“Go to Joe” Seeks Fifth Term

“Go to Joe” has become something of a calling card for Assemblyman Joe DeStefano, whose reputation for constituent service is at the center of his campaign for a fifth term representing the 3rd Assembly District.

Running on the Republican and Conservative lines, DeStefano points to the many cases handled by his office involving Medicaid, Medicare, STAR, workers’ compensation, tax refunds and other government programs.

One involved a North Bellport boy whose insurance company would not cover surgery for scoliosis until DeStefano’s office stepped in. During the COVID crisis, when government agencies were overwhelmed, his office became such a resource that staff members for other elected officials turned to him for help getting unemployment checks and other benefits moving.

DeStefano was first elected in 2018 after decades of community and public-safety service. He joined the Medford Fire Department in 1980, served as a fire district commissioner for 30 years, volunteered with Medford Ambulance and spent 27 years with the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office. He also served as unit president of the Suffolk Association of Municipal Employees, representing more than 200 county workers.

His Democrat opponent, Josh Slaughter, is a political operative with the Local 66 Laborers union who previously worked as chief of staff to former Suffolk Legislator Kate Browning. Slaughter, who did not respond to an invitation to discuss his campaign with the South Shore Press editorial board, emphasizes affordability, jobs and organized labor, even though he has never been a union member.

He has drawn criticism for making a political statement at a Manor Park Civic Association traffic meeting and leaving before much of the public discussion was completed.

He’s also under fire from Local 66 members who object to using union money to pay laborers to work on his campaign. The $50 Slaughter offered for four hours of work falls below the state minimum wage, embarrassing an organization that fought to increase the hourly rate.

DeStefano, meanwhile, is asking voters to judge him on eight years in Albany and a philosophy he sums up simply: government should answer the phone, solve problems and deliver for the people it represents.