Just three weeks before Election Day, Jon Brooks, the Democrats' choice for New York State's Seventh Senatorial District, joined the ranks of politicians stopping by the Anton Community Newspapers office to speak with the editors. Mr. Brooks, a lawyer and president and chief executive officer of Cirrus Resources Incorporated (promoting democracy and free enterprise in former Communist countries), enthusiastically addressed the issues.

Mr. Brooks, who ran unsuccessfully against Senator Michael Balboni two years ago, stated that the issues he and the Democrats had talked about two years ago were still not addressed. According to Mr. Brooks, Senator Balboni has called the environment and health care the two most important issues, ''but Senator Balboni has not addressed either one.''

Mr. Brooks said that, as an environmental lawyer, he feels it is most important for the state to pass the superfund law that would clean up the contaminated sites and punish polluters. As a state senator, he would push hard for such legislation, making sure that all industrial waste sites are properly cleaned up. He further reported that the ''state has run out of funding'' for superfund cleanups at this point. He went on to say that Assemblyman Thomas DiNapoli has sponsored the superfund law, but it has not been able to pass. Again, he said that Senator Balboni has not addressed this issue.

In a later interview, responding to this statement, Senator Balboni refuted the claim that he has not addressed the superfund issue nor health care. As for the superfund law, Senator Balboni, a member of the energy conservation committee, said that he has worked with Senator Carl Marcellino to ''refund the superfund.'' Senator Balboni also said that they are working to try to expand the program to include better brown field redevelopment. And he noted a list of this past year's environmental successes, including the MTBE ban, pesticide notification, and work to reduce the risk of acid rain. John Cahill, commissioner of the state's Department of Conservation called the Record to say that ''No senator has been more involved in superfund finance reform and refunding than Senator Balboni; he has played an integral part in negotiations between the Senate and the Assembly.''

As for health care, Mr. Brooks would like the opportunity to work, as a legislator, to ''curb HMO abuses.''

He is proud of his own APPLE Health Care Initiative: accreditation a condition of licensure; professional judgment (medical decisions must be made by medical doctors); patients' right to sue (when an HMO review deviates from or denies the course of treatment prescribed by the examining professional); limitation of administrative expense; and establishment of a health care trust fund (for those who are not old enough for Medicare and not poor enough for Medicaid).

Jon Brooks also expressed great concern over HMO's ''dumping'' senior citizens. ''Nothing is being done,'' he said, further noting that Senator Balboni has done nothing along these lines. For Mr. Brooks, a ''tenable solution'' would be to have HMOs ''exist as of privilege,'' with the state issuing a license and ''imposing reasonable, meaningful conditions.''

And he also called for a Women's Health and Wellness Act, which has, to date, failed to pass, and which, he said, ''Senator Balboni does not advocate.'' The act would cover the cost of mammograms. However, Mr. Brooks did note that the state has passed legislation to cover the cost of prostate cancer checks. ''There is no equity,'' Mr. Brooks stressed.

Responding to Mr. Brooks' statements regarding health care, Senator Balboni spoke of his sponsorship of a bill to allow patients to sue HMOs if they interfere with medical care, a law that ''has been copied by other legislatures ... it is the strongest one.'' He also helped carry an HMO reform bill that calls for outside arbitration, resulting in over 60 percent more claims resolved. As for the Women's Health and Wellness Act, Senator Balboni signed as a co-sponsor, and is certain that that bill will be amended. He supports a woman's right to use of a reproductive health care facility without being harassed and he helped develop the successful annual Women's Health Care Symposium at Adelphi.

Speaking of the STAR program, he said that he ''understands the appeal,'' but if everyone gets rebates, there will be no money for services. ''There is no free lunch,'' he stated, as he spoke against the idea of using the surplus to fund STAR.

Mr. Brooks also spent some time discussing Nassau County and the financial problems. He termed the situation ''inexcusable and inexplicable ... the result of one-party government ... it can't work.'' He also added, ''Tom Gulotta (Nassau County executive) did not do this by himself; no one individual is so powerful or so incompetent.''

Mr. Brooks said that the county's fiscal problems were known a year ago, that Mr. Gulotta reached out to the Nassau County Senate delegation asking for help. The result, he said, was the one percent real estate transfer tax that was favored by the Republicans.

Mr. Brooks added that there are ''signs of change in the county ... away from the machine mentality.'' He is hopeful. Out of the 61 seats in the New York State Senate, 36 are occupied by Republicans. ''Swaying six seats could result in changing the way the state is governed forever ... and five of those seats are here in Nassau County.''

Speaking to Senator Balboni, he stressed that the senators do not control county government, but that the legislator did support the county's using state bond rating ''if they could get their act together.''

Turning to a very local level, Mr. Brooks, who has never favored charter schools or school vouchers, broached the subject of the successful fight against a charter school in Great Neck. For Jon Brooks, public education is important, ''one of the great unifiers in this country.'' And though Senator Balboni helped the community in this battle, Mr. Brooks said that, prior to that time, Senator Balboni had ''favored vouchers and charter schools.'' In response, Senator Balboni stated that he would not really be doing his job as a legislator if he could not change his mind. ''If I knew then what I know now, I never would have voted for charter schools,''said the Senator.

Jon Brooks went on to say that he senses ''a real anger in the district'' against Republicans, an anger that he feels could put him over the top next month.