TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS AGENCY LONG OVERDUE

I am pleased to announce that last week Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone announced his intention to seek the support of our New York State elected officials in creating a Traffic Violations Agency controlled and operated by Suffolk County Government.

As I have mentioned numerous times throughout this campaign, presently the Traffic Violations Bureau in Suffolk County is operated by New York State, resulting in between $14 million and $20 million per year in Suffolk County Taxpayer dollars leaving Long Island and making its way into the coffers of Albany, never to be seen again.

I have been advocating for this necessary change since 2007 and had we converted the courts five years ago, it would have meant that between $75 million and $100 million in Suffolk County Taxpayer dollars would have stayed right here on Long Island. That money could have helped to fill the gap in our own budget, created more high-paying jobs or revitalized our aging infrastructure.

Unfortunately my opponent and a number of other state legislators refused to fight for the change because it would have meant taking money away from New York State. We need to put an end to this culture in Albany that tells its elected officials that they are there to represent the interests of Albany, at the expense of Long Island taxpayers.

I am running to represent Suffolk County residents in Albany and will make every decision based on what is in the best interests of the Suffolk Taxpayer, not the Albany bureaucracy.

I commend Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone on taking the lead on this important initiative and pledge to do everything in my power to finally make it a reality.

DUJMIC GEARING UP FOR CONTE CHALLENGE

Reprinted from the March 15, 2012 edition of The Long-Islander

By Danny Schrafel dschrafel@longislandernews.com

A likely challenger for longtime Re­publican Assemblyman James Conte has emerged in the 10th Assembly district.

Huntington Station’s Joe Dujmic kicked off his campaign Feb. 23 with a fundraiser at the Rosewood Inn in Melville. County chairman Rich Schaf­fer said he expects Dujmic to be the candidate against Conte,also of Hunt­ington Station, this November.

An attorney based in Melville, Du­jmic specializes in family law. That fol­lows a stint as an assistant county at­torney, where he was tasked with re­moving abused and neglected children from those homes. He also worked as a prosecutor in the County Attorney’s of­fice, where he went after child support deadbeats.

His career track, Dujmic said, illus­trates he has the tenacity to be a strong, bipartisan voice for Long Island in a body dominated by New York City Democrats.

“Especially considering where I’m looking to go – Albany – you have to have somebody who’s aggressive for Long Is­land,” Dujmic said. “We all know in the Assembly, it’s really New York City-cen­tric. We need somebody from Long Is­land in an aggressive, but respectful way, to remind the powers that be that $3.6 billion is leaving Long Island every year and never returning. Were just dispro­portionately taxed and the money’s end­ing up in New York City”

Conte, Dujmic said, has been an inef­fective leader for Long Island.

“I like Jim Conte as a person. I just think it’s time for someone else to go up there and represent Long Island,” Du­jmic said. “Under his watch, taxes have skyrocketed on Long Island… this is a person who’s in the minority caucus leadership. If he can’t do anything about it, that’s a serious problem.”

Conte, who was elected in a 1988 spe­cial election to succeed Toni Tepe after she was elected Town Supervisor, blamed the tax hikes and the MTA Pay­roll Tax on Democrats holding control of all of the branches of government.

“When the Democrats controlled all of the branches of government… they raised taxes by over $12 billion, gave us the MTA tax and all of the things that we were rallying against came to fruition,” Conte said of the Long Island delegation. “I guess is what I’m saying is that even the Democrats in the New York State Assembly were not in any way able to stop the taxes, the fee in­creases and the MTA taxes when you have one party in control of everything.

As to being a minority leader – he serves as the Minority Leader Pro Tern-pore – Conte said he works judiciously to ensure his voice and his vote have as much power as possible. As a leader in the minority, he said he’s able to better advocate for Long Island because he is not beholden to Speaker Sheldon Silver.

“One thing I have always noted is that I do have a voice and I do have a vote. I make both of those try to count as much as I can,” he said. “We try to work as a delegation, both Democrats and Republicans, to help Long Island.”

Dujmic called for more good government reforms to be implemented, particularly in the area of redistricting. He would like to bring Suffolk County’s nonpartisan redistricting model, something he worked with the County Executive’s office to implement, to Albany.

“It’s an absolute abomination that they’re spending as much time as they are discussing this,” he said of state legislators.

But Conte said he and Republican leaders have been working with Democ­rats in the Assembly to hammer out a deal for district lines that are more equi­table for Huntington and the state.

“My goal is to work with the powers that be in Albany to change the districts so we can have historically, keep one and a half Assembly districts within the Town of Huntington,” he said. “We made some suggestions and it’s my hope that we can at least have Huntington have its histori­cally fair representation.”

