Lee Zeldin Challenges Bishop for a Congressional Seat
On paper it might seem a dubious proposition, a 28-year-old lawyer opposing a three-term congressman with little but his status as an Iraq war veteran to recommend him. Yet Lee Zeldin is running a spirited outsider campaign against Representative Tim Bishop nonetheless.
“When I was young, I didn’t want to go in politics,” he said in an interview last Thursday at The East Hampton Star’s office. “Some shouldn’t be in politics; they just compromise what they believe in.” But Mr. Zeldin said he has learned some lessons from Machiavelli and knows just who should fear him (other politicians) and who should love him (his constituents).
As of Aug. 20, Mr. Zeldin had raised more than half a million dollars to fund his campaign. This weekend he was to receive the formal endorsement of former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani — before Mr. Giuliani’s plane, which was returning from the presidential candidates’ debates in Mississippi, was delayed past the time the endorsement was scheduled.
It’s still an uphill battle to get media coverage, and Mr. Bishop had almost a million dollars in unspent campaign money as of Aug. 20. But Mr. Zeldin appears ready for a fight. When he was younger and practiced karate, his strategy was to land 100 punches. That kind of persistent attack is a tactic he has stuck with as an adult, as an attorney prosecuting cases for the Army, and now as a candidate. He is attacking Mr. Bishop for his position on earmarks, the bailout plan for financial institutions, military funding, even his collegiality.
“Tim Bishop has voted mostly with his party,” Mr. Zeldin said, noting that Mr. Bishop has been ranked next-to-last as an independent voter. “He needs to say ‘no’ more to his party’s leadership.”
I better not find out my congressman is voting against supplying the troops ammunition. It’s un-American, the worst possible vote you could pass.
While he has allied himself with the Republican’s presidential ticket, Mr. Zeldin insisted that he is more of an independent, and he is critical of Republicans and Democrats alike who have ethical lapses or do not support measures he believes in. He had harsh words for Mr. Bishop’s vote, in June, against a bill that authorized further military spending. “It passed with a majority, but there were members of Congress who voted against it,” Mr. Zeldin said. Given his own experience in Iraq, he said, “I better not find out my congressman is voting against supplying the troops ammunition. It’s un-American, the worst possible vote you could pass.”
Mr. Bishop has responded that he did not want to vote for a “blank check for the president” without a timetable or means for eventual withdrawal from Iraq.
Mr. Zeldin’s view on the long-term presence of the troops in Iraq is similar. He would like to have them out as soon as possible, he said, adding that Afghanistan is where the nation’s focus should be now. While he is in favor of continuing funding for supplies and other necessary expenses, Mr. Zeldin said private contractors need to be more accountable for the money they spend. “If it comes down to private contractors versus the military, we need contractors less.” He is also in favor of auditing the Pentagon’s expenses. He would like to take what is estimated to be a $79 billion oil surplus in Iraq and “use it for our domestic needs,” he said. “If we went there for oil, why aren’t we taking it?”
Adopting Senator John McCain’s stance against earmarks, Mr. Zeldin said that Mr. Bishop had brought $32 million home to his district, not much less than the average $39 million per member of Congress.
Mr. Zeldin was stationed in Arizona along the Mexican border, which he said was key in forming his opinions on the country’s immigration policy, but on Thursday his focus was local. “It’s sad that the mayor of Southampton Village feels he has to build a hiring hall to deal with the problem. I feel bad for him.” Mr. Zeldin said that, unlike Mr. Bishop, he does not support hiring halls and amnesty.
“My problem with McCain-Kennedy,” the candidate said of a failed bill that attempted to address immigration reform, “is that it’s telling everyone they’re going to get citizenship.” Still, Mr. Zeldin said, it would be “unrealistic to deport all of those who are here illegally.” He also acknowledged that the East End’s economy relies on seasonal workers.
“East Hampton doesn’t survive without visas. If they’re only needed from June to September, why not? It’s great to have people here to do jobs no one else is able to do, and then go home.”
While the reform situation remains stagnant, he said, he supports a use-based tax for owners of single-family houses with 10 or more people living in them, as well as an 18.5-percent tax on money wired out of the country.
While one of the seven issues he has decided to focus on is “family values,” he said that if New York State passed a civil union law, “if the people of the state want it, I would support it.” He said he defines marriage as between a man and a woman, but that “I have the same answer if New York State wants to support family relationships. These are personal matters. It’s not much of my business how someone else has a family.”
He is also not in favor of restricting abortions in cases of rape and incest. “If a woman is raped and wants to have an abortion,” he said, “it is insensitive to make that woman live the rest of her life with that memory.”
Responding to First Congressional District concerns is unwieldy, he said, given the variety of economies and demographics across the region. “Every corner has unique concerns: Here, it’s with respect to the way money is spent and immigration reform; on the North Fork it’s the death tax and helicopters.” In general, he said, he would support measures to make life more affordable for Long Islanders, such as lowering gas prices, health care expenses, and property taxes. He said the federal government needs to take an active role in beach erosion control, one of the few federal roles that might apply to this part of the district, which is dependent on the health of its beaches for the health of its tourism and real estate economies. He worries about stormwater runoff and sea-level rise. He thinks there is too much regulation of saltwater fishing and that diesel fuel has become so expensive that commercial fishermen are not going out because they would lose money.
Unlike some members of his party, he sees alternative energy sources as an economic stimulus that could help Long Island overcome its shortage of skilled or high-paying jobs. For Plum Island, he said, he wants only “what the community wants,” which is to maintain the level of diseases it studies without requiring additional security or safety measures. He supports domestic oil exploration and drilling in the Arctic, and said the recent bill allowing offshore drilling was a hoax because it allowed drilling from 50 to 100 miles out, rather than 25 to 50 miles out, where he said all the resources were. The federal moratorium on offshore drilling was allowed to expire on Tuesday, which will allow states to decide whether drilling should occur off their coasts, with only a three-mile restriction.
Mr. Zeldin said he sees support in the district’s strong Republican constituency, as well as the 50,000 military veterans who live here, some of whom are now his campaign volunteers. The campaign event in Southampton on Saturday at which Mr. Giuliani was supposed to appear was well attended. And while he may be young, he said he would not be running if he didn’t have the military experience. “It’s informed just about everything of who I am.” With five years of reserve officer training in college, law school, and active and reserve duty, he said, “I’ve got answers to questions that you could live a lifetime and never get answered.”