TIM GANNON PHOTO | Randy Altschuler and supporters Monday afternoon outside SkyDive Long Island in Calverton.

Republican challenger Randy Altschuler of St. James called his opponent in this fall’s congressional race, incumbent Tim Bishop (D-Southampton), “a failed college administrator turned career politician” and blamed him for supporting policies that hurt business.

Mr. Altschuler, speaking at a press conference in which he released a “10-point jobs plan for Long Island” on which he would help jump-start the local economy, said Mr. Bishop’s background contrasts with his own, in that he has created thousands of jobs.

He held three versions of the press conference, one at SkyDive Long Island in EPCAL, one in front of vacant storefronts in Southampton and one in Brookhaven Town.

A spokesman for Mr. Bishop countered that the jobs Mr. Altschuler created were outsourced jobs in countries with lower wages.

Mr. Bishop was provost at Southampton College for many years, and worked as an administrator at the college from 1973 to 2002, when he was first elected to Congress. The college initially closed in 2005, but was taken over by Stony Brook University in 2006, and reopened, only to close again in 2010.

A spokesman for Mr. Bishop said the Congressman deserves credit for keeping the college open as long as he did.

The outsourcing criticism stems from a company Mr. Altschuler founded called Office Tiger, a company that used employees abroad.

Jab-trading aside, the 10-point plan Mr. Altschuler released Monday called for helping start-up businesses to grow, reforming and simplifying the tax code, eliminating “job-killing government regulations,” welcoming businesses and eliminating red tape, repealing “Obamacare,” enacting a “sensible energy policy,” improving the business climate in Suffolk, protecting the Long Island fishing industry and farming industries, and helping Veterans to find private-sector jobs.

Pick up Thursday’s Riverhead News-Review for additional coverage from the race.

tgannon@timesreview.com