primary voters guide: James Coll

James Coll

Republican

BACKGROUND: Coll, 45, of Seaford, a registered Republican, is a retired NYPD detective who now works as an adjunct professor of constitutional history at Hofstra University. Coll grew up in Massapequa and graduated from Holy Trinity Diocesan High School in Hicksville. He earned a bachelor's degree in history from Hofstra and a master's  in history from Hunter College in Manhattan. Coll is an assistant coach for Massapequa Little League, a member of the Knights of Columbus Memorare  Council 3476 in Seaford and the Massapequa  B.P.O. Elks Lodge 2162. He was named the New York City Police Foundation Cop of the Year in 2009 for his first-responder efforts during the US Airways Flight 1549's emergency Hudson River landing. He traveled with a Federal Emergency Management Agency team to assist victims of Haiti’s 2010 earthquake and last year’s Hurricane Harvey in Houston. In 2013, Coll started a nonprofit organization, changeNYS.org, to promote civic education in New York State. Coll, who is divorced, has two children.

ISSUES: Coll, who is not endorsed by the Nassau County Republican Committee, said he is proud to be running as an “outsider.” He said if elected he will try “to help enact laws that curb and punish corruption and cronyism.” Coll said he wants  “to reform our exclusionary electoral laws that discourage citizen participation,” adding that these laws “promote an entitled, entrenched elitist professional class of politicians that survives off political welfare funding.” Coll said enacting legislative term limits would create opportunities for more people to run for public office. His third legislative priority, he said, would be “to review our state balance sheet and reinvigorate the legislative prerogative of oversight.” Coll said that if elected he would look for waste in the state budget, root out fraud and seek ways of providing tax relief to New York citizens.