxes will be offset by the state, he said, with zero net effect on the Shoreham-Wading River school district. He said he does not support the New York Health Act single-payer health plan, calling it cost prohibitive, but said he would support a plan for adults similar to the state’s Child Health Plus program, which provides health coverage to uninsured children up to the age of 19.