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Gaughran outraising Marcellino in State Senate race, filings show

Jul
16
2018

James Gaughran has raised far more money over the past six months than Sen. Carl Marcellino, in a Long Island Senate rematch that could prove key to which party controls the chamber.

Gaughran, the Suffolk County Water Authority chairman, will report Monday that he has raised $166,000 since January, according to Democratic officials. Marcellino (R-Syosset) reported raising $72,000 over the same time period. Gaughran, who narrowly lost to Marcellino in 2016, has $129,000 on hand in his campaign, compared to $111,000 for the incumbent.

Monday was the deadline for legislative and statewide candidates to file campaign-finance reports with the state Board of Elections.

Among statewide candidates, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo had yet to file his report by late Monday afternoon....| read more ››

NYSUT backs Democrat James Gaughran for state Senate

Jul
15
2018

Democratic State Senate candidate James Gaughran has gotten an early endorsement from New York State United Teachers in his rematch against GOP Sen. Carl Marcellino, chairman of the Senate Education Committee.

The endorsement came a month before the union normally meets in Albany to pick candidates to back in the November election. Gaughran was the only Long Island candidate to get NYSUT’s early backing. Three Assembly candidates and three other State Senate candidates, including incumbent Democrat Andrea Stewart-Cousins of Yonkers, Senate minority leader, also got the union’s early support.

Andy Palotta, NYSUT president, said the union chose Gaughran after Marcellino and others “turned their backs” on teachers and students by failing to overhaul the teacher evaluation system. Palotta called Gaughran...| read more ››

NYSUT, in a reversal, backs Marcellino’s opponent

Jul
13
2018

The New York State United Teachers has endorsed Suffolk County Water Authority Chairman Jim Gaughran's bid for the state Senate seat in northern Long Island currently held by Republican state Sen. Carl Marcellino.

On the surface, that's not terribly surprising. Gaughran is the Democrat running in one of the state's most competitive districts, and NYSUT is usually the top financial backer of Democrats running in competitive Senate seats.

But the endorsement is notable in that Marcellino is the chairman of his chamber's education committee. It's been at least a decade since the union has backed a challenger to a chair of the committee that handles the issues most important to teachers.

NYSUT stayed neutral in the race in 2016, when...| read more ››

SD-5: NYSUT Endorses Gaughran

Jul
13
2018

The New York State United Teachers union on Friday endorsed Democratic state Senate candidate Jim Gaughran in the 5th Senate district on Long Island.

The endorsement is interesting, given the Republican Gaughran wants to unseat is Sen. Carl Marcellino, the chairman of the Education Committee in the chamber.

“I thank the educators at NYSUT for endorsing my campaign and supporting my efforts to serve in the State Senate,” Gaughran said in a statement. “I am especially proud to have earned this endorsement because public service and supporting public education are core values to me. Our students deserve a world-class education, and that will only be possible if we invest in our public schools. I will fight to ensure our public...| read more ››

Protesters Denounce Family Separations

Jun
30
2018

Protesters gathered in the sweltering heat Saturday in Huntington to denounce President Trump’s border policies separating children from parents.

Hundreds of religious leaders, doctors, social workers and others took to all four corners of the intersection of Route 110 and Jericho Turnpike to demand that the families be reunited. Some cited the history of immigration to the United States; others worried about the emotional damage done by the separations or fear for the children still separated from their families.

Some were immigrants themselves, including Karin and Harry Arlin of Huntington. She emigrated from Germany and Holland; he came from the former Czechoslovakia. He carried a sign reading Proud of My Country/Ashamed of My Government.

“These kids are lost,” she said....| read more ››

Will the blue wave obliterate the Long Island Nine?

Jun
27
2018

Experts and leaders agree that the race in the 5th District will be one of the two most competitive races in November. The Democratic county chairmen on Long Island have both said that voting out state Sen. Carl Marcellino, the district’s 23-year incumbent, is a top priority. Suffolk County Water Authority Chairman James Gaughran, the Democratic challenger, narrowly lost to Marcellino in 2016 by fewer than 2,000 votes. The two Democratic county leaders feel confident that Gaughran will perform better this time. In addition to involvement from Cuomo, who recently attended a fundraiser for Gaughran, and national political headwinds, Dawidziak said Marcellino’s seat has slowly become more competitive over the years. Just in April, Democratic Assemblyman Steve Stern flipped the 10th Assembly District, which is part of Marcellino’s district, for the first time in four decades.| read more ››

The Long Island Nine

Jun
27
2018

District 5
Incumbent: Carl Marcellino (R)
Challenger: James Gaughran (D)
Experts agree that Democrats have the best chance at flipping this seat and expect a competitive race. Schaffer said it was his top priority in terms of ousting a Republican and Nassau County Democratic Committee Chairman Jay Jacobs said he is most confident in the party’s ability to unseat Marcellino.| read more ››

Democratic Campaign Chief: Even a ‘Blue Trickle’ Will Flip State Senate

Jun
22
2018

Predictions of a nationwide “blue wave” of anti-Trump sentiment resulting in major Democratic gains have been tempered as the president maintains strong support among Republicans and the economy, broadly speaking, is going strong.

But even if the blue wave ends up being more like a trickle, that would be good news to state Senator Michael Gianaris of Queens, who chairs the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee (DSCC) and needs to net just one seat this fall to take control of the chamber and thus the entire Legislature.

In an interview as the end of session and official start of campaign season approached, Gianaris said Republicans have been holding on to numerous seats by slim margins.

“By virtue of the gerrymandering that’s...| read more ››

Union seethes after teacher evaluation fix fails

Jun
21
2018

The debacle already has been written into the campaign rhetoric of Democrat Jim Gaughran, the Suffolk Water Authority chairman who is running again against Senate Education Committee Chairman Carl Marcellino (R-Syosset) in Long Island, where backlash against the state exams resulted in a powerful opt-out movement.

Marcellino, who voted for Flanagan's bill, also sponsored the NYSUT-backed Senate version of the Assembly bill, NY S 8301 (17R), which had 55 Senate sponsors in the 63-member chamber, but skeptics in the Senate's leadership and the state Education Department warned there could be unintended consequences.

Up until late Wednesday evening, Marcellino said he was confident there would be a compromise with the Assembly on teacher evaluations, repeating an oft-heard Albany phrase: "There's time; nothing's over 'til it's over."

Gaughran, who lost to Marcellino by the relatively slim margin of 74,026 to 72,265 in 2016, said this week's inaction proves the need for new leadership.

"For weeks Senator Marcellino claimed to be working to pass this essential bill, but the reality is that he failed, and now students and teachers are going to suffer as a result." Gaughran said in a statement Thursday. "Long Island voters are tired of politicians' double-talk and false promises."| read more ››

Why nothing is happening in Albany

Jun
19
2018

In the last week of the state legislative session, the cavernous Capitol has stood relatively quiet. The teeming crowds of lobbyists filling the corridors outside the Senate and Assembly chambers, which indicate a battle over contentious legislation, are nowhere to be found. The governor, so far, is staying away from end-of-session negotiations.

Even the number of bills passed is fewer than usual. Blair Horner, executive director for the New York Public Interest Research Group, said that roughly 300 bills had passed in both chambers, compared to around 400 bills passed at this time in 2016.

“It doesn't necessarily measure whether or not the bills that they're passing are meaningful but that's true every year,” Horner said. “These are two-year sessions,...| read more ››

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