Q&A with Democrats Throne-Holst and Calone, vying for chance to unseat Zeldin

The winner of tomorrow’s Democratic congressional primary will enter a race rated a “toss-up” against freshman Republican Lee Zeldin (R,C-Shirley), according to some political analysts.

Democrats tomorrow will choose between Setauket venture capitalist Dave Calone, 42, and former Southampton town supervisor Anna Throne-Holst, 56.

Calone, a venture capitalist focused on technology start-ups, former prosecutor and former chairman of the Suffolk County Planning Commission and a former trustee of the Long Island Power Authority. A lifelong Long Islander who grew up in Mount Sinai, the son of an engineer and a school teacher, Calone is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard law school. He is married and the father of three young children.

Throne-Holst, who decided not to seek re-election to a fourth and final term as Southampton town supervisor to make the run for Congress, worked in early childhood education before first running for elective office in 2007, when she was elected Southampton town councilwoman. She is a co-founder of the Hayground School and former executive director of the Bridgehampton Child Care Center. A graduate of American University and Columbia University with degrees in administration and international affairs, she previously worked at the United Nations. She is divorced and the mother of four adult children.

Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. tomorrow. Voting in the party primary is limited to registered Democrats. Check you voter registration.

The candidates sat down for interviews with RiverheadLOCAL last week.

What are the key differences between you and your opponent and what makes you the better candidate against the incumbent?

Calone:

I’ve been a Democrat and supporting the Democratic party since I was 18 years old. Anna has been a Democrat for six or seven months. She tried to get the Conservative endorsement and contributed to the Conservative Party a number of times.

I have a strong environmental record. Anna has some real weaknesses. That’s why I have the support of the L.I. Environmental Voters Forum. As chairman of the Suffolk County Planning Commission, I was a real leader on the environment, protecting our water and fighting overdevelopment, including on the South Fork.

I have been involved on the national stage. I worked with representatives of the U.S. fighting corruption and terrorism overseas.

I’ve been a regional leader, working on issues throughout our district. I was on the EPCAL working group and I started Farmers for Our Future. I am a leader in campaign finance reform and won a person-of-the-year award from the L.I. Progressive Coalition for my work.

I have the Independence Party nomination. If Anna wins the primary, they will endorse Zeldin.

I come from Brookhaven which is 65 percent of the district. Every time Tim Bishop won, he won Brookhaven. When he lost to Zeldin, he lost Brookhaven. Southampton township is maybe 10 percent of our district.

Throne-Holst:

I am the only one in this race that has actually served in office and gotten the job done, advancing a very proactive, very busy, progressive agenda. I’ve gotten elected and re-elected three times in a very Republican-leaning district.

Everyone is so fed up with the gridlock in Washington, with our representatives who are not keeping their eye on the ball. I am the starkest contrast to that. I have a lengthy track record that speaks to work initiated and accomplished on any number of issues because I managed to get a divided Town Board to work together to get them done.

My background in community work and not-for-profit work in areas I’d like to see on the national level, in early childhood education and environmental projects.
Working with govt on all levels to get that work done is something I uniquely bring to this race.

I collected about 5,000 single and separate donations on a very grass-roots level. I raised it on my own. Honestly I think that the issues and realities around Dave Calone, having been appointed by Shelly Silver to the LIPA board of trustees — L.I. voters will have a very hard time with at the polls in November.

How would you fix our broken immigration system?

Calone:

I support a pathway to citizenship, particularly children. We need to secure our borders but make sure that those whoa re here and ready to contribute to our economy have a path to citizenship.

The visa system is very difficult for small businesses who want to bring in people. We have to make sure that graduates from other countries with advanced degrees in STEM areas are able to come here.

We also need to keep an eye on the European waiver, which allows people with a European passport to come into the U.S. without a visa. Extremists can take advantage of that.

Throne-Holst:

The most practical and efficient way to reform immigration is to dust off the plan developed by then-senator Kennedy and Sen. McCain working with the so-called Group of Eight, a bipartisan group. Look at if there are any areas that need updating. It was a very comprehensive and a good plan and it had wide support. It provided a path to legalization and fixed the issues around work visas.

Public education on the issue is essential. Small business owners and the ag industry absolutely know this is important.

I think so many people who were concerned or misinformed are now looking at a generation of their kids and grandkids who have grown up side by side with kids from immigrant families, to know them as human beings. They are an active and productive part of our community.

Do you favor any changes to Obamacare? If so, what are they and why?

Calone:

Obamacare was an important first step toward getting health care costs under control. It definitely needs to be improved upon.

We should create a public option allowing people to buy into a public plan like Medicare. We should allow insurance plans to cross state lines to improve competition. Having a re-insurance program that’s publicly funded would allow insurance rates to come down.

I disagree with Zeldin and all the Republicans that just want to get rid of it and defunded Planned Parenthood. My mom had breast cancer twice and is alive because of very early detection.

Throne-Holst:

There were many aspects of the health care reform act that were blocked by the Republican majority. Most obvious is the stabilization funding that was intended to help the healthcare exchanges as they were being rolled out. Why did Health Republic fail? That funding was never released and appropriated. It was blocked by the Republicans and it’s still sitting there.

We’ve got to make sure the system allows negotiating the price of pharmaceuticals, puts limits on costly unnecessary tests that doctors prescribe because it helps their own bottom line.

Do you favor privatizing Medicare or Social Security?

Calone:

With some reasonable adjustments, such as raising the cap on income a little bit, both will be fully funded far into the future. We don’t need what Ryan and Zeldin proposed, a voucher or allowing any of these funds being subject to the stock market. With the whims of the market, you mis-time that ever so slightly and you lose a tremendous value in it. Security — the whole point is it’s solid and secure, and set up to make sure people aren’t at risk of being destitute.

Throne-Holst:

The idea that we would privatize Medicare or Social Security goes against making sure these programs are protected. Government has a responsibility to make sure these are in place and properly funded. People spend their working lives paying into these programs.