The two candidates for the Second Assembly District seat face off tonight in a debate at Polish Hall in Riverhead.
Republican incumbent Anthony Palumbo meets challenger Democratic challenger Tom Schiliro for a one-hour debate beginning at 7 p.m. The debate is hosted by RiverheadLOCAL and SoutholdLOCAL and will be moderated by website copublisher Denise Civiletti.
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.”
Questions for the candidates were solicited from residents and have been collated and written by website editors Civiletti and Lisa Finn. There will be no questions from the audience during this evening’s event.
