Editor's Note: In the highly contested race for Congress in the 1st Congressional District, Hamptons.com's on-going coverage will include posing 13 identical questions to the candidates seeking office. We will begin by posing our baker's dozen of questions to the numerous candidates seeking the Republican nomination to oppose the present incumbent and conclude by posing those same questions to the incumbent himself. Each candidate's responses will be posted verbatim without edits.

Reporter's Note: There are three serious contenders left in the Republican Primary for the 1st Congressional District: Chris Cox, George Demos and Randy Altschuler. In our attempt to give each candidate an equal platform I revisited the format I used almost a decade ago when I interviewed incumbent Felix Grucci and his challenger at the time, the now incumbent Tim Bishop. For whatever reason, which I cannot understand, Altschuler has clearly decided addressing issues that affect the voters of the East End are of no interest to him. He was sent these questions at 3:09 p.m. on June 1, 2010 via email. To this date, despite numerous emails and telephone messages to his press secretary Chris Maloney, I have not had the courtesy of even a returned phone call or email. An attempt was made again today to Altschuler's offices as a last attempt. A campaign worker named Chris assured me, speaking directly with Maloney, that I would have a phone call back within 10 minutes. It has now been five hours with no phone call or email from Maloney and the editorial window for Altschuler has now closed.

Brookhaven - This installment features George Demos who served as a United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement attorney from 2002 through 2009 where he specialized in prosecuting corporate and white collar fraud. Demos was involved in the prosecution of the case against American International Group (AIG) that resulted in the largest corporate fine in history and on the 2009 Bernard Madoff prosecution team. Demos received his B.A. from Columbia University where he majored in political science and his law degree from Fordham Law School where he served on the Environmental Law Journal. While in law school, he worked at the Riverhead office of the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office. A lifelong member of the Shelter Island community, Demos lives in Brookhaven and is a member of the Greek Orthodox Church in Southampton.

In your opinion, has President Obama's economic stimulus plan worked and if not, what would you do to turn the economy around and create jobs and small business opportunities?

George Demos: Obama's $787 billion stimulus plan was a giant pork barrel project to reward his left wing supporters. Outrageously, the bill even included $54 million for the operators of Mohegan Sun Casino. When it was passed with the help of Tim Bishop, we were promised that unemployment would not rise and that this would "create" millions of new jobs. Now that this wasteful spending has done nothing but increase our deficit and driven our unemployment to record levels, Obama and Bishop claim they enacted the stimulus to "save" jobs. We can never tax our way to prosperity by creating temporary government jobs - this hasn't worked in Europe, and it isn't going to work in the United States. Spurring on economic growth is the surest and fastest way to create jobs. Our regulations and tax burdens are crushing small business and preventing new businesses from starting and existing businesses from hiring. We must not allow the current tax cuts in place since 2002 to expire at the end of this year. We must reduce the deficit so that we are not spending more and more of our capital servicing the debt with borrowed money from China. Finally, one of the major reasons our unemployment is high is that our good jobs are now being outsourced to low wage nations like India, and this must also end.

As one of the most highly taxed regions in the nation, what would you do to mitigate the tax burden in the 1st Congressional District while maintaining services and support for school districts?

GD: Cutting federal taxes and creating economic growth actually increases revenues to the government because more people pay taxes and this increases economic activity. Control of our schools is a state and local issue, and the surest way to ensure funding is to create economic growth in New York State and on Long Island. Our schools are lagging, not because of a lack of funding, but because the funding does not get to the classrooms where it belongs.

Is there a better way to fund education than the real property tax?

GD: Property taxes are out of control and they are driving away our residents to other states like North Carolina and Florida. The cost of living on Long Island is simply too high and we must change this now. Spending on our schools is at record highs, but the test scores are not reflecting this because the money is not getting to the classrooms. It is being squandered on bureaucracy and administrators who do not teach our children how to read and how to do math.

How would you solve the SUNY shortfall and is increasing tuition an option?

GD: SUNY needs to cut its wasteful spending and to ensure that it is spending its dollars on critical programs without resorting to tuition increases.

Do you support continued funding for open land and farmland preservation and if so how would you generate the revenue necessary?

GD: It is our responsibility to be good stewards of our environment and to ensure we have the cleanest air to breathe and the cleanest water to drink. We can do this without a crippling regulatory agenda that eliminates thousands of Long Island jobs and crushes small business. We must support farmland preservation and I will fight to preserve our environment and to strengthen our economy sensibly and sustainably.

If elected, in what ways would you help the threatened East End fishing industry?

GD: The Magnus-Stevens act passed by Congress that places arbitrary and capricious limits on our fishermen is wrong. The quotas are not sensible and give advantages to other New England states. Our local fishermen understand that their livelihood depends on preserving our environment and maintaining an ample stock of fish in our local waters and I am confident that they can lead the discussion on appropriate limits better than bureaucrats in Washington. I will work hard with our local fishing industry to ensure that our interests are represented in Washington and that bureaucrats do not destroy our industry.

