Home News Local News Civics host candidates’ debate in East Marion Saturday

Civics host candidates’ debate in East Marion Saturday

Candidates for New York State Assembly will face off Saturday at a debate hosted by the East Marion Community Association and the Orient Association.

The event will take place at 10 a.m. at the East Marion Firehouse.

Candidates for New York State Assembly, incumbent Anthony Palumbo and challenger Tom Schiliro, are in a race for the two year seat, representing Southold’s Assembly District 2.

Also included in Saturday’s debate are Southold Town trustee candidates Dave Bergen, the GOP candidate, and Abigail Field, a Democrat. The pair are vying for a special election to be held in November to fill the remainder of Bob Ghosio’s term; Ghosio won a race for town board in the last election. Back in February, a split town board voted to appoint Bergen to fill the seat until the November special election.

Palumbo, a New Suffolk father of two young children, was elected last November in a special election to fill the seat vacated by Dan Loqsuadro in March 2013. A former prosecutor now in private practice, Palumbo campaigned last year on the promise to reform Albany and cut taxes for middle income taxpayers.

He took up the mantle of opponents to the Common Core curriculum and cosponsored, along with 38 other Assembly Republicans, a bill aimed at reforming Common Core by establishing a “blue ribbon” commission to review it, meanwhile delaying state testing on the new curriculum for one year. The bill died in committee.

Democrat Tom Schiliro is a Suffolk County Park Police sergeant, adjunct instructor in criminal justice at Suffolk County Community College and owner of a horse farm in Manorville.

A former public high school social studies teacher, Schiliro also once worked for state assemblyman and for the state senate minority. He says will “bring responsiveness back to the residents of the Second Assembly District,” and supports the women’s equality act, expansion of the STAR rebate program as well as “land preservation by creating land use zones.”

The two engaged in a spirited debate sponsored by RiverheadLOCAL and SoutholdLOCAL in September.