Candidates in the Democratic Primary, June 26, NY23rd

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 23^rd 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 23^rd.

                There the candidates took turns answering questions. Below the responses of each candidate are sorted to give an idea about who the people are, what they think and why they see themselves as representatives of our Congressional district.

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 21^st 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.

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 21^st 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.

 Special note:   The democratic primary will be held on June 26, 2018. New York has a system of closed primaries so while public tax dollars fund these elections, only those registered as members of a given party may vote in any primary. New voters must submit a voter registration form postmarked on or before June 1 or register in person by June 1 to vote in the June 26 primary. A change of address must also be registered by June 1. Registered voters wanting to change their party affiliation had to have done that last September. For specific information for Allegany County call 585-268-9295.