More than 65 community members met at Smithtown's historic Brush Barn Thursday for the Meet the Candidates luncheon.  

The event was sponsored by the Smithtown Chamber of Commerce. Chamber Executive Director Barbara Franco ran the event and Kevin O'Hare moderated the Q & A portion. Candidates were given three minutes for an introduction, overview and for closing statements.  

Candidates running for the first and second Congressional seats, for the second state senate district and the seventh Assembly district spoke.

Rep. Tim Bishop, D-Southampton, was invited to address the audience first and spoke about his endorsements, like Smithtown Supervisor Patrick Vecchio. 

"I'm delighted that Supervisor Vecchio has endorsed me. In the 30 years he has been in office he has dealt with five members of Congress and says I have been the most responsive to the needs of Smithtown," Bishop said. His other endorsements include the PBA, the VFW, the Police Conference in addition to environmental groups, builders and contractors. 

"When do they all agree?" Bishop joked.

Randy Altschuler, Bishop's opponent for the first district Congressional seat, spoke of his modest background growing up with a single mother and his rise to Princeton through hard work as a cook and a security guard. Altschuler also spoke about ObamaCare, creating a pro-business climate and environmental policy, adding that his company CloudBlue recycles electronics.

"We have a zero landfill policy," Altschuler said  His endorsements include the Sherriff's Union and the National Vietnam and Gulf Wars Veterans Coalition.

Candidate John Gomez, who is vying for the second Congressional district seat, talked about his background in law and in talk radio and television. 

"I never intended to run for office, but the direction our country is going is disturbing," Gomez said. "I can live with a moderate democrat, but in the last few years Bishop has gone far to the left." He also talked about big-ticket items like Cap and Trade, Obama Care, the redistribution of wealth and helping small business.

State Senator John Flanagan, R- Smithtown, said he felt privileged to serve in the Senate for the last eight years and that his priorities are to make prudent investments with the people's money.

"If you want to do this job well, you have to start by being a good listener I pride myself in being a good listener," Flanagan said. "It's my opinion that government spends too much and taxes too much." Flanagan supports a property tax cap and a spending tax cap at a state level.  "Education should be the first priority of the state. On a national level, it should be national defense," he said.

Flanagan's opponent Ira Bernstein graduated from Stony Brook University and was an educator in the Commack school district, before becoming involved in politics in Brookhaven. 

"Albany is a very bad state, we need to bring education back," he said. He's for smaller class sizes and thinks that charter schools will take money from our public school system. Bernstein was also concerned about downtown Smithtown and believes small businesses need tax credits. 

Candidates were posed questions on issues like bank bailouts, federal spending, education and job creation.

"The banks engaged in enormous abuses, we have some really irresponsible actors," Bishop said. 

When it comes to the Federal Stimulus Act, Altschuler says he doesn't think anyone thinks it was a resounding success. "If you want to help, you start by cutting taxes, the size of our federal government grew," he said.

Senator Flanagan called for a Public Sector Wage Freeze. "For a place like Stony Brook Hospital, it would save $73 million, the city of New York $1 billion. We can't spend what we don't' have," he said.

Flanagan's opponent disagreed. "We cannot blame public employees for the problems on Wall Street, we need to look at Wall Street," Bernstein said.

Stacks of questions had to go unanswered due to time restraints. The meeting lasted an hour and 45 minutes. The food was from Buono Sera in Smithtown and the fruit from Edible Arrangements in Stony Brook.  

"It was very very successful," Chamber Director Franco said. "All the candidates we invited attended and the community came out for it."