GENEVA: Did you
know that there are 6 people who hope to be the Democratic candidate in the
November election to represent us in New York’s 23rd district? In
several towns in this sprawling district, these candidates have presented views
to voters who feel left behind by Congressman Tom Reed.
In Geneva, Eileen Buckley and
Suzanne McNally had a conversation on social media about wanting to hear all of
those possible candidates. Their
discussion attracted attention and their post turned into a meeting that led a
forum at the Smith Opera House on January 23rd.
TRACY MITRANO is a lawyer and internationally known cyber security expert
who has lived her entire adult life in this district. She believes in the
values of citizenship and democracy and plans to knock on doors, connect over
phones, reach into communities including those of the often ignored First Nations
People, to build a political community. Her campaign is being run by full time
staff of three in her 3 office locations.
She
feels that Reed represents the 1% and not the people of NY23rd. She would flip
the provisions of the tax cut bill and give benefits to working people. She
would tax large estates and require that corporations pay taxes at a level that
would rebuild a vital middle class.
She said
that we all have a constitutional right to privacy that should be protected by
the government and that the country is strong enough to provide universal healthcare. She would like to institute subsidized child
care so that women can work or go to school. She feels that she can help girls
by being a role model in congress.
She
believes that immigration laws must guarantee a path to citizenship to those
brought here as children and now registered as students or employees and taxpaying
members of society. She would act to protect vulnerable members of society and
would push to decriminalize marijuana at the national level allowing for its
medical use.
“My
father,” she said, “fought in WWII to build a country that would recognize
human rights for every person in it. We can’t have people who are marginalized,
oppressed, forgotten or left behind. We all benefit from living in a country
that protects all human rights.”
In her
summary statement she said that a successful economy has healthy, educated
people, conserves resources and provides a developed infrastructure. These 4 resources will attract capital and
build a 21st
century economy.
To
obtain those resources we must support schools and give our youth opportunities
to be prepared for work in trades and vocations and to gain the skills to
participate in a demanding contemporary workforce. We need to support colleges so students
graduate without debilitating debt.
Mitrano
stated that while Reed represents his financial supporters over his
constituents, she would be would be a true representative of the area. 
RICK
GALLANT was a
teacher for 38 year. At the same time he was a coach, sportswriter, business
owner and member of the board of directors of the New York State United
Teachers. Asked how he would organize to beat Reed, he said that he interacts
daily with members of the union and that the people he has helped in the past,
will help him knock on doors and make calls and reach out to involve
constituents in the NY23rd in conversations that will show he understands the
needs of we constituents.
As an educator Gallant is concerned
about cuts to our public schools. Reed, he said, has not spoken up about the
importance of after school programs, of school lunch programs or of financial
support for public education systems all the way through 2 and 4 year public
colleges.
While Reed is content to see
what might trickle down, Gallant wants real funding. He noted several instances
of businesses in the area not having needed skilled labor and feels the economy
would benefit if the state returned to past levels of support to public
colleges in the state.
Responding to financial
questions, Gallant wants Medicare for all, equal pay for equal work and livable
wages for full time labor. He would raise the ceiling on Social Security
contributions and push for free public colleges in New York. Also, he would
reduce the interest on student loans to 1% freeing graduates to make major
purchases and to become entrepreneurs.
Because the Geneva area is
currently confronting a plan to import New York City’s garbage, incinerate it
and become the eternal holder of the resulting ash, environmental issues were
frequent during the forum. Gallant wants
to lessen the garbage stream by eliminating single use plastic and pushing
comprehensive recycling.
His final statement was that he
would like to see the United States be a responsible society where people
converse and work things out to make mutually beneficial arrangements.
CHARLES WHALEN WHALEN is a
professional economist who went to Cornell University at the age of 17, after
faculty members in his high school told him that Cornell was a bar too high for
him. His first area of study was labor relationships but he went on to earn a PhD
in economics.
