Five primary candidates tried to rise to the top of voters’ preference in a loaded Democrat field to fill an incumbent-free Assembly seat.
The Albany County League of Women Voters and Spotlight Newspapers on Wednesday, Sept. 5, hosted a combined primary candidates forum for the Democrat and Independence parties the 110th Assembly District. There are four Democrats vying for their party’s support, which included Joe Landry, Kevin Frazier, Timothy Nichols and Phillip Steck. Three of those candidates are also seeking the Independence Party ballot line, which are Landry, Frazier and Steck, and Republican Jennifer Whalen is also seeking the party’s support.
Whalen held the most contrast from fellow hopefuls and early in the debate touted her previous attempt for the seat.
“I ran two years ago and came very close to unseating Bob Reilly,” Whalen said.
Reilly, D-Loudonville, announced earlier this year he would not seek reelection, representing the 109th Assembly District before redistricting, leading four democrats to seeking the open seat. Whalen has already secured the Republican Party ballot line.
Fracking comes into focus
Hydraulic fracturing came into focus early in the forum, and all of the Democrat candidates expressed their opposition it.
Frazier said when he was growing up the Hudson River was a “punch line to a real bad joke” and not being cautious towards possible environmental impacts has previously shown negative results.
“The industry refuses to reveal what is in the fracking fluid,” Frazier said, “How can the waste water treatment facilities treat it?”
Landry said there are “too many unknowns” surrounding the method used to extract natural gas and oil. Also, he said there has not been a “good evaluation” on what is happening to groundwater during the process.
Landry, town supervisor of Niskayuna, touted he introduced a local law at the Town Board’s last meeting proposing a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing.
Steck opposed hydrofracking and said he does not support the claims it would create jobs.
“I do not accept the argument that there is any economic benefit from hydrofracking,” Steck said. “The people that do the drilling come in from out of state, they’re here temporarily. It doesn’t create any jobs.”
Nichols also opposed it said the state should focus on renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, and not hydrofracking. Steck said more jobs would be created through green energy initiatives than hydrofracking.
Whalen though supported hydrofracking if it can be done safely.
“Our state has 800,000 unemployed people … and I just think that hydrofracking is something that we should seriously consider if we can regulate it and supervise it safely so that we protect our natural ground water and environment,” Whalen said. “[Hydrofracking] has been proven to actually create jobs in Pennsylvania, and it has pumped over $1 million into the Pennsylvania economy.”
Bringing jobs to region
To create jobs in the district, Whalen said new companies should be rewarded with tax incentives. For existing businesses, she said tax incentives should be given for creating new jobs and a $5,000 credit should be given for taking someone off the unemployment or hiring a veteran.
Also, she would probe phasing out the corporate franchise tax for manufacturing and a 50 percent decrease on its tax rate.
“Manufacturing has suffered a huge decline in upstate New York over the last 10 years and we still have a chance at resurging with manufacturing,” she said.
Landry said the district should continue to focus on its research manufacturing bases, which has proved fruitful for creating jobs.
“Research bases are allowing us to continue with our manufacturing,” Landry said. “We are seeing that in Schenectady County with GE … so I think we need to build upon what we have.”
Frazier was also confident in new jobs being attracted to the region through emerging industries.
“Upstate New York for a long, long time had been struggling,” Frazier said. “We need to seize the opportunities we have in high tech growth.”
Nichols also agreed with the progress made in the area and said “a lot more” needs to be done to help people trying to start small businesses and support existing ones.
“Small businesses are where most of the jobs are really created,” Nichols said. “We need to … do what we can to take away some of the state regulations and restraints that keep them from growing.”
Steck took a different approach and said the state needs fully to take on the local Medicaid costs, so revenue becomes available for economic development projects.
“Without access to capital that local businesses can have there will not be any improvements in our economic situation no matter how much we talk about high-tech.”
Tackling a different aspect of jobs, all of the candidates supported increasing the minimum wage and believed it would improve the state’s economy.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has proposed increasing the minimum wage to $8.50 starting January 2013 and also indexing it from the start of 2014 to adjust it according to the Consumer Price Index.
Nichols expressed support for Silver’s indexing plan and called the current minimum wage level “appalling.” Landry agreed and said it is “way too low” and supported indexing it.
Frazier echoed Landry and said, “We know that money will get pumped right back into our economy and give it a short in the arm it really needs.”
Steck said increasing the purchasing power of the workers is key to the state’s economic growth.
Whalen said the current minimum wage, at $7.25, is an “embarrassing” amount to pay someone.
“We are not even giving anyone a motivation at that rate to come out and work,” she said. “If someone offered me that I would stay home, too.”
All of the candidates opposed voting for a pay raise for members of the state Assembly.
Pulse of healthcare
Candidates were also gauged for their support of creating a single-payer healthcare system on a state level.
Steck said he has continuously supported a single-payer system and said he would like to see the state take over Medicaid, so it would be pressured to solve cost issues around it.
“Single-payer … eliminates the tremendously high administrative cost,” Steck said.
Steck said in the single-payer system of Medicare holds an administrative expense at about 3 percent of the overall cost, while Medicaid falls around 40 percent.
Frazier said anyone not being able to access healthcare is shameful.
“I believe that health care in the Untied States is a fundamental right and everyone should have it,” Frazier.
Nichols said the best approach to a single-payer system would be on a national level, but he supports looking into it at the state level.
Landry took a different stance from fellow Democrats and said there are many ways to improve access to healthcare instead of enacting a single-payer system in the state.
“What we are seeing is a lot of employers that cannot provide health care because it is getting so expensive and they are trying to push it off onto the employees,” Landry said. “The single-payer healthcare system overlooks a lot of the problems that we have and a lot of the costs.”
Whalen strongly opposed a single-payer system and said it would be the wrong direction for the state and country.
“The single payer system would basically be like government rationing,” Whalen said. “There are not enough doctors available under a single payer health care system, because they are paid less and they just aren’t going to work as hard on fixed salary … of $100,000 a year.”
She said healthcare isn’t affordable and tort reform, which aims to reduce litigation or damages, is a strong aspect to making it affordable.
Final jabs
None of the Democrat candidates took aim at each other until one pit his closing statement at another’s record.
Landry called out Steck, an Albany County legislator since 2004, for proposing to raise taxes and exceed the state mandate tax cap and issues surrounding the Albany County nursing home.
“[Steck] has seen property taxes increase 113 percent since he has been elected to the Albany County Legislature,” Landry said. “Our Assemblyman should not be someone who cannot get results and lets our frail and elderly wonder whether their nursing home is going to be closed.”
Landry also touted introducing a budget for Niskayuna in compliance with the tax cap, which held a 3.4 percent tax levy increase.
Steck rebutted Landry’s statements and said, “Mr. Landry does not have to deal with the tremendous Medicaid costs that we have to deal with in county government; that is what enables … the Town of Niskayuna to meet the two percent property tax cap.”
Steck said Albany County has kept its property taxes the fourth lowest in the state.
“If you walk as I have in every election district in the City of Schenectady, the voters are desperate for property tax relief,” Steck said.
Primary elections will be held on Thursday, Sept. 13, and you must be a registered member of a party to vote for candidates seeking to be elected for respective political parties for the General Election.
The newly redrawn 110th Assembly District includes the towns of Colonie and Niskayuna and an eastern portion of the City of Schenectady. The district has a total of 29,243 registered Democrats, 24,447 registered Republicans, 4,194 registered Independents, 1,333 registered Conservatives and 232 registered Working Families Party members, according to the New York State Board of Elections.
Landry is the only candidate not from Colonie seeking the seat.