''New York will come back ... we will be stronger,'' says New York State Senator Michael Balboni, a resident of East Williston. Although a great deal of the senator's time during this post-9/11 period has been devoted to his enormous responsibilities regarding emergency management, he is equally proud of the long list of diverse legislation he has developed these past few years. Balboni is running for his fourth term in the 7th Senate District.

Appointed to the Senate Majority Task Force on Local Emergency Preparedness a year ago, in January 2002 the senator was appointed by the National Conference of State Legislatures to the Task Force on Protecting Democracy, a position that has kept him in regular contact with Homeland Security Director Thomas Ridge. Working closely with his constituents and local officials, Balboni keeps his district abreast of events, all the while working towards ''regionalization'' goals.

Balboni has been instrumental in developing 26 pieces of legislation dealing with various aspects of this post-9/11 era. Included are anti-terrorism bills (bills he sponsored and authored) and the senator's water security bill. Six of these bills passed the senate this year.

Along these lines, Balboni has also worked to provide extra funding to area hospitals to help with the capability to respond to mass casualties. Such funding goes toward increased stockpiles of drugs and supplies, buying portable decontamination centers, and the design and operation of isolation wings.

Telecommunications is another important area: ''We need command control ... one person in control,'' he said.

This post-9/11 work is an ''ongoing process that needs to be re-evaluated each year,'' according to Balboni. Again he stressed, ''We need a regional response team.''

Turning the focus to other areas where he has also been instrumental in developing legislation, Balboni said that ''family is a top priority.'' With four young children of his own, the senator is sensitive to education issues and he has been able to bring healthy sums of state money to local school districts. ''We must keep school aid up and limit mandates,'' he stated. The senator has worked hard to ''put back record amounts of school aid ... to help build up infrastructure.''

College education is a concern too. He wants to see education ''continue to be affordable in New York State.'' He also emphasized the need to increase aid for students. His ideas involve some ''cutting edge scholarships,'' such as for the cyberforensics field and for other fields related to the war on terrorism.

As for the youngest members of the family, Balboni lists day care high among his priorities. ''There is a huge need,'' he said. ''We need affordable, accessible, reliable day care ... and I feel we can do it.'' The senator has just secured a $50,000 state grant for capital improvements for a proposed day care center for the Great Neck Public Schools.

Other laws has been instrumental in developing include the New York State Anti-Stalking Law (which he authored and sponsored); a law he wrote to eliminate the tax on textbooks; restoring funding to the poison control center; and passing a bill that resulted in Kathy's Law, significantly increasing penalties for caregivers who abuse their elderly patients.

Balboni was also the ''principal architect'' for new laws to help protect women and their children against domestic violence. He has worked for laws to allow children to testify in judges chambers and for laws dealing with witness protection. A bill just passed allowing group life insurance for children up from $7,000 to $25,000, and such insurance is now available for a domestic partner.

The senator also wants to look at health insurance and the ''profound ramifications of a one provider system,'' and he wants to address high malpractice costs and the problem of prescription drug costs.

The environment is ever a major point with Balboni, as he stressed the need to refund the Superfund and to work for funding increases for the shoreline.

Revitalization and economic development have received a boost from the senator, in the form of revitalized downtowns and train stations. And for the last five years he has been working on attracting new businesses and creating new jobs.

Acknowledging that he has been able to do much working with his colleague in the state assembly, Tom DiNapoli, Senator Balboni is "amazed at the average day-to-day heroism we have right here,'' and he said his intent is to continue to provide his district with guidance and help to assure the quality of life for all.

"There's a high level of hypocrisy in the Senate and someone has to get out there and talk about it," state senatorial candidate E. Chris Murray of Westbury said weeks before the Nov. 5 election. He vows to do just that if voters let him grab current Senator Michael Balboni's seat in the 7th District, which covers several communities, including Floral Park, Hicksville, New Hyde Park, Westbury, Mineola, Manhasset, Port Washington and Great Neck.

Without extensive political experience, the practicing attorney is challenging Balboni because he feels New York has failed its people. "Although New York led the nation in providing progressive and compassionate governmental services to its citizens throughout the 20th Century, at the dawn of the 21st Century, it's turned its back on residents," he said.

Murray cites prime examples of just how he thinks the state did that, including New York's lack of suitable healthcare and job training to those who need it. He is concerned with the abandonment of the mentally ill and is focusing his campaign on New York resuming a leadership role in addressing these concerns, with education making the top of his agenda.

"I feel the Republican State Senate has been fundamentally wrong on a number of issues. I always grew up being proud of New York because it's always been a progressive state that's led the nation in the types of services that could be provided to people and the importance of government," Murray said during an interview with Anton Newspapers.

"But now I believe New York has lost that leadership role, a lot of which has to do with the fact that the Republican State Senate blocks a lot of meaningful legislation."

Specifically, Murray noted campaign finance reform. "It's kind of absurd that New York's rules with regard to their elections are looser than those of the federal government. Every year the State Assembly has passed campaign finance reform bills to put stricter limits on contributions and set up a public finance election system, similar to what they have in New York City, and that doesn't even get voted on in the State Senate."

Graduating with honors from SUNY Albany and the Georgetown University Law Center, Murray is currently a partner in the Garden City law firm of Reisman, Peirez & Reisman, L.L.P., a practice concentrating on complex commercial, civil rights, intellectual property, environmental and employment litigation before federal and state courts.

As a father of two young children in the public school system, he is deeply concerned with the failure to provide adequate state aid. Murray disagrees with the Senate's move to halt the adoption of a cost of living adjustment to the state school aid formula, which he said cost Long Island school districts billions of dollars and forced property taxes to increase.

If not for New York's progressive tradition and its past commitment to public higher education, Murray admits he would not have been able to attend college and graduate from SUNY [State University of New York] Albany. This, he said, makes him well aware of the positive impact state government can have on an individual's life.

Murray has served as general counsel for the Nassau Council of Chambers of Commerce, Inc. since 1991. He is a member and the secretary of the Nassau County Open Space & Park Advisory Committee, created to advise the Nassau County Planning Commission regarding the sale of any county-owned property and develop policies to encourage the preservation of parkland and open space.

He also serves as a member of the Garden City Chamber of Commerce's board of directors and the New York Civil Liberties Union's Nassau chapter. Murray is on the Business Advisory Council for the Nassau County Mental Health Association's JOBS + program, which prepares people suffering from mental illness to get back into the workforce.

He said it's important for Nassau County residents to elect representatives to the New York State Legislature who would support the fiscal reforms for Nassau that County Executive Tom Suozzi is proposing. "After November 5th I guarantee you're going to hear that there are some serious, serious financial problems in New York State," he said.

Drawing on an analogy between New York's current efforts to paper over a budget deficit with fiscal gimmicks to the irresponsible behavior that drove Nassau to the verge of bankruptcy, Murray promised to wage an issue-oriented campaign. "There's an honesty that has to be addressed when it comes to budget matters. You have to honestly assess what has to be done and say, 'Well, we're going to have to tax you to do it,'" he said.

Realizing that Senator Balboni is a conscientious public servant, Murray argued that change is necessary to shift the government's priorities and that he could provide innovative and independent leadership in the Senate. He is running on the Democratic, Liberal and Working Families party lines.