League of Women Voters’ event features pair of debates
By CHARLES WIFF
Spotlight Newspapers
Voters were given a chance to come face-to-face with four candidates in the upcoming election on the evening of Tuesday, Oct. 14, when the Saratoga County League of Women Voters hosted a debate between the frontrunners in races for the 109th Assembly and 43rd Senate districts at Shenendehowa High School in Clifton Park.
The non-partisan group gave each race one hour of time, most of which was spent fielding questions from the audience. Time was also allowed for opening and closing statements from the candidates.
The proceedings were taped and were promised to be available online at the league’s Web site, www.lwvsaratoga.org.
109th Assembly
Robert Reilly, the Democrat who was elected to his seat in 2004, pointed to his experience as both a small business owner and a longtime state bureaucrat. He immediately identified health care and education as the two areas he would most like to improve if he returns to the Assembly. Despite his time in the legislature, he said he views himself as a citizen legislator.
Wasielewski, a retired Air Force officer, said he is running as an `aggravated taxpayer` with a message of reform for the Capitol. He will appear on the Republican and Conservative Party lines on Nov. 4’s ballot.
`We don’t feel like our voice is being accurately heard by those in Albany,` he said. `I decided to raise my hand.`
The economy was in the forefront of the minds of many voters on Tuesday night, and the candidates were often questioned on how they would improve the situation for their constituency. Reilly noted that the economy in the 109th is stronger than in most other areas, saying that Saratoga County is on the cusp of becoming a `tech valley.`
Wasielewski disagreed. `We live in a relatively successful areabut people are hurting,` he said. `Things aren’t as rosy as you might picture them.`
One sector of economic growth would be the expanding green economy. Reilly said that the state needs a firm executive commitment from the Governor’s office, akin to Kennedy’s pledge to put a man on the moon. Wasielewski agreed the development of green energy could be a significant force in job creation. Neither offered specific plans to stimulate the creations of a green economy in the area.
On the side of government spending, both candidates said they would like to decrease the amount the state wastes on Medicare fraud. Reilly went a step further, saying that insurance company fees draw about $7 billion from Medicare. He said a universal health-care system should be considered.
`Right now we’re putting Band-Aids on the problem, to simply no effect,` he said.
Albany politics were roundly scoffed at. Wasielewski pledged to remain an independent voice in the legislature and, if elected, pledged not to seek more than three terms in office so as not to fall prey to special interests or lobbyists.
Reilly said he has been playing by his own rules since he arrived in the Assembly.
`I remain independent of political organizations and parties,` he said. `Though I am a Democrat and have a Democratic philosophy, no one tells me what to do in state government.`
One area in which the two did disagree was in how school taxes should be controlled. Reilly supports a circuit breaker approach, in which property owners would be granted relief when their taxes rise above a certain percentage of their income, while Wasielewski is endorsing a spending cap like that proposed by Gov. David Paterson.
`The circuit breaker doesn’t address the core issue here, which is spending,` said Wasielewski. `More money alone is not the solution to any problem in the world. I think the fundamental problem comes down to how school money is spent, not collecting more taxes.`
`[The circuit breaker] changes the way we fund education from property-based funding to income based funding,` said Reilly. `I find it disingenuous for people to support the cap and say ‘It’s not going to affect education.’`
The 109th Assembly District encompasses Colonie, Clifton Park and Halfmoon. The latest statistics from the state Board of Elections show more than 9,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats, with more than 5,500 independent and third-party registered voters. Total district enrollment stood at 95,000.
43rd Senate
The 43rd Senate seat was previously held by longtime majority leader Republican Joseph Bruno, who surprised many with his retirement announcement in June. After a heated Democratic primary and a more subdued race on the Republican side, Mike Russo and Roy McDonald have emerged as their parties’ choices, respectively. McDonald will also appear on the Conservative and Independence Party lines.
McDonald currently serves in the State Assembly as the 112th District’s representative who also held the supervisor’s seat in the Town of Wilton. A veteran of the Vietnam and Cambodian conflicts, he railed hard and often against what he sees as an unequal division of resources and taxes between upstate and New York City, calling tax distribution in the state `geographical discrimination.`
`Our biggest problem is we’re next to the most important city in the world, and they forgot us,` he said. `There is a dichotomy. We have been robbed of our past and our future with our relationship with the Big Apple.`
Russo is taking his first stab at an elected governmental office, though he has held high-ranking union positions in the past. He worked as a top staffer for Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand, D-Greenport, until recently. He said that a change in the Capitol is needed.
`State government is broken, and it’s not really helping us here,` he said. In a changing world, Russo argued he has the qualifications to deal with the big picture. `It’s very important for us to consider in this choice which one of your two candidates is better positioned to have a voice in the changing state government.`
Part of Russo’s plan would be to change the `three men in a room` way of doing business in the Capitol and give the minority party a greater say.
`I really think we need to open us the process,` he said. `We need someone with a different perspective and someone that is able to navigate those new political waters to make a difference.`
The candidates said the ability to work across party lines will be of great importance in the coming years. To that end, they would both support changes to allow the minority party more influence, such as the ability to propose bills on the Senate floor.
The candidates were questioned about the economic future of the region, especially in regards to the arrival of an AMD chip fabrication facility in Malta. Russo said that as a Gillibrand staffer he helped bring the necessary parties to the table when it looked like support would fall through.
Though McDonald often said the upstate/downstate dichotomy is unfair to the region, he said that Saratoga County as a whole is healthy and AMD’s arrival is a signifier of its greatness.
On the issue of property taxes, Russo proposed separating school taxes from property taxes. `We need to look at alternative, progressive ways to fund schools,` he said, mentioning using income tax or sales tax as possibilities.
McDonald agreed that property taxes must be controlled, and pointed to New York City as the perpetrator of big taxes. He said that the city spends three times as much money to educate one child as Shenendehowa does and that property taxes need to be equalized between the regions.
It was agreed the state must take care of its budget gap before it grows larger. McDonald proposed that legislators should be able to amend the budget line by line, rather than having votes built around a handful of packages.
Russo suggested audits of government programs to eliminate waste, and said he would work to eliminate Medicare fraud.
Both candidates said that New Yorkers need relief from high fuel prices. Russo said he had worked with Gillibrand on the Home Energy Assistance Program, and that it could be used as a rubric to decide who would get emergency funds to get them through the winter.
McDonald pointed to a letter he sent to the state attorney general in March warning of price gouging by oil companies, and said their windfall profits must be punished.
`Two years ago we reduced the sales tax at the state level on gasoline on a temporary basis, and the oil companies just filled in the gaps. That’s not going to work, so now let’s start putting some of these people in jail.`
The 43rd encompasses Rensselaer County and much of Saratoga County, including Clifton Park, Halfmoon, Saratoga Springs, Malta and Milton. Republicans outnumber Democrats about 59,000 to 77,000. There are about 20,000 independent and third-party voters registered at last count, however.“