During his 23-year tenure in Albany, Conte said “almost every group in the Town of Huntington” has been in his office to get help and advice, and he hopes he’ll continue to have that privilege.

“I believe I’ve met that challenge and will be looking forward to people being able to make a choice of who should rep­resent them in Albany in November,” Conte said.

JOE DUJMIC RECEIVES FIRST MAJOR ENDORSEMENT

Huntington Station, N.Y., March 22, 2012 –

Earlier this evening, Joe Dujmic, candidate for New York State Assembly’s 10th District received his first major endorsement of the campaign from Suffolk County Legislator Dr. William Spencer, of the 18th Legislative District.

Dujmic was publicly endorsed by Dr. Spencer at a well-attended gathering in honor of the popular legislator at Albert’s Mandarin Gourmet in Huntington.

” I am proud to endorse Joe Dujmic for New York State Assembly in the 10th District. His will be a strong voice for Long Island’s hardworking taxpayers,” said Legislator Spencer.

Dujmic stated that he looks forward to working with Dr. Spencer and the rest of Huntington’s elected officials by “Putting Long Island First” in Albany. 

 

ASSEMBLY CANDIDATE JOE DUJMIC BLAMES THE STATE LEGISLATURE FOR NEW YORK STATE’S REDISTRICTING WOES

Huntington Station, NY – Joe Dujmic, newly announced candidate for New York State Assembly’s 10th District criticized members of the State Legislature on both sides of the aisle earlier today due to their continued refusal to provide New Yorkers with a fair process for redistricting.

“The Legislature continues to highlight the very reasons why I’m running for office. Instead of looking out for the interests of the taxpayer, they have wasted their time the past few months arguing over new district maps, and all at the taxpayers’ expense.”

Dujmic, who announced his candidacy via a YouTube announcement on Groundhog Day, was clear that both parties are to blame for the delay. “This has nothing to do with being a Democrat or a Republican. This is an issue of the party in power trying to flex their respective muscles to stay in power. It’s Gerrymandering at it’s worse and we have to put an end to it.”

As a member of the team who helped to lobby for the passage of Suffolk County’s landmark independent redistricting resolution in 2007, Dujmic has been an outspoken advocate of redistricting reform to prevent the type of Gerrymandering that has taken place in New York for years. “Considering that the proposed maps would benefit my candidacy greatly by taking away a great deal of my opponent’s incumbency power, I could very easily be sitting back and staying silent on the issue. But that’s not why I’m running. I’m running to change the things that are wrong with the system…whether they benefit me or not.”

Dujmic believes that New York State should follow the lead of Suffolk County by taking the power of drawing district lines away from the party leaders and creating a non-partisan panel of retired Judges who will appropriately follow the guidelines set forth by law in response to the Census, while keeping neighbors voting together as a community, and disregarding any attempts at “protecting” incumbents. “If you need to draw a district in order to ‘protect’ an incumbent, that should send a clear message that the person who is elected in that district is not properly representing their constituents.”

Mr. Dujmic has indicated that he will continue to be a vocal advocate of independent redistricting, regardless of whether or not it is popular with his own party. “I’m not running to represent a party, but to represent the taxpayers of Long Island. The more good government measures we can pass, the more time the State Legislature can focus on the issues that affect Long Islanders every day.”

JOE DUJMIC ANNOUNCES HIS CANDIDACY FOR NEW YORK STATE’S 10TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT

On February 2, 2012, I announced my candidacy to run for the New York State Assembly for the tenth district via YouTube.

After careful consideration, I have decided to run for the State Assembly in response to the continuing increase in the cost of living on Long Island and the need for bold reforms in Albany. Unfortunately, we continue to elect the same people year after year and have seen our property taxes skyrocket. Long Islanders deserve a strong and independent voice in Albany who will question every unfunded mandate. I will be that voice.

I have decided to run in order to give my neighbors, and all Long Islanders, the much needed tax relief they deserve. Long Islanders are some of the hardest working people in the country and I refuse to allow their hard-earned money to be sent to New York City via Albany.

The importance of economic development along with the need to take a realistic approach toward spending will be at the forefront of my campaign. We must do all that we can to put Long Islanders back to work. The more Long Islanders we put back to work, the more individuals we have buying goods and helping to support the local economy.

We are at a crossroads. It’s time to elect a candidate that makes decisions, not based on the next election, but based on the next generation. Please join my team as we take the fight to Albany. Enclosed with this letter is a volunteer and donation form. If you are able to dedicate your valuable time, we would be grateful to have you on board. If you cannot, would you please consider sending a donation to help our campaign financially? Every little bit helps, and all donations are appreciated.