With his degree he worked at the
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in Washington for 6 years before moving to
Geneva in 1990. He feels he can win against Reed by demonstrating that voters
will benefit from his involvement in government. He has interests and
experiences in common with the voters in this area, things he understands
because he has run congressional races for others in the past.
As a professional economist, he
slammed Reed for supporting the tax cuts saying that the incentives in it will
send jobs overseas and will weaken our economy. The $1.5 billion, or more, that
the tax cuts add to the deficit will be used to justify slashing Social
Security, Medicaid and Medicare and will be used as an excuse not to fund a
desperately needed infrastructure bill. “The tax cut bill,” said Whalen, “is an
economic time bomb.”
Health care, particularly in
rural areas, is a huge concern. Whalen feels we need to take specific steps to
ensure that rural populations are given local health care, something that Reed
consistently votes against. One of Whalen’s goals is to lower the age of
Medicare eligibility to 55.
He puts the blame for the opioid
epidemic on the shoulders of the drug industry in this time when prescription
drugs lead many into sustained drug abuse. In a related matter, he supports a
regulated medical marijuana program.
As a professional economist, he
feels he can influence discussions in Washington by pushing for the development
of environmentally sustainable
technologies and businesses and recognizing that infrastructure development
must include water, sewer, transportation and communication.
One
environmentally sustainable area of development could be hemp farming. Early in
the history of our country, industrial hemp met many needs while being kind to
the soil. Industrial hemp, while distantly related to cannabis, has no
hallucinogenic properties.
Whalen
said, “Sometimes you need to go into a factory at 4 am to talk with people and
build a common understanding of the economy at every level.”
MAX DELLA PIA comes to the political stage from a 30 year
career in the U S Air force and Air National Guard. He lives in Owego in Tioga
County and as a BS in Economics, a MS from the industrial College of the Armed
Forces and a Law Degree from Marquette Law School. He hopes to engage with all
Democrats and get out the vote with the help of a team of Cornell students with
experience in congressional races.
In
response to a question about economics, Della Pia said that the poorly named
American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 taxed repatriated corporate money at a rate
of 5.2%. Corporations used 90% of that money to buy back stock, forcing up
stock prices thereby benefitting the corporate elite but doing nothing for the
average person. This current tax bill gives corporation the same deal with its
emphasis on Koch Brothers’ priorities.
The
American economy is only booming for a select few. The rest of us need help. We
need to spend money building and rebuilding the infrastructure. Della Pia said,
“A trillion dollars spent on building our physical infrastructure would create
about 30,000 solid jobs. Also, our economy needs more workers because of our
low birth rate and our graying population. Immigrants can supply that labor and
we should see it as a gift to us.”
He
said that we invite foreign students to attend our universities to earn
advanced STEM degrees but then don’t allow them to stay in the country to work.
Rather we send them to other countries where they work against us.
Della
Pia feels we need a single payer, universal, healthcare system in an inclusive
society that accepts all people and assures that citizens can live and work in
safety. The opioid epidemic is raging in
the NY23rd and rather than looking at punishing those addicted to pain killers
we need preventive policies and treatment facilities. One direction is to take
marijuana off the list of Schedule 1 drugs and give it a medical status at the
national level.
He
also talked about the need for an inclusive society. “Everyone,” he said,
“needs to talk about the issues faced by people of color and by transgender
people. The police need to provide all people with the same opportunity to live
in safety.”
In
his summary statement he discussed his 3 children and the difficulties they
face that are mirrored over and over again in our district. As a proven and
experienced public servant, he would work toward bringing the benefits of an
inclusive society to our district.
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| photo provided by the campaign |
IAN GOLDEN earned a degree in physical therapy and worked
with clients for several years before transitioning into entrepreneurial ventures.
He has started several companies in upstate NY and owns an internationally
recognized event company focused on running events. He father, husband, business
owner and a runner.
He
worked as a field director for the Eric Massa campaign which gave him
opportunity to travel the NY23rd, met the people, and learn what they need and
think. One thing they need is
environmental protection which Reed’s party is speedily rolling back. He
recently became aware of the elevated levels of radioactivity at landfills
across the district and blames it on imported fracking waste.
