In an interview with Garden City Life on Aug. 12 in her Hempstead Village offices, the Mineola resident, and one of New York's most famous political figures thanks to tremendous media attention and a recent TV movie, The Long Island Incident, Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy smiled as she was asked to respond to accusations made by Republican primary candidates that she is a "one issue candidate." She acknowledged that she, "certainly ran" initially with the gun issue as a driving force behind her campaign, since her family was dramatically impacted by gun violence, but since her induction into the House of Representatives, she argues that she has "been able to do a lot." She points to all of the work she has done over the last two years as both a sponsor and a supporter of legislation on education and health care, including specific measures for veterans and women.

She says that because of her "nursing background," she has been able to contribute a "large input" on health related measures in Congress. She says she has worked on legislation to protect "a patient's access to doctors --who should make decisions about the patient's care." She says that a bill on this very subject has passed the House, but she admits that it "most likely will not go through the Senate. It will come back and we'll retool it so that it will pass. This is a Republican bill, but it should not be a party issue." She points to her support and work on the legislation to demonstrate the need for attention to health care needs, without allowing party lines to interfere with helping develop better health care for Americans.

She worked with her fellow legislators, as well as academics from Adelphi and Hofstra Universities to develop a bill that would provide better preparation for teachers. This higher education bill has passed in the House, and is expected to pass the Senate. McCarthy says that even her gun legislation bill focuses upon the need for better education for America's youth with regard to guns and gun violence. While she says that she's not trying to "reinvent the wheel," by creating an educational system when one already exists, she would like to see that system use its resources like teachers and guidance counselors to provide more significant educational programs for their students, which includes teaching these teachers and counselors how to teach gun education and awareness.

McCarthy says that she finds that her constituents are always willing and happy to speak with her while she is out and about in the district, whether it be an "official public appearance" or simply while she is out picking up her drycleaning. She commented, "I'm always running errands and stopping to talk to people about what's going on. I try to keep my ears to the ground, so to speak." She added, "I visit the schools in my district every Monday and Friday."

She also credits her staff members with maintaining one of the highest records of any office in resolving cases that come in to them. "My district office does a tremendous amount of work. I always give my staff credit. We've handled well over 3,000 cases, resolving almost all of them in a positive fashion," she notes.

One issue she says that she has always been concerned about is breast cancer, and says that the Women's Caucus in Washington is, "a very powerful caucus," which works to ensure that women's issues are not forgotten by the government. They recently spoke out requesting that the Social Security Administration and the president study the impact changes on Social Security will have on women, and they have consistently worked to keep breast cancer research a big issue in the capital. "On Long Island this is a big concern for us, with cancer clusters being found and the high rates of breast cancer here," she noted. "It's important to me, not only as a member of Congress representing my district, but I live here too. We as women get nervous about it and have understandable concerns," she commented. She added that on a personal note she too is scheduled for a check-up soon, and of course she too is concerned about her own health and the friends and family she has here on Long Island.

She also noted that "Veterans over time have been shortchanged, to say the least. The new formula to determine funding for veterans' hospitals hurt New York. It failed to take into account that while many New York residents may move to Florida, many return here for their health care needs, and many maintain residences in both Florida and New York." She continued, "The quality of care at the Northport facility has continued to remain high, but hospitals upstate have been adversely impacted by the cutbacks." McCarthy added, "The government promised the veterans something and I will work to see that the promises are kept. We have retired veterans, reservists --people who served as long-term soldiers, who have been in the service most of their lives, they need to have their interests protected as well as all of our veterans who have served their country." She has worked to develop mentoring programs through her Small Business Committee to encourage servicemen and women who left the military to go into another profession to help train those who are now retiring or leaving the military. She noted that most people do not realize how many different people the term "veteran" encompasses.

On the subject of the Nassau Hub, McCarthy stated, "This is obviously not anywhere near being implemented. A five-year plan to study the issue and determine if federal funds are needed or warranted has been established. Before the plan can receive any federal dollars, all of the communities will have to provide their input on the subject. Nassau County will not receive any federal money until it is determined that the communities are behind the project and that their input has been taken into account." She added, "Do I think a centrally located Hub should be developed? Hofstra grew one way, the Roosevelt Field Mall grew another, and Nassau Coliseum developed another. It would be good if we were all on the same page." She commented that when she had brought people in from out of town and they passed the Hub area in Uniondale, "I realized how it really looked with all the concrete and a few scraggly trees here and there. We need to do something to improve it." She added, "Mr. Fortunoff in the '80s spoke of the Hub." McCarthy also noted, "We've all seen how the traffic for the Old Country Road exit on the Meadowbrook backs up. We need a Master Plan to help the area grow in a positive way."

With regard to reports that despite the public outcry from civic leaders in Carle Place, the people mover station may still be located there, she commented, "This is our community and we should have a say in it. It shouldn't be bulldozed without any input from the people." She added, "We need very open discussions with the residents of Garden City, Carle Place, East Meadow, Uniondale, West Hempstead, Hempstead, and Mineola. There needs to be more education for people on the options to alleviate fear of the unkown."

McCarthy added that she had traveled to Oregon to see how the integration of zoning plans by officials and public input had worked, and said that the plans were far more favorable when people were really involved.

The Congresswoman also discussed the freight issue saying that she has personally written to The Transportation Board and expressed her strong concerns about the issue. She says, "We need to know what times the trains will be coming, what impact that will have, what will be on those trains, and how will it impact traffic. Before the guard gate work at the Herricks Rail Road Crossing, cars were just standing there creating air pollution, which affects all of our communties. We still have that problem at other stops in the district like the New Hyde Park Road tracks. Will this bring truck traffic to distribution centers and will trains be a better solution to trucks, which pose their own set of environmental and traffic concerns." She said the main question that still needs to be examined is "Where is the balance?" She says that this issue will require planning, and as some discuss the tie between the Hub plans and the LIRR's future, she says the LIRR, county planners, and DOT need to sit down together and talk this out.

McCarthy also mentioned that she has written to the post office about the 11530 issue, requesting that the post office look into the possibility of changing the zip code so that there is a separate code for the Incorporated Village. She said that the response was that it's on their board of issues to examine and that the post office says it will get back to her office once they've had a chance to look into the matter.

In explaining her position on the gun issue, she said that there has been a rash of gun violence in schools and that she is not out to take away anyone's Second Amendment rights, rather, she wants to promote education and responsibility where children are concerned. Her bill has 60 co-sponsors from both parties and will be before the committee heads in September. She says she wants greater education, more responsibility from gun manufacturers, and greater tracking for people who sell to children and illegally deal firearms. She says that unfortunately, most of the gun violence involving children is with guns that are legally owned by a family member, which is why she has pushed for education of children. As far as criticism that trigger locks may render the owner unable to quickly access the gun in an emergency situation, she says that there are many forms of trigger locks. Some have combinations that only the owner would know, and they only take seconds to open if the person practices the combination. She said, "It becomes automatic, like putting on a seatbelt when getting in a car." She added, "I've practiced these myself, I have a number of different trigger lock samples in my Washington office. If I can do it in seconds after a little practice, a gun owner will be able to as well."

In fact, she mentioned that "we did focus groups with gun owners when we were developing the bill, including both men and women, and we developed the legislation with their input. As a matter of fact, many of them commented after the bill was drafted that they didn't feel we went far enough, but we feel we've reached a balance between the gun owners' rights and needs and the need to protect our children." She concluded, "Citizens will get behind this because it's common sense legislation."

Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy will be running in the November election and Garden City Life will be covering the campaign and the election.