The Assemblyman Vito Lopez scandal was a consistently revisited topic at the 110th Assembly District debate Wednesday night.
After a no-show by Republican Jennifer Whalen at the first 110th Assembly District debate since the primary and a number of complaints escalating between her and opponent Democrat Phil Steck, the two candidates came face to face at a brief debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters at Schenectady High School on Wednesday, Oct. 24. Audience members gave questions to the moderator and the debate was short at 30 minutes long.
In their opening remarks, Steck spoke of how his grassroots background in government has helped him in this campaign. Whalen, however, spent much of her statement referring to the Lopez scandal. Lopez was found to have sexually harassed staffers and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver arranged secret settlement payments to the women. Whalen said she is, unlike Steck, not “afraid to speak out” against these issues. However, Steck did not have a chance to speak out in return against Whalen on this issue until the very end of the debate.
The night began with both candidates agreeing that New York State should take responsibility over Medicaid.
“Medicaid is one of the biggest burdens of the counties and taxpayers. New York has the highest Medicaid program,” Whalen said. “I would like to see the state take over the entire Medicaid system and alleviate the burden on us as county taxpayers.”
Both candidates also expressed firm beliefs for increasing aid to education.
“Education and aid has always been a political football. What we need to do is take the politics out of education funding, develop a formula that is fair to all districts across the state,” Steck said.
Steck also said returning lottery money to its original purpose – funding education – is vital. He said we need to “put the money to the classroom where it belongs.”
As for the minimum wage, both candidates agreed that it too should be increased.
“I feel that $7.25 is not a lot of money, especially when gas is almost $5 a gallon and it practically costs you a fortune to get to work today as it is,” Whalen said. “I believe a better wage fields a more productive worker. I also feel that if people are paid more, they will put more into the economy.”
Whalen added that she would like to see businesses get tax credits for “taking people off the employment rolls.”
“If you’re a vet or someone that’s unemployed, they should get a tax credit for creating a new job and also an additional tax credit for taking an unemployed person or a vet off the employment rolls. And then I think it’s a win-win situation for everybody and why not,” Whalen said.
Although Steck said he supports an increase in minimum wage without any conditions, he said that Whalen has “stated a different position than the position that she stated today.” Whalen proceeded to interrupt Steck, claiming that he was wrong.
Both candidates also said they support campaign finance reform as long as it does not burden the taxpayer.
However, Steck took this time to defend against Whalen’s opening statement remarks about the Lopez scandal. In her opening statement, Whalen said she spoke out against Lopez and wanted him out of office when the scandal occurred. She said that all Steck did was “send a press release.” In his defense, Steck said when the scandal occurred he said Lopez should resign. Steck also said he agreed with Gov. Andrew Cuomo that there should be a further investigation regarding the scandal.
One issue the candidates disagreed on was the Scaffold Law – a law that has contractors and employers liable for elevation-related injuries, like falling, for construction workers. While Steck said he was in support of the law, Whalen wants to repeal it.
“This really dissuades people from coming to New York and building,” Whalen said. “This Scaffold Law increases liability insurance for builders up to 300 percent more than in any other state. It’s crippling us from moving forward and having new business come here and build new buildings.”
As for not attending the first scheduled debate, at the end of the night Whalen said that once she realized Steck was “deceiving the public about my positions and making things up,” it would “be easy to come and debate him.”
“Last week there were a lot of allegations that were coming through,” Whalen said. “I know what I said and didn’t say, but I always want to make sure there’s no misunderstandings … I can debate anybody anytime. I love to speak and speak out on behalf of people and taxpayers.”
Steck said Whalen not showing up to the previous debate was an “ill-considered decision.”
“I’m prepared to debate the issues in this race anytime, anyplace and without all this nonsense about all of this negative stuff,” Steck said. “Let’s talk about the issues.”
The next debate for the 110th Assembly District will be on Tuesday, Oct. 30 at the Holiday Inn on Wolf Road in Colonie. Colonie Town Board candidates – David Green, Brian Haak, Joe Gomez and David Rowley – vying for two board seats will also debate that evening.