Women
need wage protection so that equal work results in equal pay. Having health care at a Planned Parenthood
clinic would also help women but Reed wants to close those clinics. Golden thinks that if more women were in
leadership roles, some of these protections might be achieved.
Local
vineyard owners as well as dairy and other farmers all need immigrant workers
to help run their businesses but immigration is at a net loss now so the workers
are difficult to find.
Golden
supports more financial help for public schools and says we need to deal with
big pharma. Lawsuits are going on now to recoup the costs of dealing with the
opioid crisis from the industry that caused it. Golden said that health care is
a right and while he wondered if he might be the only person in the building
who never tried marijuana he thinks that we need to look at the huge economic
benefits that medical use of it might bring.
“We have the land to grow it and we need the rehabilitation facilities
that could dispense it. To keep it as a Schedule 1 drug is crazy. It should be
treated like alcohol.”
LINDA ANDREIwas an interventional cardiac physician and the
director of a cardiac catheterization lab in New York City. She also practiced medicine
in North Carolina and Wisconsin before retiring from medicine to live in Ithaca
17 years ago where she is now recognized as an accomplished painter with work
currently on exhibition in Chelsea.
She
has a staff and launched an aggressive media campaign trying to draw in
Democrats and independent voters. She was moved to jump into the race because
Tom Reed and Donald Trump are both divisive actors in American politics.
As
a resident of Ithaca she is concerned about the environmental threats of the
proposed gas storage at Seneca Lake and the regional trash incinerator. Better jobs, she says, favor wind, solar and
geothermal energy sources that would keep New York beautiful and maintain its
value as a recreational area.
Some
changes she would make are to give DACA registrants citizenship and to
recognize the need for immigrants as workers in several industries. She said that the American health insurance
system is really a health denial system and we need a health care model that
addresses actual health as well as food insecurity and the isolation many
people suffer from. As a physician she feels that medical marijuana is
essential for many of our suffering veterans.
She thanked the organizers of the forum as
well as the hundreds who came to listen calling their involvement essential in
a democracy. She said that the social contract of the past allowed her to be
educated for almost free and gave her grandparents a Social Security income
they could live on and gave her diabetic father the care he needed. Now that
social contract has to lead to an economy that benefits everyone and includes
universal healthcare.
EDDIE SUNDQUISTgraduated from Jamestown High School and then
went to study at St. John Fisher after which he taught in Philadelphia and then
came back to study law at the University of Buffalo. He knows that Reed can be
beaten. Reed gives people labels in order to divide them but Sundquist would
see all the people in the district as constituents, equals in the eyes of their
member of congress.
In
supporting the GOP tax cuts, Reed represented only the wealthy of his district.
The tax cuts are a scam if all they do is add $20 to a worker’s pay check and
take away money needed for programs so that others can have tax support for a
private jet.
Rather
than fighting for some jet, Sundquist would fight for women, children and other
constituents hoping to expand access to healthcare by getting more
clinics. He would use his position in
congress as a bully pulpit to talk in favor of programs that would bring 21st
Century jobs to this area. He would speak of the economic and health benefits
of Medicare for all and called health care a basic human right. He said, “We
need rural doctors and we need to address the opioid epidemic as a community
issue.”
Sundquist
spoke about vulnerable people such as migrant workers, gay citizens and people
of color who are harassed at their jobs He said that harassment needs to be
replaced with conversations about what all people have in common.
Sundquist
has worked with some Olean area manufacturers who have work but can’t find
people with the needed skills so send work out of the area. Because of this
Sundquist sees a need for a Union Apprenticeship Program and for a National
Reinvestment Bank that could fund things like broadband service in rural areas.
Sundquist
jumped into the race right after the president said that everyone in Western
New York should get out of the area to find jobs elsewhere. After denigrating
the entire Southern Tier, Sundquist hoped that Reed to speak up for his
constituents but instead Reed agreed. If Reed won’t defend NY23rd, Sundquist
will.
