In The Assembly

As for the State Assembly, the incumbent Republican, Fred W. Thiele Jr., has the election sewed up. Nevertheless, we have listened to what the Democratic challenger, Margaret Eckart, has to say as well as to the views of Marie F. Mulcahy, who is running on the Conservative and Right to Life lines. Mrs. Eckart has a scrappy persona, which she uses to good effect when arguing on diverse issues, from groundwater protection to social services, but we find her out of touch. As for Mrs. Mulcahy, a former teacher, she has only one reason for running: A strict religious belief that life starts at conception.

Mr. Thiele, who graduated from Pierson High School in Sag Harbor and from Southampton College, is the most successful politician to come out of the South Fork since John Behan of Montauk, in whose footsteps he followed, and with good reason.

Although a Republican, he was not afraid to fight the Republican leadership when he thought it had gotten out of line in his hometown of Southampton, subsequently becoming Supervisor and then moving up the political ladder.

A lawyer, he would be eminently more qualified than his opponents even if this were his first run for state office. He has the endorsement of the New York League of Conservation Voters, which points out that he was an initiator of the Peconic Bay Estuary Program, the only Republican who sponsored a pesticide notification bill, and the chief proponent in the Assembly of the 2-percent transfer tax.

In addition, as an Assemblyman since 1995, he has become the ranking minority member of the Assembly Operations Committee, which oversees its $83.2 million budget, and of the several other primary committees. And, he has worked tirelessly for Peconic County. Need we say more?