By William Lewis
Attorney Wendy Long made her first try for high public office when she ran in a Republican primary last year for the U.S. Senate in New York. She ran a successful campaign by defeating her opponents, U.S. Rep. Robert Turner of Middle Village and Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos, by wide margins.
She carried the majority of votes in that primary by capturing 55 out of 62 counties in New York state and swept upstate New York.
She was unsuccessful, however, in the fall general election against the incumbent candidate, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). Long did not have the time or resources to gain media attention that would have been necessary to successfully challenge her opponent.
Long points out that last year’s Senate race was her first race for high public office, and she believes she learned a lot about political campaigning during the race. She is inclined to run for statewide office. It will be interesting to see how that turns out, considering that next year we will have statewide races for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and comptroller. If Long gets enough party support, she could run for any one of those four elective offices.
Long gave her position on some issues during a brief interview. She believes 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney did not run an aggressive enough race. She said Romney should have fought harder for his principles and let the chips fall where they may.
Regarding the issue of women serving in combat, she believes that concept is wrong. She said women serving in combat was a political decision not in the best interest of our nation. She also indicated that the U.S. armed forces is not an equal opportunity employer.
Turning to immigration reform, Long said we are a nation of laws and that present immigration laws need to be obeyed and enforced. She wants these concepts included in any new immigration reform law.
In the forthcoming race for mayor, she believes the Republican Party has some strong candidates and that the right Republican candidate has a chance to win.
When asked what she would do differently if she had to do the Senate race over again, Long said she would have started her campaign two years earlier. What she was saying was that to gain name recognition, build a campaign organization structure and raise the necessary finances to run a campaign, preparations must begin early in terms of preparing years in advance.
Long is nonetheless pleased she made the race. It gave her an opportunity to fight for the ideals she believes in.
Recently, John Catsimatidis kicked off his campaign for mayor. The Queens Republican Party will be playing a major role in the Catsimatidis campaign. In his address to the Queens executive committee, he emphasized education reform from the standpoint that he favors bringing vocational training to our high schools.
In addition to academic subjects, vocational trades can also be taught. This would be a big change in our public school learning program, where students can learn to be carpenters, electricians and plumbers.
As indicated before in this column, it is time for the state Assembly and the state Senate to change the primary date from September to June. There are possibilities that this may happen this year or next.
The argument could be made that the New York primary runs from January to September, taking up a period of eight months, while the general election campaign is in the fall during late September and October and so only lasts for a few weeks. This system needs changes.
This year, the battle for mayor and the City Council will go on to November.
