More than 75 people showed up at Village Square in Glen Cove to hear the announcement from Glen Cove City Councilman Chuck Lavine that he is a Democratic candidate for the New York State Assembly's 13th District.

Glen Cove Mayor Mary Ann Holzkamp spoke well of the man she appointed to a city council seat vacated by Anselmo Grasiosi, who gave up the seat to relocate with his family. Mayor Holzkamp said, " As you know, I appointed Chuck Lavine to the city council because I know his wonderful character, great potential and his willingness to serve. Whatever role he plays in government, I know he will do the best he possibly can for his constituency. I wish him the best of luck."

County Legislator Diane Yatauro (D-Glen Cove) introduced County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi, calling him "a man who will help, who listens, and who stands up to make change. The legislature has a lot to do, and we can do it with him."

Suozzi spoke about his program to "Fix Albany" ("That's fixalbany.com," he said, to an appreciative hometown audience.), a program created to send a strong message to Albany that "we will no longer stand by and watch a broken system place increasing burdens on our local taxpayers." He referred to his endorsement of Lavine as "taking the next promised step...supporting a candidate who will ...fight for reform in our state government and will be more beholden to his constituents than to the party leadership and special interests."

He then introduced the man "committed to going to Albany and being a voice to fix the broken system, my good friend and yours, Chuck Lavine."

Lavine began by speaking of the single problem that most concerns friends and neighbors about government. "People always say taxes, their local taxes. And that makes perfect sense since in the State of New York local taxes are 72 percent higher than the national average. The second highest ...are in Connecticut, whose taxes are only 20 percent higher than average. That is unacceptable!" He said that the common thread of all New Yorkers is an unresponsive state government in Albany, one that has not passed a budget on time in 20 years.

He criticized the way New Yorkers are forced to pay for Medicaid by having the county taxpayers pay half the state's Medicaid expense, forcing local property taxes to skyrocket.

Schools are another issue on Lavine's "to reform" list. New York schools are government funded at 49 percent of local budgets...the national average is 57 percent.

"So how do we fix Albany?" Lavine asked. His answer was to change elected officials. It is not an easy job; in the last 22 years, in thousands of re-election campaigns for state assembly and senate just 30 incumbents have been defeated, less than 1.5 percent. Lavine promised not to follow in the footsteps of the current assemblyman, David Sidikman, whom he called a "champion of the status quo...a rubberstamp for the party bosses from New York City who rule Albany with an iron fist."

Chuck and Ronni Lavine have raised their family in Glen Cove and have always been actively involved in the community. Lavine has served as counsel to the IDA and the CDA and has served as a member of the planning board. He has served as city leader of the Democratic Party and still serves as a committeeperson. He also served as legal counsel to the North Country Reform Temple. He began his legal career as a public defender providing indigent clients with legal representation and currently is sole practitioner in his own firm.

Lavine concluded his address with a quote from Frederick Douglass, "There will be no progress without struggle." He added that "Sadly, some may say that we have lost our sense of faith in our state government. To that, my friends, I say, much to the contrary, that it is our state government that has lost its sense of responsibility to its citizens. Reforming our state government...is a tough fight worth waging and one that we must not only wage, but win."

Lavine will be challenging David Sidikman in a primary to run as the Democratic candidate for the 13th Assembly District. Sidikman has represented the 13th District for more than 12 years.