Thomas M. Sabellico, a Farmingdale resident, who has been an active community leader for 30 years, announced his candidacy as the Republican Party candidate for the 14th District legislative seat at a press conference held at Ellsworth Allen Park in Farmingdale earlier this week. He was joined by Congressman Peter King, Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto, Minority Leader of the Nassau Legislature Peter Schmitt, NYS Assemblyman Joseph Saladino and Town of Oyster Bay Clerk Steven Labriola.

Sabellico is the president and founder of The Farmingdale Community Summit, an organization comprised of all of the organizations located in the communities served by the Farmingdale School District. The Summit is responsible for Farmingdale Remembers (the 9/11 monument located at Farmingdale Library), Farmingdale Reads (a community-wide literacy project), Farmingdale Writes, the annual Farmingdale Expo and Health Fair, and Farmingdale Family Relief Fund.

He is also the president and founder of Winning Beyond Winning, Inc., a not-for-profit organization which works with former professional athletes to present life skills programs to children. Since its inception in 1998, Winning Beyond Winning has presented programs to over 35,000 children. These programs were on various topics including, alcohol and substance abuse awareness, racial tolerance, career preparation, literacy, financial literacy, bullying, and steroids. He is also the founder of the 4887 Foundation, which has presented thousands of dollars in scholarships to high school students from Farmingdale, Massapequa and Plainedge over the last 10 years.

Sabellico is the president of Farmingdale Baseball League, Inc., and has served as a board member of the league for almost 20 years. He is the community service director for Farmingdale Breakfast Rotary and is a past president of the club and community service director for Rotary District 7250. He was the charter chairman of the Alfred Samenga Scholarship Fund, established by Nassau Italian Americans in Government, and was the first general counsel of the Nassau County Sports Commission.

"As a resident of this area for almost 40 years, and a strong believer in families and children, I have become increasingly worried about the ability of our senior citizens and our children to continue to live here," said Sabellico. "I am deeply troubled by higher taxes, increased gang activity, and decreased police presence. Many good people have worked a long time to make this a great community. We need to ensure that their work is not lost. I am not a career politician. I am a conservative, independent-thinking family man who loves this community and feels that it deserves real representation."

Sabellico is married and the father of three children, all born and raised in Farmingdale and graduates of the Farmingdale public school system. He is a graduate of Hofstra University and Hofstra University School of Law. His campaign web site is www.teamSabellico.com.

Sabellico will be running against Democratic candidate and incumbent Dave Mejias for the seat in the 14th Legislative District. "I am very proud of my record of stabilizing Nassau County's finances, reducing the size of government, passing budgets with surpluses and all of this was done without raising taxes," Mejias said in response to his challenger's announcement. He said he has worked hard for his constituents. "I obtained a $50,000 gang awareness and prevention grant for the Farmingdale School District. I have held meetings regarding tax grievances for my entire district and also held specific meetings for seniors," said Mejias. "I am also responsible for hiring more police officers in Nassau County. I have been working hard to fight the expansion of Republic Airport. I look forward to being re-elected in the fall."