Do you support green initiatives like windmill farms on the East End for job creation and energy conservation?

GD: If private industry wants to create wind farms and they are economically viable, then the government must not stand in the way of their creation. But our economic crisis will not be solved by creating wind farms. Nor will our need for dependable and affordable energy be obviated by wind farms. I support a comprehensive energy plan that ensures we pursue all forms of energy and wean ourselves off of the oil provided by hostile foreign regimes.

How do you feel about the recently passed health care legislation and what is your opinion regarding the highly partisan divisions in Congress?

GD: In January, Tim Bishop said the healthcare bill was "fundamentally flawed." Two months later he voted for the identical bill to mollify the Administration and was promptly rewarded with a fundraiser by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. The Obama-Pelosi-Bishop healthcare takeover plan was wrong and I will work to repeal it. The legislation's price tag increases everyday and we cannot afford this. We must work for sensible reforms such as ending junk lawsuits that drive up the cost of healthcare, increasing portability, and competition across state lines to reduce the cost of premiums. The healthcare bill was also passed through the use of kickbacks to certain members of Congress and it is this type of arm twisting that has lead to a distrust of government and to highly partisan divisions in Washington.

With some of the highest real estate prices in the nation young East Enders must leave the area rather than raise families here, what would you do to stem that exodus?

GD: The exodus from the East End is being caused by higher taxes and increasingly burdensome regulations. People vote with their feet and leave because they are tired of the liberal tax and spend policies that are bankrupting our state. We must cap property taxes, reduce the wasteful spending, and create jobs on Long Island in order to stem the exodus.

The arts are a vital aspect of the quality of life on the East End, but funding has been cut dramatically. Pardon the pun, but do you have any creative ideas for funding the arts?

GD: While we all appreciate and enjoy the arts, the Constitution of the United States does not enumerate funding of the arts as within the purview of the Congressional spending power. We must encourage the private sector to fund the arts. The Obama administration's decision to reduce the charitable tax deduction levels has had a direct and real impact on giving to charities that fund the arts - and this must be reversed.

The immigrant workforce, legal and otherwise, is and has long been part of many East End industries like landscaping, construction, hospitality and farming. Do you support comprehensive immigration reform and how would you address the very volatile issue of curbside, undocumented hiring?

GD: As the grandson of immigrants, I understand that immigrants helped build our great nation and are integral to the American spirit. But we are a sovereign nation and it is our obligation to control our borders and to enforce the law. In this post 9-11 world, immigration is a national security issue. We must complete the fence on our southern border and oppose all forms of amnesty. Equally important, we must increase prosecutions of employers who flout the laws and employ illegals.

What is your position regarding the Shinnecock Nation's effort to gain the right to create a casino on their sovereign land?

GD: We cannot build a casino in the Hamptons and we must be mindful of the negative side effects of gambling, including the increase prostitution and drugs. The traffic problems on the South Fork have also reached a critical level and this is becoming a public safety issue and cannot sustain the traffic a casino would bring.

Finally, faith in our elected officials is at an all time low, what in your character, professional or personal background and community history qualifies you to earn the trust of the electorate and represent the 1st Congressional District?

GD: One of my opponents in the Republican primary is Christopher Cox who recently registered to vote in Suffolk in January so that he could run for Congress. He has no record of service and has donated the maximum permissible to pro-choice liberal Republicans such as Charlie Crist and Dede Scozzafava. My other opponent, Randy Altschuler, is a recent member of the Green Party who made his millions outsourcing American jobs to India. He tried to run for Congress in New Jersey as a pro-choice liberal Republican in 2006, but that didn't work out for him so he moved to Suffolk to run for office and cast his first vote in Suffolk in 2008. Altschuler never bothered to vote for his entire life before 2006 and has spent millions buying political support on Long Island. I am a lifelong Republican, lifelong member of the community, and a lifelong voter in our district. In law school, I worked at the Suffolk DA's Office in Riverhead, and then served as a United States Securities and Exchange Commission Enforcement Attorney where I fought corporate fraud and corruption. Everyday I went to work I fought hard to protect our families from fraudsters and there was no greater reward for me than to recover stolen funds and to help put the fraudsters in jail. It is this sense of mission and duty to serve that drives my campaign for Congress. In this primary election, one guy in this election is trying to buy it, one guy thinks he was born into it, and I am trying to earn it. I am the only Conservative Republican in this race, and I need the support of Long Island's families on September 14.

To view the responses from candidate Chris Cox click here www.hamptons.com/News/Top-Stories/10651/A-Bakers-Dozen-Qs-To-The-Candidates-Christopher.html
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