Republican Daniel Frisa of Salisbury has officially announced his candidacy for the 4th Congressional District (C.D.). Frisa is a former assemblyman and member of the House. He lost his seat to Democrat Carolyn McCarthy, current congresswoman for the 4th C.D.

As of press time, three other candidates - Marilyn O'Grady and Steven Irace, both of Garden City, and Alan Skorski of West Hempstead, are also vying for the Republican ticket. According to a source at Republican headquarters, the party has not endorsed any of the four candidates. As a result, an open primary will take place in the fall.

New York's 4th C.D. is comprised of parts of the Towns of Hempstead and North Hempstead. Of the 373,131 registered voters, 164,536 are registered Republicans, 122,947 are registered Democrats and 73,062 are registered voters with no political party affiliation. Recent redistricting of local congressional lines has increased Republican population within the newly reapportioned 4th C.D. by 42,000.

A lifelong resident of Salisbury, Frisa attended the Bowling Green Elementary School and W.T. Clarke Middle and High School. He earned a bachelor's degree in business from St. John's University. He and his wife, Jane, have been married for 22 years and have an 18-year-old daughter, Danielle.

From 1985 to 1993, Frisa served as a New York State assemblyman for the 15th Assembly District. In 1994, Frisa was elected to serve the 4th C.D., defeating Congressman David Levy in a primary and Democrat Phil Schiliro in the election. After serving one term, he sought re-election to the House, but lost to then political-newcomer McCarthy in 1996. For the past six years, Frisa has been assisting his parents with their real estate business. He also returned to college to earn a law degree and does commentary for the Fox News Channel, Court TV and MSNBC and writes a political column for Newsmax.com. He is also involved with the Sons of Italy in Westbury.

Frisa said the decision to return to politics came earlier this year. "People began approaching me," he said. "They said, 'You know Dan, it might be time for you to come back, we could really use you.'" Frisa added that he believes there has been a growing lack of leadership in the 4th C.D. in various issues of importance over the past few years. "We haven't really heard any voice of leadership from our representative," he said. "Increasingly, more and more people are feeling that. From what they are telling me, people do not feel as confident that McCarthy is providing the kind of leadership of speaking out or being a leader to get things done in Washington."

Frisa believes that his past legislative experience will make him an asset to the 4th C.D. "Having gone to the House in the first place with some legislative experience is what enabled me to be as productive as I was in one term," he said. "I think having been back in the private sector for six years, although not by choice, has really enhanced my perspective to go back with a renewed vigor and dedication to do the job I think we haven't seen in the past six years. I really learned from my defeat and understand where I came up short."

"I think that we should take any reasonable, workable approach to make sure we address criminal gun violence," said Frisa. "We have 120,000 gun laws on the books in this country [but] there is very little enforcement. More laws that criminals aren't going to obey are not going to make us any safer. Laws alone are not going to protect us, enforcement of laws are what's going to protect us."

Frisa added, "For example, Colin Ferguson, the Long Island Rail Road gunman, broke dozens of laws, it didn't stop him from creating that great tragedy..."

Frisa is in support of medical savings accounts across the board. "Right now, that's only good for people who are self-employed or professionals," he said. "It works similar to an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) where you can put aside a certain amount of money each year that would be tax deferred. You would be able to deduct it from your taxes each year, put it into a medical savings account and then you could supplement your medical expenses from that. It would go a long way toward supplementing people's health care.

For those senior citizens who cannot afford their prescriptions, there should be an exception. "We want to make sure that every senior has the ability to get every prescription drug that they need. I would fill in the holes for those who really and genuinely afford it," he said.

Frisa, who is Protestant, is a pro-life Republican.

As a supporter of school choice, Frisa said he would push strongly for it, especially in minority districts. "Let them spur competition in the education industry by taking the dollars they feel are being wasted in a public school to a private school and try and get better education," he said. "I think it is interesting that Democrats, in general, oppose school choice when some of their largest, most important contingencies favor it."

In response to opponent Marilyn O'Grady's suggestion to force failing public schools to improve their performance by giving a $1,000 tax-credit to those who choose to send their children to parochial or private schools, Frisa said, "I don't necessarily disagree with it, but I think the school choice proposal would be more effective because $1,000 isn't going to pay the tuition."

"We are basically paying today's retirees from the receipts that are held from all our paychecks now," Frisa said." It's kind of a 'in one hand, out the other' approach." As a result, he believes that brand new workers entering the workforce should have the option to voluntarily invest a small portion of their Social Security withholdings. "The system's integrity needs to be ensured," he said. "I would like to look at the president's proposal for new workers entering the workforce to have the opportunity to invest a portion of that [whether it is] in private, bonafide mutual funds or other instruments so that by the time they retire in 40-something years, they will have much more available and that will take the pressure off the system."

Frisa, who visited Israel during his term in Congress, said he is in support of the nation's right to protect itself. "The same standards that we're claiming we are going to use to protect ourselves, we don't always seem to be affording Israel to protect themselves," he said. "I think the reason is because we are trying to favor the Arab world in case we go into Iraq. I don't think we can do that. You can't serve two sides. If you are Israel's friend, you're Israel's friend."

As a member of Congress, Frisa said he would have an active presence in the district. "The best way to represent the people of the district is to be out and among the people as much as you can when you are not in Washington," he said. "People want to see you and you can get a much better flavor for what people really think [by being out there]."