by John Cummings

Blair Mathies (D)

Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford), who is seeking his seventh term in the House of Representatives, has an opponent who is running on the Democratic line, but who, in fact, is a Republican.

"I am a registered Republican," acknowledges Blair Mathies. "But I believe the Democratic Party today better represents the people of Long Island."

Statistics would appear to back him up since King is only one of five Long Island Congressmen who is a Republican in an area dominated by registered Republicans.

But Mathies’ candidacy also would appear to show how hard it is to find someone in either party to run against a long-time and apparently well-liked incumbent. In all 435 House races this year, only about a dozen are being seriously contested, according to the Congressional Quarterly.

Peter King (R)

This is underlined by Suffolk Democratic Chairman, Richard Schaffer, who said Mathies was chosen in part because no Democrat came forward seeking the party nomination for the Third Congressional District.

Mathies says he has already found out how hard it is to oppose an incumbent. He said he had received, and then lost, the endorsement of one organization because Republican King’s long hold on the job. Mathies said a senior citizens group, which he would not name, also offered to endorse him, and then withdrew it when organized labor threatened to cut off funding it helps provide for the seniors group.

Then, there is the matter of money. King has a campaign war chest of close to $1 million, while Mathies says he has $200,000, $100,000 of which he supplied himself by selling his boat.

King, like other congressmen, has been forced to spend most of his time in Washington, rather than campaigning on Long Island, because of hearings on legislation to overhaul the U.S. intelligence services. The Third Congressional District includes Massapequa, Amityville and southern Babylon Town along with most of Oyster Bay Town in Nassau and some sections of southwest Nassau County. King is also running on the Independence, Working Family and Conservative party lines.

Mathies, a lawyer who resides in Babylon, worked as an investigator for the National Association of Securities Dealers—a watchdog group for the securities industry—and spent eight years uncovering fraud.

Today, he says, fraud is what the government, of which King is part, has perpetrated on the American people. He said the new Medicare bill, designed to provide prescription coverage for seniors, "is nothing more than price protection for the pharmaceutical industry." He cited the law provision that specifically forbids the Medicare program from negotiating drug prices with the industry as the Veterans Administration currently does. "Peter King voted for that," Mathies said.

King makes the standard GOP reply to that charge. To allow price negotiations, he said, would be tantamount to government price controls. But he says he favors allowing seniors to buy imported drugs, principally from Canada, as long as the Federal Food and Drug Administration deems them to be safe. Presently, federal law prohibits Americans to buy those drugs.

"It’s true that seniors in Quebec pay a fraction of what Long Island seniors pay for the same prescription drugs," King said. "That has to be changed."

King won reelection in 2002 against Stuart Finz, a Democrat and Janeen DePrima, a Liberal, with 73.53 percent of the vote.

CANDIDATES POSITION ON THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION

AND THE WAR ON TERRORISM

King: People have a right to be critical, but what is the alternative? No one has come up with a real alternative, at least I have not heard any. We won the war in record time, but sadly there have been casualties as a result of the guerrilla actions, but I was over there and projects have been started including water treatment plants, and schools and thousands of Iraqis have been training for a new police department. It would be chaos if we pulled out right away.

Mathies: On Homeland Security...America must continue to make national security goals a top priority. Our attention to homeland security must rival in effort the risk that we face. The tragic event of September 11th still has a resounding effect on us all. It is imperative that we take every precaution that is necessary to ensure we are never the victim of terrorist attacks again.

On Iraq...The war in Iraq is causing us great strife right here at home. This invasion was grossly underestimated in terms of costs and the number of personnel it would consume. We cannot continue to fight a war that has no end in sight and is only going to serve as a financial burden to this country. A change is needed because we can do better.