Shunned Democrat Carlow continues battle against Hannon

Shunned by her own Democratic Party and facing a veteran Republican incumbent, Francesca Carlow of Plainview has struggled to find her political footing in the Sixth State Senate District.

"I may be a bit nervous in my responses, but that's because I'm not a politician," Carlow, co-owner of a local hardware store and a first-time candidate, said to the camera as she taped a debate with incumbent Kemp Hannon on News 12 Long Island on Oct. 4.

Five days earlier, she had stumbled through a candidates forum with Hannon at the East Meadow Library in a performance she later admitted was poor. When asked a question about the redrawing of legislative district lines, Carlow delivered a pause-filled response.

A voice in back of the room said in a loud whisper: "She doesn't know."

"I do know," Carlow said, drawing nervous laughter from the audience of about 50 people.

Strength in missteps

But she said later that she has drawn strength from her missteps, and tries to use her lack of Democratic Party support as evidence of the independence she would bring to Albany.

"I am just like you," she said during the News 12 Long Island debate. "I am a business owner, I raised my family. I've been a community leader for over 25 years."

Hannon, 64, elected to the Senate in 1989, rejects criticism of Republican spending over the decades as "ancient history," and said Democrats had raised taxes to the tune of $14 billion in the past two years they have controlled the Senate - a period in which Long Island has seen a sharp drop in state aid for schools.

Hannon told the library audience that there were three issues in the race: "taxes, the process by which the legislature is run and what has happened to the people of Nassau County in regard to state aid."

Democrats promised greater transparency on the budget, Hannon said, "and they have taken every one of those promises and smashed them . . . there was a bare minimum of debate on floor. They claimed to have greater democracy. I don't see that. They've excluded [the Republican] senators representing half the population."

Fight for the ballot

Carlow, 55, had been the expected Democratic nominee until former Nassau County Legis. David Mejias opted to get into the race. In the middle of the primary, Mejias was arrested and charged with menacing and stalking his former girlfriend.

He dropped out of the race, but his name remained on the primary ballot, as it will remain on the ballot for the general election on the line of the Working Families Party because the arrest came after the legal deadline for declining a party's nomination.

Mejias had tried to get Carlow thrown off the ballot, and she spent more than $40,000 on legal fees on a court battle that he dropped only after he was arrested.

Mejias said he was endorsing Carlow, but the county Democratic organization, which had supported Mejias, admits it has not offered any support to Carlow.

The legal battle and primary spending have left her with only $2,291 in her campaign treasury, according to a report filed Sept. 24, 10 days after the primary. She certified in a "no activity" statement to the state Board of Elections that she had no spending or fundraising in the report filed Oct. 1, the next-to-last filing before Election Day.

Hannon, meanwhile, has $232,541 in his campaign account after spending about $63,263 in the past year, according to his Oct. 1 filing. Carlow has only the Democratic line on the ballot. Hannon has the Republican, Conservative and Independence lines.

Democrats have regarded Hannon as vulnerable in past elections, and Democrat Kristen McElroy gave him a close race in 2008, getting 48 percent of the vote to Hannon's 52 percent.

The district - which runs through central Nassau from Garden City to Farmingdale and juts north to Plainview near the Suffolk border - has 75,468 registered Democrats, 73,184 Republicans and 39,367 voters who did not list a party affiliation, according to state Board of Elections data.

Polite campaign

The candidates this year have been relatively polite to each other in their public meetings. Carlow did criticize Hannon for being "a fixture in Albany for the past 34 years - 34 years and I haven't seen a lot of change."

Hannon says he has presented a clearer rationale for his candidacy, and took a jab at Carlow after she haltingly read her closing statement at the end of the News 12 Long Island debate.

"I don't have a prepared statement," Hannon said. "But I've just gone through this whole debate and not heard one specific from my opponent."